Arcane: adjective, meaning known or understood by very few; mysterious; secret; obscure; esoteric. By definition, “arcane” is an arcane descriptor.
Gateway Arcana: Hidden History in the Iowa-Illinois Gateway will examine personalities, events, stories, and bits of information that escaped–or were excluded from–the official versions of history. Topics range from abolitionists to Lumberkings; Honey Bees to Nazis; Jews in Waterloo, IA, to a D. C. slave trader.
On Saturday April 29, 2017, the public is invited to the annual Gateway History Conference, at the Eagle Point Park Lodge in Clinton, IA, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The conference is free and open to the public. RSVP’s are encouraged but not required. RSVP’s and other inquiries related to the conference can be sent to bradleywiles1@gmail.com.
According to organizers Matt Parbs and Brad Wiles, this third conference will be the best one yet. “Great topics, great group of speakers,” Parbs said. “But most of all, great local stories with National and even International significance.”
Gateway Arcana will feature a number of panels on some of the lesser-known aspects of area history, including the following individual presentations.
- “Clinton Lumberkings by the Numbers, 1956-2004” by Erik Oas, Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations, Clinton Lumberkings
- “Abolitionists and Freethinkers with the Underground Railroad in Clinton County, IA” by Dave Holmgren, Independent Historian
- “The Murder of William Martin, 1832” by Russ Fry, Independent Historian and Documentarian
- “How the Honey Bee Shaped Iowa’s History” by Carly Vannoy, 2017 Iowa Honey Queen
- “Little Known Facts About Felix ‘King of the Clowns’ Adler (1895-1960)” by Sarah Lind, Executive Director, Felix Adler Children’s Discovery Center
- “Bad Things Happen Here: Murder and Suicide in Scott and Clinton Counties” by John Brassard, Jr., History Columnist, DeWitt Observer
- “The League of Humanity and Opposition to War in Davenport during the Summer of 1917” by Bill Douglas, Independent Historian
- “Uncovering a Davenport Nazi: The John Robert Bishop Papers” by Samantha Crisp, Special Collections Librarian, and Atticus Garrison, Student, Augustana College
As in previous years, the panel sessions will be bookended by a keynote address and a film screening that look at the theme of arcane history outside of the Gateway area.
The keynote address will be delivered by Dr. Jeff Forret, Professor and Head of history graduate studies at Lamar University in Beaumont, TX. Forret is a Clinton County native and an award-winning scholar on the history of American slavery in the Antebellum era. His next scheduled publication is a legal history of the domestic slave trade. His keynote talk will focus on William H. Williams, a notorious slave trader who operated in the Washington, D. C. area.
Sons of Jacob Synagogue is an award-winning documentary about the Jewish community in Waterloo, IA. The film is part of a documentary series on the history of Waterloo, with each film concentrating on a particular building or space to tell the story of the City’s diverse community. Co-directors Francesca Soans (University of Northern Iowa) and Robert Neymeyer (Grout Museum) will discuss their film and the documentary series project.
Businesses, institutions, and individuals wishing to sponsor the conference this year and in future years may do so by getting in touch with the organizers.
For more details on the conference program schedule visit http://www.thesawmillmuseum.org/history-conference.html.