Anita Crawford papers

Collection

Identifier: IWA0599

Staff Only
Please navigate to collection organization to place requests.

Scope and Contents

The Anita Crawford papers date from 1939 to 1998 and measure 2.3 linear feet. The papers are arranged in four series: Family, Farm Bureau Activities, Scrapbooks, and Photographs. The bulk of the papers pertain to Crawford's activites with the Westburg Township Women's Club and the Buchanan County Farm Bureau Women's Committee from the 1960s to 1974. As such, this collection records the experiences of many women at the grass roots level of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation.

The Family series (1998) contains one item, a sixtieth anniversary album compiled by Joyce Crawford Doepke and Beverly Crawford King in 1987 and completed in 1998 after the death of Anita Crawford. It gives a biographical sketch of Anita and Theodore Crawford and contains color photocopies of the family.

The Farm Bureau Activities series contains handwritten notes and papers from various meetings of the Westburg Township Farm Bureau Women's Club, the Buchanan County Farm Bureau Women's Committee, various state events, and other areas of special interest. The series dates from 1956 to 1981 with the bulk of the papers dating from 1970 to 1973. This series includes papers regarding farm-related legislation, health insurance, the women's chorus, and women's issues. It also includes scattered issues of The Countrywoman, a publication of the Associated Country Women of the World and loose newspaper clippings, mostly concerning activities of Farm Bureau women.

The Scrapbook series (1939-1976) consists of an early Westburg Township Women's Club scrapbook and four looseleaf scrapbooks that contain items dating from 1964 to 1974. Each of the scrapbooks contains photographs and newspaper clippings concerning the activities of Buchanan County Farm Bureau women. Each looseleaf scrapbook has been disbound and placed in folders in its original order. Only the 1972 and 1973 scrapbooks follow a chronological order. The 1972 scrapbook includes two short sections that mention Theodore Crawford's work with the Farm Service board and the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee.

The Photographs series contains primarily unidentified and undated snapshot photographs of Farm Bureau events, including a trip to Washington, D. C., in 1973 and the Buchanan County Women's Chorus. It also contains a 1952 photograph of Theodore and Anita Crawford.

Dates

Creation: 1939-1998

Creator

Crawford, Anita, 1909-1998 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The papers are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright held by the donor has been transferred to the University of Iowa.

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

Anita Cobb Crawford, Buchanan County Farm Bureau member, community volunteer, and farmer was born on July 2, 1909, the second of six children of Leslie and Maud Hill Cobb. At a young age, her family moved from the farm to Clear Lake, Iowa and in 1918 to Waterloo, Iowa. Cobb attended a high school in Waterloo, played violin in the school orchestra, and worked at Black's Tea Room after school. She left school in her senior year in 1927 to marry Theodore Roosevelt Crawford.

Anita Crawford raised two daughters, Beverly and Joyce Crawford, while Theodore Crawford worked in Waterloo. During the Depression, when their children were school age, they moved to the outskirts of Waterloo in order to farm. They raised hogs and dairy cows and tended a large vegetable garden. In 1938 they bought 140 acres of land south of Jesup and built a home on it. Theodore Crawford commuted to work in town during the first year while Anita Crawford managed the daily operations on the farm.

The Crawfords became active in the Farm Bureau soon after their move to the farm. Anita Crawford became chairwoman of the Westburg Township Women's Club and in 1971 chairwoman of the Buchanan County Farm Bureau Women's Committee. She was a member of the Buchanan County women's chorus and a leader of her daughters' 4-H group. She volunteered at the Buchanan County Historical Society, and was active in the Jesup Methodist Church. Theodore Crawford also volunteered locally. He was chairman of the Health Insurance Agency board, the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee, the County Extension Council, the Farm Service board, and the Jesup school board. Both Crawfords were active farmers, raising crops, hogs, horses, chickens, goats, sheep, ducks and geese until their retirement.

Theodore Crawford died in 1992 and Anita Crawford in 1998.