I didn't get started as early as I wanted to this morning on the drive to Iowa City for the weekend, but early enough. I hit the road around 9am, had hoped for an hour earlier. I still made it to town around the time I wanted to so I could research Emerson Hough at the University of Iowa library. They have a special collection of his letters. I liked seeing an advertisement about buying his books, it not only had Hough's picture on the back but also his friend, President Theodore Roosevelt. I think I've seen or heard of instances before where a presidential endorsement is used to sell a product. I didn't come away with any copies, the librarian said there were no students available to help out. I ended up with plenty of notes so I can email what I want copied sometime next week. It was a much smaller collection than the one at the main historical building in Des Moines, but I didn't mind at all. Made it easier for me to decide what I wanted, as there was just 2 boxes to look through.
After the library closed at 5pm, I went back to my car to get my camera, it was parked in a ramp across the street from the student union. After looking around inside the student union, which still has some areas (like the basement) closed since the 2008 flooding, I went up the hill to find the Irving Weber statue I had read about on Wikipedia. He was an Iowa City historian. I found it downtown near campus, as part of a literary walk of fame honoring writers with ties to Iowa. This was due to the famous writer workshop held there each summer. I made a nice find in this walk of fame, as I saw a covered wagon as part of it on the sidewalk and wondered if it was honoring Emerson Hough, and it was! Each 'plate' had a quote from a writing by that particular author, and Hough's was from 'Covered Wagon', a novel that later became a movie in the 1920s. The walk of fame had been there for 10 years, first time I had seen it. I ended up taking plenty of pictures from there, along with a few others of downtown at the pedestrian mall. This included the Englert Theater, where I saw movies but now does concerts and live theater, along with 'books on parade' much like the Charlie Brown and Snoopy statues I've been finding all this year. In the evening I made it over to my friend's condo, he still lives in the area as he works for the VA hospital there.
After the library closed at 5pm, I went back to my car to get my camera, it was parked in a ramp across the street from the student union. After looking around inside the student union, which still has some areas (like the basement) closed since the 2008 flooding, I went up the hill to find the Irving Weber statue I had read about on Wikipedia. He was an Iowa City historian. I found it downtown near campus, as part of a literary walk of fame honoring writers with ties to Iowa. This was due to the famous writer workshop held there each summer. I made a nice find in this walk of fame, as I saw a covered wagon as part of it on the sidewalk and wondered if it was honoring Emerson Hough, and it was! Each 'plate' had a quote from a writing by that particular author, and Hough's was from 'Covered Wagon', a novel that later became a movie in the 1920s. The walk of fame had been there for 10 years, first time I had seen it. I ended up taking plenty of pictures from there, along with a few others of downtown at the pedestrian mall. This included the Englert Theater, where I saw movies but now does concerts and live theater, along with 'books on parade' much like the Charlie Brown and Snoopy statues I've been finding all this year. In the evening I made it over to my friend's condo, he still lives in the area as he works for the VA hospital there.
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