Tom Milligan, Professional Actor, Des Moines 

Saturday, November 8th, at 11:00 am at La Poste

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Tom Milligan an award winning professional actor, portrays Henry Wallace. Tom has appeared in literally hundreds of plays across the state, and for ten years, appeared at Charlie's Showplace, Iowa's first dinner theater. Tom also offers workshops on acting throughout Iowa, and also appears on Iowa Public Television.




American Dreamer: The Life and Times of Henry A. Wallace


In this one-act play based on the award-winning book of the same name by Senator John C. Culver and John Hyde, actor Tom Milligan portrays Henry A. Wallace, the agricultural innovator and founder of Pioneer Hi-Bred seed corn company who became US Secretary of Agriculture and later Vice President under Franklin Roosevelt. Admired by many and later branded as a Socialist during his controversial 1948 campaign for the presidency, Wallace always held out a vision for the future.


Michael Zahs  

Saturday, November 8th, at 2:00 pm at La Poste

Michael Zahs grew up on a century farm near Haskins as part of a nine-generation Iowa family. Michael attended a one-room school and has a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Northern Iowa. He taught junior high science and Iowa history for 39 years. In 1989, he joined with Dr. Loren Horton in creating the “Iowa: Eye to I” class/tour. This was the first graduate level class taught at Iowa Wesleyan College and developed into a series of seven classes. The classes cover art, literature, history, geology, food ways, ethnicity, architecture, nature and music. Students are immersed in all things Iowa in the classes, which are taught on a bus traveling the state. Michael has given programs on state and local topics for over 35 years. He is very involved in historic preservation, log buildings, cemetery work, and state and local history.




Country School Programs:  Puppets, song, and dialogue


Programs in country schools were a very important part of the school year. This presentation covers material used in country schools from 1850 to 2010. The presentation will include songs, puppets, and dialogue.

Denny Rehder, Author, Muscian and Photographer, Des Moines 

Sunday, November 9th, at 2:00 pm at La Poste

Denny Rehder, is a local historian. His avocation for nearly fifty years has been music. Now that musical ability is combined with another avocation – Iowa railroad history – to offer a program on this overlooked part of Iowa's past. Rehder has been involved as author, editor, publisher, photographer or researcher in the publication of seven books on subjects from Iowa history.  He is a native of Gladbrook who grew up watching the trains of the Chicago Great Western mainline.

 

Grass Between the Rails:  Iowa’s railroad heritage in story and song

The program celebrates Iowa's railroad heritage with a unique blend of stories and original folk songs about the development of railroads in Iowa. The subjects cover events of national importance such as the race across Iowa to connect with the transcontinental railroad to the West, and local history, including the poor service offered by the "Slow Norwegian." Other topics include the somber "Worst Wreck Ever," a farm boy's remembrance of "The One Elephant Circus," and the rollicking "Doodlebug.”