Michael Morain, communications manager for the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, delivered a fascinating and inspiring account of Iowa history Tuesday afternoon when a crowd of more than 50 people filled our Greene County Historical Museum in Jefferson for a celebration of Iowa's 175 years of statehood. Michael, who grew up in Ames, is a fifth generation Iowan whose grandfather and uncle, Fred and Rick, were editors & publishers of Jefferson's Bee & Herald newspapers. Michael's father, the late Tom Morain, was one of the state's leading historians. You can watch the full video of Michael's program right here: https://bit.ly/3GjOjx5.

The current officers of the Greene County Iowa Historical Society were re-elected for another year of service. Left to right are treasurer Becki Cunningham, president David John, vice-president & program director Margaret Hamilton and secretary Joyce Ausberger. The election was held as part of the official annual meeting of the society, which was held in early December as a preliminary to a holiday program of music and stories.

When our historical society met on Friday, Nov. 5, at the United Methodist Church in Scranton, Mary Weaver, a historical society member from the Rippey area, presented a program on the Eagle Mineral Springs. From 1911 to 1959, members of the Orman family bottled and sold the water that started bubbling from the ground when they were digging for coal south of Rippey, near where Snake Creek enters the North Raccoon River. The spring water -- said to relax and rejuvenate people who drank it -- was advertised as "Greene County's Fountain of Youth."

Leo Landis, curator of the State Historical Museum in Des Moines, spent two hours on Nov. 3 doing a walk-through of our Greene County Historical Museum in Jefferson, then sharing ideas with board members and other members of our historical society. We discussed how to refresh and exchange exhibits; have short-term more-public exhibits of peculiar individual items in our collections; maintain and improve access to our archives; manage our other historical facilities, and more.

Mikki Schwarzkopf, of Jefferson, presented a terrific program -- in costume! -- to our Greene County Iowa Historical Society on Friday, Oct. 1, detailing the great struggle that in 1920 led to ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That finally gave women the right to vote in this country. Schwarzkopf's program, delivered at the United Methodist Church in Rippey, was rich with detail about how local "suffragists" campaigned for and won the vote by the men of Greene County, aided by the appearances here by many of the national leaders in the women's suffrage movement.