Friday, August 21, 2015

Open House Saturday, August 22, 2015

The Cambridge Historical Association has been open for research from 9 to noon on selected Saturdays this summer.  The final Open House Saturday is August 22nd.  Find us at 504 3rd Street in Cambridge, Iowa.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Open House - Saturday July 11, 2015

The Cambridge Historical Association will be open for research from 9 to noon on selected Saturdays this summer.  The next Open House Saturday is July 11th.  Find us at 504 3rd Street in Cambridge, Iowa. 

And in August see us Saturday, August 22nd.

Friday, May 22, 2015

Skunk River Valley Days - June 12 - 14, 2015

The annual Skunk River Valley Days kicks off Friday evening, June 12th, with food and a teen dance.  It continues Saturday with a variety of events before concluding Sunday with Worship in the Park and a potluck.  The parade kicks off Saturday at 10 a.m.  See all the details on the Cambridge Iowa Events Committee Facebook page (anyone can see it - no Facebook account required).  And the complete schedule can be viewed here.

The Cambridge Historical Association will be open following the parade.  Stop in to see our displays and learn more about the history of Cambridge.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Unknowns in the Cambridge High School Graduates

In our list of graduates from the Cambridge High School in Cambridge, Iowa, we have names with an unknown year of graduation and years with unknown graduates.  Maybe by listing them here, someone can help sort parts of them out or fill in some blanks.

The years for which we list graduates unknown are 1894 and 1897.  The earliest year for which we list graduates is 1892.  The "Biographical and Historic Memoirs of Story County, Iowa" (1890) cited in our book states "but as yet no graduation has been had." so around 1892 for the first graduates would be consistent.
 
The unknown year of graduation graduates list (converted to alphabetical order) is:

BeckSmith
BenferCharles
BenferEva
BossoutSylvia
ClawsonElizabeth
ClawsonRuth
CronkFanny
ErslandKnute
GuthrieBess
LivingstonGrafton
MaxwellAddie
MaxwellFanny
MaxwellGeorge
NellisJennie
PresnallSarah
SeversonGeorge
SnyderCharles
TesdahlMartha
ThompsonMinnie
WhiteCharles
WhiteLara

And in looking at the list I noticed a Fanny Cronk listed as graduating in 1898, presumably the same person as on our list of unknown year of graduation.  As we do our electronic version of this list, we may be able to find others that do not belong on the unknown year of graduation list.

If you can help us with any of these names, please let us know.  Or if they may be relatives you are searching, let us know that; it is possible we have other information about them.

To learn much more about the history of Cambridge education, see our second book and its expanded table of contents.  Which is still for sale.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Help Us Identify These Cambridge High School Graduates


We have a collection of class photos showing graduates of the Cambridge High School.  The earliest we have is 1911 and the final one is the last class, which graduated in 1958, before Cambridge became part of the Ballard School District.  You can see these framed at our museum in Cambridge, Iowa.  They also are part of our second book:  Cambridge, Iowa 150 Years of Education in Cambridge and Union Township, Story County, Iowa.

Of those photos we have (especially early on there are gaps), one which does not identify who is who is the 1915 photo above which only has one name associated with a picture. Can you help us identify them?

Here is what we know:
  • One individual photo has a hand-written name above it; the top row fourth from left says Ava Irene Cook.  Not known what the source of identification for it is. 
  • Our list of 1915 graduates, again in the second book, has 11 names.  The 12th photo would presumably be the Superintendent, Harry Washburn Dana. if our list of graduates is complete.

The 11 names on our list of 1915 graduates are:
  1. Mable Abraham
  2. B. Dewey Angstrom
  3. Ava Cook
  4. Effie Erickson
  5. Helen Haun
  6.  Althea Johnson
  7. Raymond Langland
  8. Joe Larson
  9.  Florence Maywald
  10.  Robert Maywald
  11.  Meda Thomas
 This list has been alphabetized rather than being in the order shown in our list.

Can you help us identify any of the graduates?  How else might we sort out who is who?  You can leave comments, suggestions and questions below in the comments.  Or email us at cha@huxcomm.net   Thank you for your assistance.

Note:  To see a larger version of the photo, click on it.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Cambridge Iowa High School Graduates List

Both of our books contain listings of the Graduates of Cambridge High School by year from 1892 to 1961 along with a few of unknown year.  The second book, Cambridge, Iowa: 150 Years of Education in Cambridge and Union Township, Story County, Iowa, also has class pictures for many of the classes.  To help you and us better use these resources, we are creating a  list by name.

While this is just getting underway, we would like to show you the current format for your comments.  It is sorted by name with columns for last name, first name, year, and whether or not a photo is available.  The photos only refer to the Senior Class pictures we have, not any of our other sources.  There is also a column for notes (not shown below) which might include items such as married name.  The listing as Needed under photos means we do not have a class picture.  The earliest one we have is 1911 and there are some gaps in the early years.  Does anyone know when Senior Class photos were begun in Cambridge or in general?

Please let us know if you think this will be useful.  And what would make it more useful for you and the community.



The list in our books comes thanks to the work of Lois Whitney, one of our early members and a longtime supporter of the Cambridge Alumni Association.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Check Us Out on Facebook

In addition to this website, you can also follow us on Facebook.  Thanks to Julie Erickson, we now have a Facebook page!  See it here.  Note:  You do not have to have a Facebook account to see all of the page; however, you do need one if you would like to Like us or leave us a message.

One of the most recent postings is a video from the Skunk River Valley Days Parade in 2014 and you can see some of our historical photos.

January Meeting Will Be Tuesday, January 20th

Just a reminder that the next meeting of the Cambridge Historical Society will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, January 20, 2015.  The weather forecast is good for this time of year!  Hope to see you there at our Museum on Third Street.