Cedar Falls Historical Society

05/30/2026

Welcome to Vinyl Memories: Spinnin’ Through Time, a monthly series.

May Selection: “Time After Time” 🕰️— Cyndi Lauper (1983) 🎶

Released in 1983, Time After Time showcased a gentler side of Cyndi Lauper’s bold pop style. Harmonizing emotion, vulnerability, and timeless pop melodies, the song became one of the decade’s most beloved ballads and continues to resonate with listeners across generations.

What is your favorite Cyndi Lauper song? ✨

#1983

Image Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by Klaus Hiltscher and tagged with “codex”. License: All Rights Reserved.

by Valerie Zubrod

05/29/2026

Join us next Saturday, June 6 at 2:00 pm, for our *second* rendition of Adult Show & Tell, an intriguing afternoon learning about four distinct collections from the community!

Collections Manager, Julie Huffman-klinkowitz, will host again, and the collections of Kellie Smith, Linda Grimm, Russ Grimm, and Rich Congdon will be featured.

This event will take place in our 315 Clay St. classroom. It's free and open to the public, so bring a friend!

05/28/2026

Back in April, we were treated to an afternoon of improv where Lorem Improv Dolor, under the direction of Dr. Doug Shaw, performed scenes that were taken from local newspaper headlines.

Here is another installment of our "Ripped from the Headlines" series, featuring an actual headline from the show (from the July 14, 1899 Courier): "Killed by a Kissing Bug."

05/27/2026

Today is the the 147th day of the year! And on this day in history--May 27, 1933--Walt Disney released for general audiences a short film, “3 Little Pigs.” It originally premiered just two days earlier on May 25, at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. This little cartoon classic was directed by Burt Gillett, and won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons in 1934.

In 1994, members of the animation field voted the short #11 on the 50 Greatest Cartoons of All Time list, and in 2007, Three Little Pigs was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leAh00n3hno.
Feel free to sing along to "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" 😝🐷🐷🐷🐺

Three Little Pigs is an animated short film released in 1933 by United Artists, produced by Walt Disney and directed by Burt Gillett. Based on a fairy tale o...

05/26/2026

SAVE THE DATE! Sturgis Falls 50th Anniversary -- The Golden Ticket is just one month away!

On Friday, June 26, our Victorian House Museum will be open from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, with trains running at the Victorian House from 1:00 to 4:00 pm.
On Saturday, June 27 and Sunday, June 28, all three of our museums will be open from 1:00 to 5:00 pm, with trains running at the Victorian House from 1:00 to 5:00 pm as well. Local artist, Nancy Barsic, will be cutting silhouettes again in the Victorian House classroom Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoon from 1:00 - 4:00 pm.

Admission is free in all our museums all weekend long, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors: Crystal Cold Copyworks - Cedar Falls Cedar Falls Tourism and Hawkeye Alarm.

Hope to see you there!

😎🌞🎫

05/25/2026

Today is Memorial Day, an American holiday which memorializes or remembers the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. It is observed annually on the last Monday of May.

It was originally known as Decoration Day, and was first observed in the years following the Civil War. It became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, participating in or watching parades, and hosting or attending family gatherings.

05/24/2026

Happy Graduation Day to the Cedar Falls High School Class of 2026!
We wish you well on your future adventures!
👩‍🎓🗞️🧑‍🎓🗞️👨‍🎓🗞️

Image:
Cedar Falls High School Class of 1895

05/23/2026

Memorial Day weekend, with its picnics and cookouts, kicks of the summer season. We often share links to seasonal recipes to inspire your contribution to a summer gathering. 🌞🌭🍔🍗🥗🥧🧁🍪

This year, with a nod to our annual exhibit, "A Cedar Falls Time Capsule," we are looking a little closer to home for recipes to inspire you! We have searched our archives for a local church cookbook, and hit the jackpot with the 1956 edition of the E.U.B. Cook Book published by the Ladies Aid Society of the First Evangelical United Brethren Church in Cedar Falls. 👩‍🍳🥗🥧👩‍🍳

We are including a couple of salad recipes and and a couple dessert recipes for your perusal. If you decide to make one, please let us know how it turned out!

05/22/2026

All three of our museums will be closed this weekend in observance of Memorial Day.

05/21/2026

🥣 Welcome back to Decade Dive, our 2026 series exploring the decades of pop culture and nostalgia!

This month we’re heading into the 1970s with one of television’s most memorable cereal commercials — “Mikey Likes It” from Life cereal. 📺✨

The commercial became an instant classic, with little Mikey reluctantly trying the cereal his brothers were sure he wouldn’t eat… only for the famous line, “He likes it! Hey, Mikey!” to become part of pop culture history. First airing in 1972, the ad was incredibly popular and went on to win a Clio Award in 1974.

From Saturday-morning cartoons to memorable TV ads, moments like these became etched in families' memories throughout the decade.

✨ Do you remember the “Mikey Likes It” commercial or your favorite childhood cereal?



Image courtesy: https://www.mrbreakfast.com/cereal_ucp_slideshow.asp?id=219&picid=430

by Valerie Zubrod

05/20/2026

Hello! My name is Lindsay Nieland and I was the Education Intern at the Cedar Falls Historical Society this past semester! I just graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in history with a minor in public history and a certification in museum studies.

With May being inventors month, we wanted to create a series of posts that showcase some Iowa inventors! Whether they are from Iowa, or moved here and then invented something, they all have had a large impact on their chosen field. We hope you have enjoyed our series on Iowa inventors! We'll end with Dasia Taylor.

Dasia Taylor was born in Chicago, IL on April 6th, 2004, and eventually moved to Iowa City, IA. In 11th grade, she entered a science fair with her invention of low-cost “smart” sutures. They can indicate if an infection is present by the color changing based on the pH of the wound. Taylor founded the company VariegateHealth, a medical device company. Her invention led to her being a finalist in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, and she received the Seaborg Award!

She was named Iowa's Woman of the Year by USA Today in 2023, and also was included on Black Enterprise's 40 under 40 list for "Tech & STEM" achievements the same year.

UNI History Department