The Grant Wood Catalogue Raisonné team recently visited the Washington High School Library in Cedar Rapids to explore Grant Wood’s early artistic contributions to the school’s historic publications, including The Pulse magazine and The Reveille yearbook.

The visit was organized by Ranelle Knight-Lueth, who coordinated with Renate Bernstein, a retired librarian whose work in preserving and organizing Washington’s archives has greatly enriched the catalogue project—and will undoubtedly benefit generations of students and scholars. Bernstein also played a key role in facilitating loans from the school’s holdings to the Whitney Museum of American Art for its 2018 blockbuster exhibition, Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables.

Bernstein and Washington’s current librarian, Frank Scherrman, warmly welcomed the catalogue team to the library, sharing their extensive knowledge of the school’s archival materials.

Washington High School maintains copies of The Pulse and The Reveille dating back to 1907, when a young Grant Wood contributed his artistic talents to the publications. As a student, he designed cover art, in-text illustrations, and graphic headings—experimenting with signature styles and creatively integrating his initials, G.D.W., into his work.

“Working with the Cedar Rapids Community School District and Washington High School in particular has been ideal for the Grant Wood Catalogue Raisonné project,” explains Knight-Lueth. “We knew of Wood’s early work as a high school student, but it has been incredibly beneficial to research these materials in person. But, it goes beyond the artworks, archives, and objects; it’s getting to know the people who have a vested interest in Wood and his art.”

These early examples of Wood’s design sensibilities reveal his developing interest in printmaking, a medium he would return to in the final decade of his celebrated career.