Posted by Candice on Saturday, May 27, 2017
There are many reasons to take some time and visit Hickory Hill Park: have a picnic in the shelter at the Bloomington St. entrance, take a leisurely stroll and see some native wildflowers, go for a run and get a good workout on the hill up to Pappy Dickens' Preserve, or go and have a nice, quiet sit at one of the many benches that have been installed recently. But hey, maybe you prefer a little disease and/or history when you're in the park? If so, then I've got a walk for you...we're going to visit the pest house in Hickory Hill Park!
Pest houses were used for a number of years to provide quarantine of patients who were infected with communicable diseases such as small pox and tuberculosis; this was the solution during a time when many hospitals did not have isolation wards and vaccinations had not been implemented to such a degree that the disease was wiped out. It may seem incredibly antiquated, but even Iowa City had a number of pest houses during the years of 1881-1920s; the one in Hickory Hill was the last. While there is very little to see there, we will be able to fill in the picture a bit with information from old Press Citizen articles and a few pictures from Margaret Beck, Assistant Professor in the UI Anthropology Department, who did a mapping project of the site in 2011. If you can't make the walk with us, but are interested in learning more, stop by the Info Desk at the Library to use our databases, microfilm, and other historical resources.
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About the Author
I work at the Info Desk on the second floor, and I select books for the adult nonfiction collection. I have a degree in anthropology, which really helps in selecting...well...almost anything. I also manage the Art To Go collection of framed prints and original art, and the nonfiction DVDs.
What do you like to read?
In no particular order:... more
An energetic and astute account of someone I'd never heard of before, but who exhibits all the intellect, daring, humanism, and bravery of the heroic Indiana Jones! No doubt, part of the appeal of this story is seeing a woman blaze her path in a man's world, while also leaving that world better than she found it. But there's also the historical intrigue of exploration and discovery, of war-time cunning, of the changing worlds of academia and societal norms. I'll be first in line to admit that it takes a romantic gaze to look back with enjoyment on this time period and it's colonial trappings, but the author is careful to work in acknowledgment alongside a healthy dose of the understandings of historical cultural relativism. Christaine Desroches-Noblecourt's story deserves to be told, and this book does it well. If you like this, you might be interested in reading the very excellent "The Riddle of the Labyrinth" by Margalit Fox, which recounts Alice Kober's work in deciphering the Linear B script that was used in Mycenaean civilization. -Candice