Autobiographical Sketches of Rural Iowa Women

Collection

Identifier: IWA0407

Staff Only
Please navigate to collection organization to place requests.

Scope and Contents

The Autobiographical Sketches of Rural Iowa Women collection dates from 1998 to 1999 and 2003; it measures 0.5 linear inches. The northeast and northwest corners of the state are the principal areas represented.

Included in the collection are newspaper columnist Dorothy Blunt, farm woman Artis England, the active Mennonite Gladys Fisher, care facility activity coordinator Irma Jacobsma, church organist Charlotte Vaughn, Clara Winkie who passed her General Education Development (GED) test at age 60, and Farm Bureau leader Doris Wright Zimmerman. Also included are the recollections of five Plymouth County farm women: Elsie Easton, Laura Lauter, Doris Ludwigs, Lois Newberg and Randy Oetken.

Most of these women were born and raised on farms and later raised their own families on farms during the Depression and World War II. Newspaper clippings, family histories, and church histories accompany some of the sketches. This collection offers perspectives from rural women who have not created many records or found representation in major repositories.

Dates

Creation: 1998-1999

Creator

Rural Women's Project (University of Iowa. Libraries. Iowa Women's Archives) (Organization)
Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

The papers are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright held by donors has been retained by individual donors.

However, copyright status for some collection materials may be unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owner. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility and potential liability based on copyright infringement for any use rests exclusively and solely with the user. Users must properly acknowledge the Iowa Women’s Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries, as the source of the material. For further information, visit https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc/services/rights/

Biographical / Historical

The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation worked closely with the Iowa Women's Archives Rural Women's Project Archivist in 1998 and 1999 to encourage farm women to preserve records that document their life experiences. In response, many farm women wrote short autobiographical sketches.These have been gathered in one collection.