Mason City, Iowa – TRACES Center for History and Culture is bringing its mobile exhibit (shown in photo above), “At Home in the Heartland: Forgotten Stories of How Iowans Got to be ‘Us,’” to the Southwestern Community College Creston campus on Thurs., April 21, 2016, from 8:30-11:30 a.m. The exhibit is housed in a retrofitted school bus, the “BUS-eum.”
The Iowa that existed as little as 35 years ago is gone. Sweeping, long-term changes in the region’s agriculture, economy, technology, politics and its ethnic, age or other demographics have altered the ways we live. In the process we have lost old treasures even as we have gained new possibilities. All this can be examined, together.
At present, some seniors report they find it difficult to relate to youth who use technology more complex than, and communication forms far different from, what was the norm a generation ago. Both seniors and parents cite what they describe as a failure to transfer a sense of history—our cultural legacy—to younger Iowans.
Founded in 2001, TRACES brings people of different backgrounds and perspectives together to speak with each other, openly and respectfully, in order to exchange experiences and opinions. In the process, old stereotypes and current ideological limits shift, making space for new possibilities when people humbly encounter one another. It taps the past for clues about what to avoid repeating in the future, as well as what has worked well in the past that might serve us well now as we seek a better way forward towards a more sustainable and peaceable world.
TRACES first focused on WWII history. Now that that generation mostly is gone and new crises face us, however, it is shifting its focus from preserving "traces" of WWII to issues of civic life: What have been our strengths and weaknesses over time as communities; what resources do we possess at present; what futures are open to us—solo and as a society—as we face numerous trials and grope forward? In response to current challenges, TRACES focuses on issues of family history juxtaposed over that of communities as a fulcrum for deliberate social change.
Admission is free, in part with support from Humanities Iowa, the John K. & Luise V. Hanson and the Martha-Ellen Tye Foundations, Chester P. Luick Memorial Trust, Vander Haags Inc. and local hosts. Details about the tour and TRACES may be found at http://roots.traces.org/at-home-in-the-heartland or