Hoover Summer Day Camp in West Branch, Iowa Offers Kids a Chance to Investigate Nature and History

WEST BRANCH, IOWA? Does your family consider themselves great detectives? 

This summer is your chance to prove it! The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association invites children ages 9 to 12 along with their parents, grandparents, or guardians, to investigate as they explore the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum and Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch, Iowa. As detectives for the day, children and their families will search for clues and uncover mysteries at the Presidential Library and Museum and in the tallgrass prairie at the National Historic Site.

Registration is required for the Hoover Summer Day Camp. Families may select July 11, July 18, July 25, or August 1, 2012 as one of the dates to attend. Activities last from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Registration costs $20 per group (for up to 3 participants) and $10 for each additional participant. Registration fees must be paid in advance. For more information or to register contact Delene McConnaha at (319) 643-5327 or at delene.mcconnaha@hooverassociation.org.

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum are in West Branch, Iowa at exit 254 off I-80. Both are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. For more information go online at www.nps.gov/heho or call (319) 643-2541.


Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
110 Parkside Drive
PO Box 607
West Branch, Iowa  52358
319 643-2541 phone
319 643-7864 fax
www.nps.gov/heho

WEST BRANCH, IOWA–Herbert Hoover National Historic Site will partner with the West Branch Public Library from January through April of 2012 to offer
literacy and educational programs.

A National Park Ranger from Herbert Hoover National Historic Site will lead "Pajama Storytime" activities on the first Tuesdays of each month from January through April. The West Branch Public Library welcomes pre-schoolers, their parents, and families to "Pajama Storytime" each Tuesday evening in the Library Children's Area from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Story time helps develop preschoolers' early literacy and socialization skills. A bedtime snack is provided.

"Get to Know Your National Parks" on the first and third Wednesdays of every month from January through April with a National Park Ranger from Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. Children of all ages can learn how National Parks preserve America's natural and historical heritage with a focus on a different national park each time. "Get to Know Your National Parks" meets at 2:00 p.m. in the Library Children's Area. The program will last about one hour.

The West Branch Public Library is at 300 North Downey Street in West Branch, Iowa. For more information about library programs, call Youth Librarian Becky Knoche at (319) 643-2633. Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum are in West Branch, Iowa at exit 254 off I-80. Both are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. Parking is limited so please allow extra time to find a parking space. For more information go online at www.nps.gov/heho or call (319) 643-2541.


Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
110 Parkside Drive
PO Box 607
West Branch, Iowa  52358
319 643-2541 phone
319 643-7864 fax
www.nps.gov/heho

WEST BRANCH, IOWA–Herbert Hoover National Historic Site will host "A Sense of Place", an exhibit of fifty black and white photographs of rural and
small town Iowa by photographer David Plowden. Dating from the mid-1980s, the photographs document the disappearing face of the rural Iowa  landscape. "A Sense of Place" is on loan from Humanities Iowa and will be displayed at the visitor center from October 14 through April 1. Concurrent to the
photographic exhibit, the film "Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern" will be shown at 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays from October 15 through April 1.

For four decades, the award-winning photographer David Plowden has documented our country's vanishing landscapes and artifacts. He has described himself as "an archeologist with a camera" who has spent his life "one step ahead of the wrecking ball." "I have been beset," Mr. Plowden says, "with a sense of urgency to record those parts of our heritage which seem to be receding as quickly as the view from the rear of a speeding train. I fear that we are eradicating the evidence of our past accomplishments so quickly that in time we may well lose the sense of who we are."

"Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern" is a 1995 documentary by filmmakers Jeanne Jordan and Steven Ascher.  The film explores the farm crisis of the late 20th century through Jordan's own family, as the family wrestles with the end of their Iowa family farm.  The film received the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature.

"The park's landscape features are meant to remind us of open spaces, much of which was small family farms at the time Herbert Hoover was born here," said Superintendent Pete Swisher.  "This exhibit and film is an excellent connection of that idea, and a vivid reminder of what once was."

The exhibit and the film are both free. "Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern" is 88 minutes long and is unrated.

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum are in West Branch, Iowa at exit 254 off I-80. Both are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. Parking is limited so please allow extra time to find a parking space. For more information go online at www.nps.gov/heho or call (319) 643-2541.


Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
110 Parkside Drive
PO Box 607
West Branch, Iowa  52358

319 643-2541 phone
319 643-7864 fax
www.nps.gov/heho

Follow @HooverNPS on Twitter.

WEST BRANCH, IOWA–Visitors to Herbert Hoover National Historic Site will have a couple of different opportunities this September to experience the park's 81-acre tallgrass prairie. "September is one of the most brilliant months in the prairie," said park superintendent Pete Swisher. "It's when flocks of monarch butterflies may be found among yellow goldenrods and purple asters. Our ranger-guided walks and volunteer projects are good opportunities for people to bring their questions about the prairie and the park, and to learn in more detail about our natural and cultural resources."

On Labor Day Monday, September 5 at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site national park rangers will lead guided walks of the 81-acre tallgrass prairie. Visitors can discover how and why the National Park Service is restoring this endangered habitat as part of the landscape commemorating Herbert Hoover's life. The walk is less than a mile and lasts about one hour. The walks will start at 9:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Meet at the Gravesite Parking Lot. Bring water, dress for the weather, and wear comfortable
walking shoes. Water, sunscreen, sunglasses, hats, and insect repellent are recommended. Parking is limited so please allow extra time to find a parking space.

On Saturday, September 24, Herbert Hoover National Historic Site will participate in National Public Lands Day with a volunteer project in the 81-acre tallgrass prairie. Volunteers are needed to help remove trees, shrubs, and weeds from the grassland, or with other projects to improve the park landscape. Volunteers interested in helping on September 24 may contact Adam Prato at (319) 643-7855. Work in the prairie will be from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Meet at the Visitor Center at 8:30 a.m. for an orientation and to get signed up. Dress for the weather and wear comfortable work clothes. Water, sunscreen, sunglasses, hats, and insect repellent are recommended. Long pants and closed-toe footwear are required.

By the time of Herbert Hoover's birth in 1874, the tallgrass prairie in eastern Iowa was already mostly converted to farmland. The National Park Service began reconstructing the endangered habitat at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in the 1970s. The deep-rooted native prairie plants help control erosion and runoff in the national park that is the home to Herbert Hoover's birthplace, gravesite, and Presidential Library and Museum. The prairie also provides open space and a natural setting to commemorate Herbert Hoover's contributions conserving public lands. During Hoover's presidency, the size of our national forests expanded by more than two million acres, and the land designated for new national parks and monuments increased by 40 percent.

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum are in West Branch, Iowa at exit 254 off I-80. Both are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. Parking is limited so please allow extra time to find a parking space. For more information about visiting go online to www.nps.gov/heho or call (319) 643-2541.