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.As David Macrae boarded the steamboat for a trip up the Mississippi River to St. Louis in the spring of 1870, he…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.What a great state, that Illinois. When she decides to move, nothing gets in her way. Certainly not Mother Nature. Not…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.After the English gentlewoman, Isabella Lucy Bird, had satisfied her desire to see the American Wild West by visiting…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Apparently, during the first half of the 19th century, it was impossible to be a genuine English gentlewoman without a…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.You'll have to forgive Angelo Lagomarcino for never completely understanding the American dream when he arrived in…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.It's too bad the Velie Carriage Company of Moline never put one of their fancy carriages up against the Deacon's…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.It was Mark Twain who first noticed that the Mississippi was constantly shortening itself, cutting off loops and bends,…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.When Father Samuel Mazzuchelli arrived in the raw lead mining town of Galena in 1836 to begin building a Catholic…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.When the Dominican Order assigned Father Samuel Mazzuchelli as the first Catholic missionary to the newly-opened lands…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.If you can believe the stories you read, American males have always had trouble when it comes to women. Tom Sawyer's…