NEWS

Hometown Heritage continues monthly program series on May 24 with theme of work

COURTESY OF HOMETOWN HERITAGE AT CARNEGIE LIBRARY MUSEUM
Special to the Chief
“The Creation of the Paley Arches” will be one of the stories featured in the third program in the “Re-Awakening History Through Our Own Stories,” series.

Hometown Heritage at the Carnegie Library Museum continues its program series this month, thanks to grant funding from the State Historical Society, Inc. The program, “Re-Awakening History Through Our Own Stories,” is a monthly program series, exploring how living in a small Midwestern town influences family, education, work, faith and loss – the five major themes that emerged upon analysis of interviews in the Hometown Heritage archives. Each of the monthly programs will be facilitated by a board member of Hometown Heritage, incorporating guest speakers’ expertise of each of the five themes as it relates to area history and sharing their own experiences. All programs are free to the public and will take place at different locations to showcase the various community assets created by Hometown Heritage.

“We hope the program series will ignite excitement in reawakening interest for telling our own life stories,” said Perry Public Library Director and Hometown Heritage Board Member Mary Murphy. “Our community is made up of so many individual stories and each one is important. Each one needs to be told and recorded so that it may be shared with future generations.”

The third program in the series will explore the theme of Work and will take place from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 24 in the upstairs conference room of the Town/Craft Center, located at 1124 Willis Ave., adjacent to the Paley Arches and Soumas Court. The program will be presented by Hometown Heritage Board Member Mary Murphy of the Perry Public Library.

This month’s program will include several stories by Perry residents, including:

  • “Perry: The Beginning – 1869” - Story told by Mary Murphy
  • “The Creation of the Paley Arches” - Story told by Jim VonBehren and Bob Renze
  • “Perry Volunteer Fire Department” - Story told by Brian Eiteman
  • “How Perry Pulled Together to Attract A Pork Processing Plant” - Story told by Bill Clark
  • “Pork Plants in Perry” - Story told by John Palmer
  • “One Small Business's Story - Pucci's” - Story told Larry Vodenik

“Perry has a long tradition of being a community made up of dedicated, go-getting individuals,” Murphy said, “and that is evident from the very beginning and throughout Perry’s history – from the founding of the community and bringing the railroad to town, to groups working together to attract industries that have helped shape the community, as well as the individual dedication of small businesses that create vibrancy in the community – and this program on Work will share a variety of those stories.”

Upcoming programs in the “Re-Awakening History Through Our Own Stories" series include:

  • Thursday, June 16, 6-8 p.m.: LOSS and HOME at Carnegie Library Museum Presented by Pam Jenkins, Professor Emerita, University of New Orleans
  • Tuesday, July 26, 6-8 p.m.: FAITH at Hotel Pattee Presented by Bill Clark, President of Hometown Heritage
  • A sixth program will take place as a capstone of the series to reveal videos created from the community interviews. More details on the final program will be available at a later date.

For more information about this program or Hometown Heritage at the Carnegie Library, contact Mary Murphy at the Perry Public Library, (515)465-3569 or mmurphy@perry.lib.ia.us.