Board purchases lithograph of the Constitution

By STEPH TAHTINEN

Mt. Pleasant News

Henry County Courthouse is celebrating its centennial today, and in commemoration of this milestone, Thursday morning the board of supervisors voted to purchase a 1934 lithograph of the United States Constitution.

The supervisors heard a presentation Thursday from Gary Stephenson of Ft. Dodge, who has been traveling around Iowa with the goal of having a lithograph donated to each of 99 counties to hang in their courthouses.

The finished, matted and framed product usually costs $750. Stephenson normally visits area businesses asking them to help sponsor the purchase, for which they would get their name on a small plaque at the bottom. However, the supervisors did not like the idea of having businesses? names on the Constitution.

?I?m not keen on that myself,? said Supervisor Marc Lindeen.

Instead, Henry County has chosen to take the route a few other counties have and pay for the lithograph using county money instead of donations. This also lowers the cost down to $675, as Stephenson does not have to travel and visit businesses asking for donations.

The county will pay for the lithograph using money leftover from the centennial celebration fun, which was money set aside for use in the centennial celebration planned for Friday afternoon. When consulted during Thursday morning?s meeting, centennial committee member Sheila McAllister said that there was plenty of money left over in the fund for the lithograph.

The lithograph should be ready within a couple of weeks, and County Auditor Shelly Barber commented that she knew the perfect place for it to be hung on the second floor of the courthouse. The supervisors chose a gold frame for the lithograph, and on the bottom will be a plaque that reads ?Celebrating the centennial of the Henry County Courthouse 2012,? as well as giving some brief information about the print.

The lithographs were originally made in 1934 ? so it only includes through the 21st Amendment, as Amendments 22 through 27 were added later.

Stephenson explained that in the process of making a lithograph, a reverse of the image is drawn on a stone or metal plate with a grease pencil. An oil-based ink is then poured on. Water is then wiped on to prevent smearing, using the principal that water and oil do not mix. The paper would be pressed down on the ink, which would result in the image being transferred to the paper.

?It?s a labor-intensive work of art,? said Stephenson.

The lithographs were later discovered in a Chicago warehouse in 1987. Stephenson?s father, Daniel Stephenson, purchased several and began having them framed and donated to schools, libraries and courthouses.

Stephenson took over in 2008 after his father?s death, deciding to continue his father?s work with a focus on courthouses with the goal of having a lithograph in every county courthouse in the state. He told the supervisors on Thursday morning that his father had done 25 courthouses, and Stephenson has finished 46 so far ? 47 if you add in Henry County. There were three courthouses that already had lithographs, so there are only 24 counties remaining until Stephenson reaches his goal. He is scheduled to meet with other area counties in upcoming weeks.