Pictures Tell the Story

History is full of stories. My fiction is inspired by objects and photos I see in history museums. Here are a few photos of historic Keokuk (above) and Keokuk today (below).

These old family photos got me thinking of characters in The Curse of the Buttons. I could imagine Ike’s father and uncles in the photo on the left, and the character of Barfoot from the one on the left.

Above, some Keokuk dollars from the days when money was not uniform throughout the country; a roll-up mat for playing checkers, like Ike and Albirdie might have had; and a few compasses like the one Alberdie would have used.