Roald Tweet
Writer and Narrator of 'Rock Island Lines'Beginning 1995, historian and folklorist Dr. Roald Tweet spun his stories of the Mississippi Valley to a devoted audience on WVIK. Dr. Tweet published three books as well as numerous literary articles and recorded segments of "Rock Island Lines." His inspiration was that "kidney-shaped limestone island plunked down in the middle of the Mississippi River," a logical site for a storyteller like Dr. Tweet.
It was from Rock Island’s rich heritage that Dr. Tweet spun his histories, biographies and "stretchers." Among his favorite topics were railroads and riverboats, which he combined on a CD in celebration of the Grand Excursion in 2004. "Rock Island Lines with Roald Tweet" received awards from the Illinois Historical Society as well as the Towner Award from the Illinois Humanities Council.
Dr. Tweet was professor emeritus, retired from the Augustana College English department, where he was professor and Conrad Bergendoff Chair in the Humanities. A writer and radio personality, Dr. Tweet was also an accomplished woodcarver and whittler.
Dr. Tweet left us in November of 2020, but his legacy lives on. You can hear many of his Rock Island Lines in podcast form here and also in a forthcoming book from WVIK and East Hall Press.
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Ever since Noah gave floods a bad name way back, real estate developers have been reluctant to use the word. Houses…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.If Hercules had been ordered to clean purple loosestrife out of the Upper Mississippi River as one of his 12 labors,…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Ever since Shellie Moore Guy of Rock Island began writing poetry a few years ago, she has upset me. And I'm too old to…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Even a state as quiet and peaceful, and as rural as Iowa generally provides several possible entertainers for idlers.…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.The story of the rise and fall of civilizations often takes two volumes to tell—sometimes three. But I can handle the…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Do you remember the phrase we all used to use before the good times started rolling? "Making do." I grew up in a family…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Contrary to popular opinion, being a Minnesotan is no guarantee of invincibility, as the Minnesota Packet Company…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.In 1881, 20-year-old Carl Viktor Borg arrived in the United States, following the American Dream that had drawn so many…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.When the Daughters of the American Revolution looked about for someone to beat swords into a ploughshare in 1893, it…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.When the good citizens of Bellevue, Iowa, awoke to the fact that one of their most upstanding and mannerly residents,…