Iowa History 101: Sports for the Liberal Arts: Reimagining Iowa's Small Colleges, 1921-1939

Join the State Historical Society of Iowa for an online learning series that focuses on the past lives of Iowans to help commemorate the 175th anniversary of Iowa. In this week's webinar, titled "Sports for the Liberal Arts: Reimagining Iowa's Small Colleges, 1921-1939," Brian M. Ingrassia, history professor at West Texas A&M University, discussed Iowa's small colleges in the 1920s and 1930s, especially their changing views of intercollegiate athletics. Iowa colleges were on the cutting edge of a midwestern backlash against big-time, commercialized sports; they were also part of a national movement that consciously envisioned small, private colleges as institutions stressing a "liberal arts" curriculum.