HAROLD A. “BUS” THOMAS COLLECTION

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library

West Branch, Iowa

Harold “Bus” Thomas (1903-1997) was born in West Branch November 29, 1903. He picked up the nickname “Bus” during his childhood from for wearing a Buster Brown suit. In 1922 he graduated from West Branch High School. Two years later, on January 3, 1924, he married Catherine Krouth in Rock Island, IL. The couple, members of the Conservative Friends Meeting, had two sons, Phillip and Kenneth. In 1965 Thomas retired from the Post Office after 25 years of service. Thomas died in West Branch on March 28, 1997.

As a young boy his mother, Pauline, worked as a correspondent for the West Branch Times. Back then he kept a notebook of events, which sparked an interest in local history. Over time he became an unofficial historian for West Branch. The Harold A. Thomas Collection consists of two linear feet of reminiscences, correspondence, published materials, oral history audio recordings, reproductions of photographs, and other historical materials documenting early West Branch history and information on the family of Herbert Hoover.

Harold A. “Bus” Thomas Collection

Box and Folder Inventory

1 Airplanes

Automobiles & Classic Cars (3 Folders)

Belle Plaine

Blacksmith’s Shop

Business Houses

Chamber of Commerce

Chautauqua

Churches & Cemeteries

Civil War Veterans

Downey Store

Elmira

Enlow Library

Fairgrounds

Brown, John

Farm Tractors

Fire Department

Flexible Flyer Sled

Floods

Fourth of July Celebrations

Gower Township – Historical Sketch of

2 Herbert Hoover Library & Birthplace

Heritage Museum

Hoover, Herbert – Birth of

Horseshoe Park

Jackson, Ann Eliza Craven (Midwife who delivered Herbert Hoover)

Leech, Dr. L. J.

Livery Stables

Local History – Multiple Subjects

Clippings

Notes

Miscellaneous

Hotels