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AlburnettIaBdMapAlburnett

Albrntbd10pmpc300

AlgonaIaBdMapAlgonaAlgonaBandc1890

AltonIaBdMapAlton

Altongroupphoto

Battle CreekIaBdMapBattleCreek

BattleCreekMilitaryBand

BooneIaBdMapBoone

Booneconcertband

BraytonIaBdMapBrayton

Braytonband

BurlingtonIaBdMapBurlington

FischersBand1907postcard

Charles CityIaBdMapCharlesCity1

CharlesCityband1900s

Charles CityIaBdMapCharlesCity

CharlesCityband

ColesburgIaBdMapColesburg

Colesburgbandca1892hires

Columbus JunctionIaBdMapColumbusJunction

ColumbusJunctionBand1909

Davis CityIaBdMapDavisCity

DavisCityBand

Des MoinesIaBdMapDesMoines

DesMoinesIowaStateBand

EvansIaBdMapEvans

EvansBrassBand

Fort MadisonIaBdMapFortMadison

FortMadisonWrightBrassBand

Grimes    IaBdMapGrimes

GrimesBand

Series: Town Bands

Group Portraits - I

"The mission of a brass band in a community is for good. Perhaps no other single feature can contribute so much to a towns life and pleasure. This being a fact, it is but just that a band should be looked upon, in a measure, as a public institution, and this view makes its success a matter of interest to every citizen."

So wrote the editor of The Battle Creek Times in a March 19, 1908 item celebrating the news that Battle Creek's town band was reorganizing after a hiatus. The editor was not alone in this sentiment. One finds similar expressions in other newspapers from across the state and nation.

Towns took tremendous pride in their bands. Citizens and - especially - businessmen were called upon to support their local band through subscriptions, since a well equipped and uniformed band was seen as an expression of the town's spirit and prosperity.

The band members themselves also took great pride in being a part of the band, as is evidenced in their expressions and bearing in these group portraits. Many of these images are preserved on postcards which were the early 20th-century equivalent of "texting." These postcards were purchased and used by the thousands, all the while bearing silent testimony of each town's civic achievement.

DavisCityBand1
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