A Hidden Gem of Loras College The Center for Dubuque History There are so many aspects to Loras College that make it unique. One of Loras’ strongest connections to the community is through the Center for Dubuque History found in the Academic Resource Center on the Loras campus. The center began in 1976 and is now the area’s largest local history resource and the only local history center affiliated with a college or university in Iowa. Thirty-seven years ago Bob Klein (’59), Tom Auge, Ph.D., John Hess Ed.D., Tom Goodman (’54) and the Rev. William Wilkie, Ph.D. (’50) began collecting local pieces of information and decided it would be useful to start an archive of Dubuque area history. They got their idea chartered and, soon after, word had spread and the collection began to grow as people began donating different pieces of Dubuque’s history. Mike Gibson (MA ’91) began as the director of the center of Dubuque history 30 years ago. Gibson’s passion for history is what kept him at Loras and he helps over 500 visitors to the center every year. “The Center is one of the best town and gown things the College has going for it,” Gibson stated. “Local history is the history of your own backyard and everyone should have an appreciation for it. It is so rewarding to help people find answers to whatever questions they may have.” The collection at Loras contains everything from clippings, files, manuscripts, diaries, maps, and oral histories to over 13,000 images. The Center has served thousands of patrons from all over the world who come to see the immense resources archived here. Visitors include elementary school, high school and college students, novelists, movie producers, historic preservationists, archeologists, genealogists, local history buffs and everything in-between. Gibson said, “The archives are only as good as people make them.” The collection relies on the people of Dubuque to come forward with any pieces of information others could benefit from. When new materials come in, Gibson has to physically preserve the information, arrange it so people can easily locate it and reference where he received the information. He explained that it is very difficult to keep up with the supply and demand that takes place.
Gibson To contact Mike Gibson in the Center for Dubuque History, call 588.7163 or email him at michael.gibson@loras.edu.
Gibson has many stories from his years in the Center. Once, a woman came in and found a picture of her father in an old yearbook. She was very emotional and explained that it was the only picture she had ever seen of her father. The archives happened to have two copies of that yearbook and he was able to give her one of the copies to share with her family. “You can’t put a price tag on that kind of service,” says Gibson. When asked about his favorite article of history in the archives, Gibson explained that at any given moment, something can become your favorite article of history. The Center for Dubuque History is a primary source that can’t be found anywhere else. Professors at Loras integrate local history and campus history into their class projects and get students more educated about Dubuque’s beautiful past. People can’t help but get interested in the local aspect that the archive holds. You never know what you’ll find when you start looking around the thousands of historical artifacts in the Center for Dubuque History.
Loras Legacy
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