"A Sense of Place" Photography Exhibit by David Plowden and the Film "Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern" Featured

Date: October 7, 2011
Contact: Adam Prato, [phone]

WEST BRANCH, IOWA-Herbert Hoover National Historic Site will host "A Sense of Place", an exhibit of fifty black and white photographs of rural and small town Iowa by photographer David Plowden. Dating from the mid-1980s, the photographs document the disappearing face of the rural Iowa landscape. "A Sense of Place" is on loan from Humanities Iowa and will be displayed at the visitor center from October 14 through April 1. Concurrent to the photographic exhibit, the film "Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern" will be shown at 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays from October 15 through April 1.

For four decades, the award-winning photographer David Plowden has documented our country's vanishing landscapes and artifacts. He has described himself as "an archeologist with a camera" who has spent his life "one step ahead of the wrecking ball." "I have been beset," Mr. Plowden says, "with a sense of urgency to record those parts of our heritage which seem to be receding as quickly as the view from the rear of a speeding train. I fear that we are eradicating the evidence of our past accomplishments so quickly that in time we may well lose the sense of who we are."

"Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern" is a 1995 documentary by filmmakers Jeanne Jordan and Steven Ascher. The film explores the farm crisis of the late 20th century through Jordan's own family, as the family wrestles with the end of their Iowa family farm. The film received the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature.

"The park's landscape features are meant to remind us of open spaces, much of which was small family farms at the time Herbert Hoover was born here," said Superintendent Pete Swisher. "This exhibit and film is an excellent connection of that idea, and a vivid reminder of what once was."

The exhibit and the film are both free. "Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern" is 88 minutes long and is unrated.

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum are in West Branch, Iowa at exit 254 off I-80. Both are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. Parking is limited so please allow extra time to find a parking space. For more information go online at www.nps.gov/heho or call [phone].