Journey Stories tells how we and our ancestors came to America. From Native Americans to new American citizens and regardless of our ethnic or racial background, everyone has a story to tell.

This special opening day will feature a ribbon cutting ceremony at 1:00 p.m. Afterwards, Dr. Loren Horton, Emeritus Senior Historian of the State Historical Society of Iowa, will lead a family and oral history workshop, offering advice on the recording and preserving of personal and family journey stories through memoir writing and oral interviews. 

Our history is filled with stories of people leaving behind everything – families and possessions – to reach a new life in another state, across the continent, or even across an ocean.

Many chose to move, searching for something better in a new land. Others had no choice, like enslaved Africans captured and relocated to a strange land and bravely asserting their own cultures, or like Native Americans already here, who were often violently removed by newcomers.

This exhibition runs from December 12, 2009 – January 24, 2010. The exhibit hours are:

Monday through Friday: 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Thursday through Thursday: Special extended hours from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

For more information, please contact the Heritage Center at 309.755.8398.