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Hoover Highlights: Kites, new exhibit and Smith returns
by Tom Schwartz, Hoover Library-Museum Dire · Op-Ed · April 13, 2017


Spring is here as witnessed by the return of school buses to the museum and park, taking part in the annual field trip to the Hoover complex.


Many folks from West Branch and the surrounding area joined us on Lou Hoover’s birthday to enjoy a Girl Scout cookie and watch the new Kodacolor home movies.

This amazing find by archivist Lynn Smith brought national, and indeed, global attention to the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum and our parent organization, the National Archives and Records Administration. It also served as a reminder of the importance of presidential libraries and the materials entrusted in their care.

The year has already begun with a great deal of fanfare. And more exciting events are scheduled.

The annual Kites Over Hoover Park will occur on Saturday, April 22 [Sunday April 23 rain date]. It will take place in its usual location at 1 Tidewater Drive. This event continues to provide a great fun family activity. In addition to the Big Kiters and 180 Go! kite performance team, the Steam Room Fab Lab will be back with activities for kids. Main Street Sweets will have concessions again and a kite vendor will also be on site if you forgot to bring one.

There will also be kites given away and kites that will be available for anyone to fly. This event highlights one of the joys of childhood, a time in a person’s life that Hoover felt critical in development.

In addition to our traditional Memorial Day and July 4 concerts by the Eastern Iowa Brass Band, a number of special conferences and talks are planned. On May 13, a major exhibit on the American Presidents will open in the Quarton Gallery featuring original artifacts from each of the 45 Presidents. Richard Norton Smith will provide the keynote address on Friday, June 2 at Brown Deer Golf Club in Coralville beginning at 6 pm. For more information go to http://hooverpresidentialfoundation.org. The following day June 3 beginning at 9 am a conference entitled Presidential Partnerships: Herbert Hoover and Presidents Wilson, Coolidge, Truman, and Eisenhower will take place in the Figge Auditorium. This conference will explore Hoover’s other presidential relationships with insights from noted scholars Ross Kennedy, George H. Nash, Lisa Payne Ossian, and Timothy Walch.

On August 5, authors Christine Woodside, Libertarians on the Prairie: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Rose Wilder Lane, and the Making of the Little House Books, and David Davenport, Rugged Individualism: Dead or Alive?, will discuss their books in the Figge Auditorium as part of the Hometown Days celebration.

Last, but not least, noted author Kenneth Whyte has agreed to appear at a yet-to-be determined date in October to talk about his forthcoming biography, “Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times.” This is the second one-volume biography of the 31st president to appear since late 2016.

I hope you will join us to experience some of these exciting events!



To contact Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum Director Thomas Schwartz, you may reach him at 319-643-5301 or Thomas.Schwartz@nara.gov.