Donald Jackson's own "personal Library of Congress"The Lewis and Clark Study Group has been meeting at the Western Historic Trails Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa for eight years now. Biddle, the Lewis and Clark Buddy Bear, is now participating in Study Group. During September-May, we meet weekly on Tuesday mornings from 9-11. In the summer of 2008 we are going on monthly field trips.
Our first excursion was to Glenwood, Iowa, on May 13, 2008. One of Glenwood's most famous citizens is Donald Jackson, the editor of the Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Jackson called the old Carnegie Library at Glenwood his own "personal Library of Congress." This was our second visit to the public library, which has a collection of the Jackson's writings. The Donald Jackson Archives are located at the Pioneer Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Jackson was also the editor of the papers and correspondence of George Washington, Zebulon Pike, and John Charles Fremont ; and the author of many books of essays, historical fiction and journal articles.
Mills County Historical MuseumGlenwood is a beautiful community in the rolling countryside of the Loess Hills of Iowa, opposite the mouth of the Platte River in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. It is a famous prehistoric archaeology site. We visited the authentically reconstructed earth lodge next door to the Mills County Museum and toured the extensive buildings of the museum.
Carrie Merritt and Joe Irving showed us around. There are over a hundred volunteers in the Glenwood area who volunteer to keep this museum clean and beautiful. It has over 20,000 general artifacts, housed in several large buildings. It's prehistoric collection alone has over 25,000 items collected from the Glenwood area.
Wheel Chair Accessible Earth LodgeEarth lodges have to be rebuilt every 15-20 years, because their supporting timber rots away. This is the second earth lodge built by Glenwood volunteers. They made it wheel chair accessible this time. They also used cedar and walnut as their woods, hoping it will keep it going longer. Willow branches are threaded through the walls to keep the mud plaster in place.
They have found that the earth lodge keeps an even temperature of around 55 degrees, summer and winter.
Carrie Merritt demonstrates how to play a piano with no hands, and Biddle contemplates getting an old fashioned permanent. Does he really want curly hair?
