Begin your journey through the exhibition here.
This section of the exhibition features an introductory panel from the curators, as well as some horse-related history from the area’s Native American tribes. Additionally, Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from 1899 are marked to show businesses related to horses in downtown Iowa City from that time.
A selection of images courtesy of the State Historical Society of Iowa – Iowa City reveals glimpses of life in downtown Iowa City in the 19th century.
This collection of original photographs is part of the Graham Family Papers collection in the Iowa Women’s Archives. It is accompanied by a reproduction of an image from the Cedar Falls Historical Society. These items help us gain a brief understanding of how horses participated in the local economy.
The diaries of Iowa Byington Reed are a treasure trove of information about what life was like for a settled, Anglo-European farm- and business-owning family in the Iowa City area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Reed also documents routine interactions with the farm animals, including many horses.
The diary of Iowa Byington Reed’s brother, Robert Byington, gives the reader a look into his daily life. This includes how horses influenced his day-to-day activities.
In the early part of the 20th century, Iowa City’s Fire Department had its own celebrity fire horse duo: Snowball and Highball. They were housed at the Alert Hose Company No. 2 until their retirement in 1925.
Between 1870 and 1945, the state of Iowa, with its favorable climate and available grass, hay, and grain, became a leading producer of heavy draft horses for farming and urban labor.
Whiles her husband was stationed in Texas and Florida during World War II, Helen ably ran the family farm, like many women left at home who proved they could do traditional men’s work, including handling draft horses.
Because so much depended on horse power, the state had a vested interest in controlling the quality of animals for breeding—hence the legal requirement that each stallion offered for service had to be registered in a studbook recognized by the secretary of the State Board of Agriculture.
A skilled journalist as well as a fiction writer, Iowan Phil Stong wrote ‘Horses and Americans’ (1939), about the role equines have played in American identity.
Horses were critical to the success of Iowa’s farms and local industry.
Horses were present when the University of Iowa was being built, and assisted with moving building materials and with the construction itself. Some of the photos on display in the exhibition feature these activities in the late 19th century and early 20th century. In addition, horses also played an important role in parades. They provided a mode of transportation, but they were also stately and impressive.
Horses were present when the University of Iowa was being built, and assisted with moving building materials and with the construction itself. In addition, horses also played an important role in parades.
‘The Pull of Horses on Local and National Histories and Identities’ exhibition featured a 16 x 9 foot screen at the center of the gallery. This screen displayed an original documentary by Dr. Kim Marra and Mark Anderson.
Historically, the University of Iowa offered horseback riding as part of its Women’s Athletics program.
Additional photos from the University of Iowa Physical Education for Women Collection and more in the Iowa Women’s Archives.
More than transportation, horses also provided iconic stature and presence in visual displays and parades that advanced the cause of Women’s Suffrage. Traditionally, horses had been chiefly the instruments of men for military and civilian power and sport.
Given the historical timing of the Women’s Suffrage Movement during the peak decades of horse power and the need for mobility to marshal the campaign, equines were instrumental in the effort at local, state, and national levels.
Green AYP Woman Suffrage Day 1909 ribbon Iowa Suffrage Memorial Commission Records, Iowa Women’s Archives
Horse bit Marra Collection
“Woman Suffrage Co-Equal With Man Suffrage” Iowa Suffrage Memorial Commission Records, Iowa Women’s Archives
This series of small panels depicts women with their horses as they worked toward suffrage.
These panels continue sharing photographs of women and their horses participating in suffrage activities.
Inez Milholland Boissevain (1886-1916) became the iconic Iron Jawed Angel on Horseback.
Designed to prevent women from spreading their legs over the horse, sidesaddle supposedly preserved female chastity.
The 1883 founding of the annual National Horse Show, which ran for a week in October-November at Madison Square Garden in New York City, inaugurated the nation’s most prestigious venue for competitive equestrian display.
The opening and expansion of Central Park from 1859 to 1876 prompted major growth in the use of horses in Manhattan for leisure activities as well as power and transportation.
The horsepowered economy thrived because of horses’ general trainability and obedience to human exploitation of their enormous strength and athleticism, but equines remained fundamentally unpredictable.
“. . . it is of all the exercises the one best adapted to keep them in condition, to restore the glow of health, and to key up the whole system to respond to all the delights of life.”
This photograph is of an unidentified African American soldier in uniform with a holstered handgun riding a horse, 1917-18.
Built in 1901 and dedicated as a cavalry post in 1909, Fort Des Moines became the designated federal training camp for Black officers beginning in May 1917 after the U.S. entered the war, and the NAACP lobbied for more Black men to be able to lead their compatriots in battle.
Constructed by the curators in the proportions of a tall light driving horse (16.2 hands) to wear the harness and bring a three-dimensional equine presence to the gallery.
