Bill Peeper, Iola High School social studies teacher and head coach for the boys basketball team, is ready to return to the classroom after a summer of boning up on American history.
For each of the last five years Peeper has taken advantage of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to explore his homeland.
This year Peeper studied the life, impact and times of Samuel “Mark Twain” Clemens and his book, “Huckleberry Finn.” A native of Missouri, Clemens also strayed east. Peeper attended a weeklong conference in Hartford, Conn., where the author, steamboat captain and sometimes journalist built a home in what was at the time, an affluent area.
“The home is located in an area called, ‘The Author’s Nook,’” Peeper said. “Many famous authors had homes right in that area. Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ lived right there so we had a chance to tour her home as well.”
Peeper, who describes himself as a history nut, made his way to Connecticut via cemeteries starting in Ohio. Of particular interest, are the grave sites of presidents.
“I’ve managed to visit many of the presidential grave sites,” Peeper said. “It’s amazing the difference in some of them. Some presidents have very normal looking ones and others have whole giant structures built.”
Among the seven presidential resting places, the two that he enjoyed the most were Franklin D. Roosevelt and William McKinley. McKinley, who is buried in Canton, Ohio, was even more impressive than Peeper was expecting.
“It’s like a temple almost,” Peeper said. “Some presidents have really modest burial sites but his was really neat.”
In comparison, Roosevelt’s is a more understated plot. The only four-term president in American history rests in Hyde Park, N.Y., marked by a white marble tomb on the grounds of the Roosevelt estate.
“He was such an important figure in American history being our only president that served so long over such hard circumstances,” Peeper said. “His grave and the area around it is really impressive.”
Once finally reaching his destination, Peeper spent a week talking about Clemens with other teachers. The range of people spurred interesting conversation.
“I spent time not only with other history teachers but also English teachers and college professors,” Peeper said. “Clemens’ place as a historic writer brings a lot of different kind of interest. In the past most of these things I go to draw mainly historians.”
“Huckleberry Finn” also prompted discussions about race relations and their advancement in the United States.
“People don’t realize that he was born into a slave-holding state in Missouri and by the end of his life held some opinions that ran against a lot of the beliefs he grew up with,” Peeper said.
Coming back to Iola, Peeper looks for ways to incorporate his travels into his lessons. He is already posting the author’s quotations on the wall, updating them every few days to give students a better understanding of who Clemens was. While students might think of history as old people doing things a long time ago, Peeper won’t rest until he manages to flick the switch on a student’s broader understanding.
