Carver Grant Awarded for Oral History Project on Polio in Iowa

In conjunction with this year's All Iowa Reads (AIR) program, a grant from the Roy J. Charitable Trust will give Iowans an opportunity to speak about their unique memories and stories about polio in an oral history project.

The AIR committee will hire a project manager who will train volunteers on how to interview people in Iowa who either had polio, or who had family and friends affected by the virus.  The project will begin in early July and continue throughout the year.  Professionals will be hired to transcribe the taped hour-long interviews.  The interviews will be archived at the Iowa State Historical Society.

Splendid Solution:  Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio, by Jeffrey Kluger, is the first nonfiction title ever selected by the AIR committee.  The oral and written histories will create an important historical resource documenting a time in Iowa history about which little has been published up to now.

The following was written by a woman who recently attended a group discussion of the book:

"Our group appreciated the state's choice of this non-fiction book. Besides being very enjoyable and a remarkably good read, it informed us and reminded us of experiences we had had. We love fiction's reality, too, but an attempt at an objective account of the world around us provoked not just conversation but a healthy surge of memories."

Iowans are encouraged to add their written stories about polio on the Iowa Polio Stories Web site (http://www.iowapoliostories.org).

This project is also supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the State Library of Iowa.

For more information about All Iowa Reads, visit http://www.iowacenterforthebook.org/air/07/index.html