Developing a Long-Range Plan for the Care of the Humanities Collection at the German American Heritage Center

FAIN: PG-50271-08

German American Heritage Center, Inc. (Davenport, IA 52802-1410)
Scharlott Blevins (Project Director: May 2007 to April 2010)

A general preservation assessment and development of a long-range plan for the care of letters, naturalization papers, passports, photographs, audiotapes, books, and artifacts documenting German immigration and settlement in the area of Davenport, Iowa, from 1795 to the present.

The German American Heritage Center seeks to develop a long range plan for the care of its growing humanities collection. This collection includes thousands of books, photographs, personal artifacts, business/organization artifacts and archival and historic documents that record and reflect how thousands of German citizens left their homeland, settled as immigrants in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois, and contributed to the development of American culture. The German immigrant experience is an integral part of the history and fabric of life in this region. The Center is located in a renovated historic immigrant hotel that was built on the banks of the Mississippi River. The Center seeks to document this heritage. The preservation and exhibition of this collection will enrich knowledge of this immigrant experience for current and future generations.