FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 28, 2005

CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119, lisa.lacher@drake.edu

DES MOINES, DRAKE HISTORIES COME ALIVE AT COWLES LIBRARY TUESDAY

R. Dean Wright, Drake University professor emeritus of sociology, will lend his voice to some of the exciting stories of Des Moines and Drake history during the Live! @ Cowles Library event, set for 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 1, in the Reading Room, including a showcase of the Cowles Drake Heritage Collection.

“There are a lot of great characters in Drake and Des Moines history that we’re just not aware of and this will be an opportunity for us to get to know them a little better,” Wright said. “I spent the summer going through the University archives looking for stories that people could really connect to.”

Among the stories Wright will explore is George Carpenter’s move to found Drake 125 years ago, the 1951 racially motivated attack on Drake football star Johnny Bright and its impact on NCAA sports, a Drake student who was lost at sea with the Titanic and a look at Des Moines at the dawn of the 20th century.

The event, which is free and open to the public, coincides with the newly renovated James Collier Heritage Room exhibit of historical artifacts and photos from Des Moines and Drake history. The gallery can be viewed online at www.lib.drake.edu/heritage/.

James Collier, a 1970 alumnus of Drake’s School of Education who lives in Medford, Ore., donated $100,000 to help remodel an upstairs room at Cowles Library, 28th Street and University Ave. The remodeled space, called the James Collier Heritage Room, to display items from Drake’s history as part of the University’s celebration of its 125th anniversary, beginning in fall 2005.

The room will also be used to display items from Cowles Library special collections, which include original artwork, papers from Iowa leaders and Drake alumni and a run of cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winning artist Jay “Ding” Darling.

The exhibit also marks another way Cowles Library is serving Drake students and the community at large. Through an ongoing digital archive, such as those on display in the Collier room, Drake librarians are creating a bold new library that is part archive, part museum and part research facility – all of which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Internet.

Cowles librarians have been actively encouraging members of the public to contribute to the archive, including materials related to the history of the Drake Relays and Des Moines in general.

“ Well, what’s really exiting about this is the capabilities we now have to create new learning experiences for Drake – and for the community,” said Rod Henshaw, dean of Cowles Library. “The Heritage Room gives us a special space for exhibits, and the digital tools that the library has deployed, allowing Drake faculty and students the opportunity to create new forms of knowledge and discourse. This is a very powerful combination, one that I think is unique to Iowa.”

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