German American Museum
The German American Museum, Library and Family History Center provides a unique learning experience about the 165-year ethnic heritage of this community and surrounding areas.
St. Lucas Historical Society
Over the past decade, the Society has focused its energies on restoring and preserving the school building, which is on the National Registry of Historic Places.
This architecturally and culturally unique educational building that houses the museum, library and family history programs is vital to the cultural, educational, historical and psychological well being of the community and adds greatly to the historical and cultural heritage of the region, state and Nation.
The Museum is focused on several key themes:
- Why immigrants left Germanic countries and came to the Old Mission area of North East Iowa.
- The strong role of the religious and lay organizations in shaping the values of the community.
- The role of the clergy, school teachers and families in fostering the importance of education for enriching life.
- The steady growth and rapid change in agricultural practices and industrial arts in the community.
- The family and social life of the community.
- The role of sports in relating to nearby communities.
- The role of service in the military acquainting veterans with a broader sense of America and discovering the world. The exhibits and artifacts in the Museum focus on these themes.
The library books, materials and photographs are integrated with the exhibits to provide a better understanding of these themes. Currently the Museum and Library collections include several thousand artifacts, photos, documents, and books. These collections continue to grow because of the thoughtful donations made by many local families. Our challenge is to catalog and archive this rapidly growing collection. Currently the archive room is used to store and preserve these historic materials.
The Family History Center (FHC) is a repository of family genealogies and histories. Many local families have donated copies of their family histories, genealogies, photos, documents, or other related information to the FHC. The collection continues to grow as families begin to realize the importance of having a place to preserve and share their family story for present and future descendants.
Over the past decade Ken and Lorraine (deceased) Kuennen spent a significant amount of time gathering and organizing this collection of family histories and related materials. Currently the FHC collection consists of more than 200 family genealogies and histories. The FHC Room is very popular with researchers, family reunions and our lecture series. In our next issue of the newsletter we will begin publishing the names of the family genealogies in the current collection.
Please consider adding your family genealogy and history to the collection. A select list of family histories follows and can be viewed at the Family History Center.
We are interested in developing an exhibition of the publications authored by members of local families. Many families have children and relatives scattered across the Nation and many have professional accomplishments, books and articles that need to be acknowledged and highlighted in such a display.
Please help us uncover these published materials and articles and significant professional accomplishments. Please forward the information of their accomplishments and a hard copy of their books and articles to the Museum for inclusion in this exhibition. Many thanks for your help.
NATIONAL REGISTER DIGITAL ASSETS HERE:
For National Park Service, National Register of Historic places, St. Luke School Application form, 2005.
