A unique photography exhibit opens next week detailing several decades of Iowa’s agricultural history. The display is called “Farm Life in Iowa: Photographs by A.M. Wettach” . Anita Walker, director of Iowa’s Department of Cultural Affairs, says the 52 photographs from the Mount Pleasant native span some 35 years of farm life in the Hawkeye State. Walker says the collection of Wettach’s work runs from about 1925 to 1960 and tells the story of rural life in Iowa during that time as the tools of the trade in the dynamic ag industry changed tremendously. Walker says those were 35 of the most revolutionary years for farming as a way of life in Iowa. She says the exhibition is a reflection of the past generation of Iowa farmers and the consequences of the philosophies and events that affected their lives. Walker says it tells the story of rural Iowans, the family life, what they ate, how they lived and the way they farmed. She says Wettach’s photographs provide historical evidence of farming advances in Iowa and honor traditions that stressed independence and self-sufficiency. His subjects included obsolete farming methods such as planting corn with a check wire and buck rake, haymaking, handy gadgets, and poignant portraits of farmers and their families.The exhibit will open on November 17th at the State Historical Museum in Des Moines. No end date has yet been set and Walker says it’ll be up through the holidays.
