After more than 38 years of giving voice to generations of John Deere’s descendants, tireless history detective and talented storyteller Gretchen Small has retired from the Butterworth Center. The former longtime director of programming and collections for the center and the Deere-Wiman House didn’t just write the book on the Deere family landmarks located in […]
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After more than 38 years of giving voice to generations of John Deere’s descendants, tireless history detective and talented storyteller Gretchen Small has retired from the Butterworth Center.
The former longtime director of programming and collections for the center and the Deere-Wiman House didn't just write the book on the Deere family landmarks located in Moline’s historic Overlook District. She admits she is a “walking, talking archive” of the story those sites tell about John Deere, his influential family and the Quad Cities.
“Gretchen Small has been a true champion for our destination and is a one-of-a-kind storyteller," Visit Quad Cities President and CEO Dave Herrell told the QCBJ following her retirement.
“For decades, Gretchen has been at the forefront of creating unique and memorable experiences for visitors, and for this, we are grateful. We wish her the very best in retirement and this new chapter of her story.”
To Butterworth Center Executive Director Heather Calvert Ms. Small is quite simply “a community treasure and I'm so grateful to have had a chance to work with her.” So were many of the 100 or so Quad Citians who attended a Monday, March 24, open house in her honor.
That’s also where Ms. Calvert announced the new William Butterworth Foundation Fund its board created at the Moline Regional Community Foundation (MRCF) with an initial gift of $5,000 in Ms. Small’s honor.
The MRCF added $2,500, Executive Director Paul Plagenz said, “to not only honor Gretchen’s inspiring dedication and career but also help create an endowment to sustain and grow the collections. Preserving historic institutions connects us all to our community’s essential stories and shared culture.”
Ms. Small grew up in Indiana and graduated from Purdue University with a degree in history and education. To fulfill her goal of working in a museum, she went to George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where she earned her Masters in museum studies.
While she enjoyed the time there, her deep midwestern roots were calling her back. Ms. Small interviewed for several jobs, including one in Champaign, Illinois. She just missed out on that job but two of her interviewers were so impressed they told her about a brand new position being developed at the Butterworth Center and Deere-Wiman House in Moline.
Ms. Small first joined the Deere historic sites as their first-ever education director.
“I really created the job because I thought, OK, if I’m going to do programs I’ve got to know the history of the houses and the family,” she told the QCBJ. “So that means I need to research the house, inventory furniture and inventory the photo collection. Nothing like that had been done before.”
It turned out to be a treasure trove. Stuffed in the attic alone she discovered 8,000 to 9,000 photos. That archive has continued to grow with the help of Deere descendants, community members and generations of the properties’ staff members. Ms. Small used their information to stitch together fascinating tales about the John Deere descendants who helped turn that pioneering plow inventor’s company into a modern-day farm equipment manufacturing powerhouse.
Armed with information she began developing programs and figuring out how to market and archive her work. “It really grew around me,” she said.
So much so, Ms. Small said, when she was winding down her 38-plus year career at Butterworth Center that included spending three days with her successor Kara Fedje, a colleague asked her “Gretchen, could we just download your brain?”
Why has she been "downloading" information via creating timelines, indexes and family trees and unearthing critical stories from interviews, old newspaper files and other means? “They’re a big part of Quad Cities history, agriculture history, U.S. history, international history,” Ms. Small said.
Neil Dahlstrom, John Deere’s branded properties manager, called Ms. Small “an incredible advocate for the Deere family and their legacy” who has had “a lasting impact on thousands of students across the Quad Cities.”
She welcomed the John Deere historic archivist to the Overlook sites from his earliest days at Deere. “She supported my research, included me in events and activities, and always shared her knowledge and resources,” Mr. Dahlstrom said. “From giving and attending lectures and presentations, to attending meetings with nonprofit organizations, I've spent so much time at the homes that I've always felt like the Butterworth Center and Deere-Wiman House were homes away from home.”
Ms. Small said she loved every moment of her time working at this City of Moline historic landmark. She found the historical detective work compelling and the results made their way into her early school tours where she encouraged her young charges to be history detectives.
Those tours began as a handful of by-appointment-only events. They’ve grown to include regular tour dates; special community events including the annual Deere-Wiman House Porch Party and 19th Century Christmas; school tours; summer day camps; and bus tours.
“I tallied up every person that came to a program that I was involved with or created – school, adults, whatever – we saw over 460,000 people in the time I was there,” Ms. Small estimates.
Over the years, those events have changed to appeal to their ever-changing audiences. Take Music on the Lawn, which Ms. Small launched in 2000 after she noticed her daughters were not being exposed to live music. The concept took off.
“There’s nothing better than at the end of a Music on the Lawn and a kid runs up and tells you ‘It was the best day ever,’” she said.
Ms. Small also highlighted the Quad Cities groups that “do really great work in the community” who take advantage of the always-free meeting space at the center. She’ll miss those people and all the others who use the homes and visit them.
She also expects to miss the ah-hah moments she’s enjoyed over the years.
It was not that long ago, for example, Ms. Small said that she was at the Moline Public Library going through an index of local newspapers and found a link to an intriguing article.
Scrolling through the microfilm she spotted a story that said “Charlie Deere is building a house and William LaBaron Jennings from Chicago is the architect and he’s calling it the Swiss Villa style.”
Ms. Small said not only is the world-renowned architect credited with creating the first skyscraper historically significant on his own, “we've never known who the architect was for this house.” The story also included the name of the building’s contractor and first-floor measurements. “That turned out to be a big ‘Holy Cow’ moment,” she said.
So was uncovering a story that reported William Wiman had fallen down his home’s elevator shaft during a fire. “I knew he lived but I was so excited because if you fell down the elevator shaft in 1899 it means the elevator had to be there then,” she said.
Those stories and others have made their way into her tours and they also are “highlights of my history geek,” Ms. Small said.
With such detective work for the Deere sites now in the past, what’s next for Ms. Small?
Family time, she said, and she’s looking forward to reconnecting regularly with old friends and volunteers she’s met over the years.
“I’d also like to volunteer some time,” she added. In fact, museum friends have already reached out to with offers including a friend seeking help to catalog the Putnam Museum and Science Center’s extensive textile collection.
It turned out to be a treasure trove. Stuffed in the attic alone she discovered 8,000 to 9,000 photos. That archive has continued to grow with the help of Deere descendants, community members and generations of the properties’ staff members. Ms. Small used their information to stitch together fascinating tales about the John Deere descendants who helped turn that pioneering plow inventor’s company into a modern-day farm equipment manufacturing powerhouse.
Armed with information she began developing programs and figuring out how to market and archive her work. “It really grew around me,” she said.
So much so, Ms. Small said, when she was winding down her 38-plus year career at Butterworth Center that included spending three days with her successor Kara Fedje, a colleague asked her “Gretchen, could we just download your brain?”
Why has she been "downloading" information via creating timelines, indexes and family trees and unearthing critical stories from interviews, old newspaper files and other means? “They’re a big part of Quad Cities history, agriculture history, U.S. history, international history,” Ms. Small said.
Neil Dahlstrom, John Deere’s branded properties manager, called Ms. Small “an incredible advocate for the Deere family and their legacy” who has had “a lasting impact on thousands of students across the Quad Cities.”
She welcomed the John Deere historic archivist to the Overlook sites from his earliest days at Deere. “She supported my research, included me in events and activities, and always shared her knowledge and resources,” Mr. Dahlstrom said. “From giving and attending lectures and presentations, to attending meetings with nonprofit organizations, I've spent so much time at the homes that I've always felt like the Butterworth Center and Deere-Wiman House were homes away from home.”
Ms. Small said she loved every moment of her time working at this City of Moline historic landmark. She found the historical detective work compelling and the results made their way into her early school tours where she encouraged her young charges to be history detectives.
Those tours began as a handful of by-appointment-only events. They’ve grown to include regular tour dates; special community events including the annual Deere-Wiman House Porch Party and 19th Century Christmas; school tours; summer day camps; and bus tours.
“I tallied up every person that came to a program that I was involved with or created – school, adults, whatever – we saw over 460,000 people in the time I was there,” Ms. Small estimates.
Over the years, those events have changed to appeal to their ever-changing audiences. Take Music on the Lawn, which Ms. Small launched in 2000 after she noticed her daughters were not being exposed to live music. The concept took off.
“There’s nothing better than at the end of a Music on the Lawn and a kid runs up and tells you ‘It was the best day ever,’” she said.
Ms. Small also highlighted the Quad Cities groups that “do really great work in the community” who take advantage of the always-free meeting space at the center. She’ll miss those people and all the others who use the homes and visit them.
She also expects to miss the ah-hah moments she’s enjoyed over the years.
It was not that long ago, for example, Ms. Small said that she was at the Moline Public Library going through an index of local newspapers and found a link to an intriguing article.
Scrolling through the microfilm she spotted a story that said “Charlie Deere is building a house and William LaBaron Jennings from Chicago is the architect and he’s calling it the Swiss Villa style.”
Ms. Small said not only is the world-renowned architect credited with creating the first skyscraper historically significant on his own, “we've never known who the architect was for this house.” The story also included the name of the building’s contractor and first-floor measurements. “That turned out to be a big ‘Holy Cow’ moment,” she said.
So was uncovering a story that reported William Wiman had fallen down his home’s elevator shaft during a fire. “I knew he lived but I was so excited because if you fell down the elevator shaft in 1899 it means the elevator had to be there then,” she said.
Those stories and others have made their way into her tours and they also are “highlights of my history geek,” Ms. Small said.
With such detective work for the Deere sites now in the past, what’s next for Ms. Small?
Family time, she said, and she’s looking forward to reconnecting regularly with old friends and volunteers she’s met over the years.
“I’d also like to volunteer some time,” she added. In fact, museum friends have already reached out to with offers including a friend seeking help to catalog the Putnam Museum and Science Center’s extensive textile collection.
Kara Fedje At a Glance
Kara Fedje became the Butterworth Center and Deere-Wiman House new director of programs and collections after the retirement of Gretchen Small. Her background includes:- 20 years of experience providing educational programming in local, regional, and state museums.
- They include the Putnam Museum & Science Center, the Family Museum, the Figge Art Museum, the Des Moines Art Museum, and the Illinois State Museum.
- She has a bachelor’s degree in art from Augustana College, a Master of Arts in museum studies from Western Illinois University and is currently completing a PhD in Art Museum Education from Florida State University.
