The Story of a People and the Flood
In 2008, the heavy snow and ice storms of winter and pounding thunderstorms of spring caused unprecedented flooding in parts of Iowa that destroyed homes, businesses, cultural institutions, libraries, and farmland. The city of Cedar Rapids was one of the hardest hit by the flood and, within it, the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library (NCSML) was devastated. This exhibit tells the story of the NCSML staff as they cleaned and gutted the museum building, and then embarked on a campaign to rebuild and improve every aspect of the museum. It also includes select artifacts that were damaged in the flood and later restored.