Iowa Highway Ends (etc.)

A press release in August from the Tama County Historical Society announced reception of a grant from the State Historical Society of Iowa for “microfilm preservation of historic newspapers” in Tama County and also the former Reinbeck Courier. As worded, I’m not sure if it includes digitization of said microfilm, but either way, it’s important for archives!

In the past couple of months, online archives of the Traer Star-Clipper have advanced slightly, to include 1975 and 1976 and six weeks of 1977. This addition is small, but pivotal, and not just for Bicentennial coverage. It includes the switch to offset printing in February 1975, which ended the use of the press in the back of the Star-Clipper offices that dated back to 1953. Also, the 1976 newspapers are photographs of news pages, instead of microfilm, which means that the file sizes are much bigger but photos are readable and the presentation is cleaner. The combination of these two changes leads to seeing online reproductions with many commonalities with what subscribers saw through about the end of the 20th century.

Ideally, hopefully, digitization of newspapers from the 21st century will switch to using the original PDFs sent electronically to the press. This eliminates all fold marks, presents news photographs and ads in full color, and also has a smaller file size than photographed pages. In Tama County’s case, that would require cooperation from the papers’ owner in West Virginia.

I see that Pocahontas County’s thick 1981 history book is available through the Laurens library’s website (dated 1901 in search). Could we get the 1987 Tama County history book online too? Just a thought.

The Traer Historical Museum, in addition to owning the building the museum is in on Second Street, also owns the Star-Clipper/Canfield building down the block, home of the Winding Stairs.

The Canfield building needs a lot of work. A story in the North Tama Telegraph says repairing a hail-damaged roof will cost $24,000, with insurance covering only half that. Tuckpointing in the basement will cost $12,000, with the city providing $8,000 in local-option sales tax money.

This Sunday from 11 to 1, a porkburger dinner fundraiser will be held at the Traer Memorial Building. (The “tenderloins” are probably the pork loin sandwiches sold during summer events, rather than the breaded tenderloins seen at restaurants.) A silent auction will also be part of the fundraiser, with items listed in the NTT link above.

Meskwaki Settlement has forfeited Friday’s game to Gladbrook-Reinbeck, KCCI reports. The school cites player numbers and injury concerns.

Meskwaki lost its opener to HLV/Tri-County 64-16.

Meswaki and GR are both in North Tama’s district now that the Redhawks have dropped to 8-man. North Tama is scheduled to host Meskwaki on Sept. 25.

Cindy Hadish of Homegrown Iowan visited St. Joseph’s Parish in Chelsea, among others, as they prepared to have a final Mass. The Archdiocese of Dubuque is engaged in a restructuring process, and the reduction in services and realignment of pastorates took effect at the end of June.

Technically, these are not closure closures, as there will be Wednesday morning services, and the churches will be available for weddings and funerals. (That means that there’s still going to be maintenance costs involved.)

St. Paul’s in Traer, somehow (a miracle?), escaped full closure, although all the proposals ended Mass there. Traer was noted as having one of the longest distances to another parish. Masses there are held on Saturdays.