About Grinnell Works
Grinnell Works is a crowd-sourced local history exhibition created as part of a Smithsonian Museums on Main Street (MoMS) pilot project to give communities the tools to tell their own unique stories. The project presented a hands-on opportunity for local cultural professionals and community members to learn about the exhibition process, while celebrating Grinnell’s past, amplifying the voices of Grinnellians past and present, and bringing to light the unseen work and workers from throughout Grinnell’s history. Grinnell Works is created by the Grinnell community, Drake Community Library, and Grinnell College in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street program. Support from Grinnell College, a Smithsonian affiliate, is funded in part by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Nearly 100 individuals and organizations with local ties contributed to the project. The exhibition has been designed so that it can be moved to other venues in Grinnell over the next few years, extending its impact and sharing the history collected.
Due to COVID–19 and the need to protect Drake Community Library patrons and staff, the Library and Grinnell Works exhibition were unavailable. We have created a video tour of the physical exhibition for you to enjoy, and a virtual version of the exhibition that you can explore in depth. The ‘video tour’ is a visual highlight of the full Grinnell Works Exhibit. The ‘virtual version’ is the full exhibit in book format that is fully accessible and ADA compliant.
Read more about it on the Smithsonian Museum on Main Street page.
