Cedar Rapids, Our People, Our Story, Volume 1

From "The changes in society and the community around us have nevver been more evident than when we peruse the hundreds of photographs in 'Cedar Our People, Our Story, Volume 1.' These snapshots recorded every day life in the Cedar Rapids area during the relatively simpler times of the 1880s and 1890s and the first half of the 20th Century. Albeit two-dimensional, the black-and-white photographs are packed with information about people, where they worked, how they enjoyed life, and how they celebrated family milestones. With the public's help, The Gazette is able to create an outstanding collection of rare and unusual local pictures made by amateur and professional photographers who captured moments in time and froze them in place. Responding to our call for old photographs, area residents submitted a wonderful variety of images, many of them pulled from aging albums or found in attic trunks and boxes in the basement. In addition, we were able to borrow historically relevant pictures from several local museums and, of course, we tapped The Gazette's extensive archive of news photographs.The more than 300 photographs in this book are like pieces of tile in a mosaic. Collectively, they create a big, telling picture of the lives and times of people, places and activities of days gone by in the Cedar Rapids area."