Edna Hidlebaugh papers

Collection

Identifier: IWA0393

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Scope and Contents

The Edna Kendig Hidlebaugh papers date from 1871 to 1987 and measure 9 linear inches. The papers are divided into three series, Family, Clubs, and Photographs.

The Family series includes an obituary of Hidlebaugh's mother Emma Baldwin Kendig and two calendar diaries by Edna Hidlebaugh. There are also many letters written by various women to Lee Hidlebaugh from 1946 to 1949. The letters demonstrate a playful, sometimes ardent, flirtatiousness. This series also includes cards and letters from Norma Naylor on her Asian travels and from Lee Hidlebaugh in San Francisco, and a scrapbook of travel mementos, theater programs, and greeting cards.

The Club series consists of annual programs from the General Federated Women's Club of Bayard, the American Legion Auxiliary, and the United Methodist Women. A manuscript report, "Project: A Public Library," was presented by Edna Hidlebaugh to the Bayard Women's Club at the thirtieth anniversary of the club.

The Photographs series includes three undated photograph albums from the 1900s, 1910s, and early 1920s. These photographs are a rich source of detail about turn of the century young womanhood in rural Iowa and at various vacation spots. There are many loose photographs from the same period, including portraits of three generations of women in the family--the mother (unidentified), wife (Emma Baldwin Kendig), and daughter(Edna Kendig Hidlebaugh) of Jacob Kendig. There are also photographs of Norma Hidlebaugh in a 1940s style basketball uniform. There are several negatives and snapshot photographs from the letters to Lee Hidlebaugh in San Francisco and Seattle.

Dates

Creation: 1871-1987

Creator

Hidlebaugh, Edna, 1892-1995 (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

Edna Kendig Hidlebaugh, teacher and clubwoman, was born in 1892 in Muscatine, Iowa, to Jacob and Emma Baldwin Kendig. She graduated from Muscatine High School, attended Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, and completed a Bachelor of Didactics degree at Grandview College in Des Moines in 1916. Her first position was teaching domestic science at the Bayard High School. While teaching there in the early 1920s, she happened to go into a barbershop to have her hair washed and the Bayard school board called a special meeting to consider if that were grounds for dismissal.

Because state law prohibited married women from teaching, she dated the owner of the Bayard general store Guy Hidlebaugh for three years before they married in the early 1920s. Edna Hidlebaugh raised two children, Norma Hidlebaugh and a son Lee Hidlebaugh, rarely assisting in the store or holding other jobs. Her husband remarked that he was pleased his wife never looked "all worn out" like farm wives.

She was active in the Methodist Church, the Adelphian Society,the Bayard Women's Club, the American Legion Auxiliary, and the Order of the Eastern Star. In the 1930s, she was a key figure in the Bayard Women's Club project to found a public library. In the 1960s and 1970s, she traveled in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. She lived until the age of 102 and died October 13, 1995. Her daughter Norma Hidlebaugh married Max Naylor and raised three daughters in nearby Jefferson, Iowa. Her son Lee Hidlebaugh lived and worked in San Francisco. [Information for this biographical sketch is drawn from conversations with Norma Hidlebaugh Naylor in 1998.]