Scott County Farmer's Union Picnic at Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds
Scope and Contents
This is a collection of early film footage transferred to video. The quality of the film is good to poor and is shot in both black and white and color. There are targets in a few of the films, particularly the 1932 footage. Activities focus on horses in various types of races, foot races, tug of war, a reproduction of the Oklahoma Land Rush, square dancing, pony push ball games and parades. The 1944 event features a large parade through downtown Davenport that included the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus wagon owned by B.J. Palmer. One piece of footage appears to have been taken at a Lions Club parade, possibly in Chicago, most likely in the 1940s. A highlight of the last film is Roy Curtis of Scott County driving a team of twenty horses cutting figure eights on the track. Newspaper articles indicate he drove the team of twenty in 1936.
Dates
- Creation: 1930-1944
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Materials are available for use in the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center only.
Request permission before copying materials.
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Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement.
Biographical / Historical
The Scott County Farmer's Union Picnic was first held in 1923 and became an annual event featuring a speaker, races, entertainment, parades, food and fun at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds. Newspaper accounts describe dances, musical revues, free pony rides, music by the Orphans Home band, cash and merchandise prizes. The names of Ned B. Curtis and Frank J. Karstens are often listed as involved with committees along with many others who worked hard to present what became an annual Labor Day Weekend event that attracted over 15,000 people. The Lion's Club took over the event in 1945. Altogether the segments add up to over one hour of video.
Extent
1 discs : BUP, IFO and VOB video files
Language of Materials
English
Physical Location
Digital Repository Box 1: Local History
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center Repository
321 Main Street
Davenport IA 52801-1490 United States
specialcollections@davenportlibrary.com