Mabel Korver Van Haaften memoir

Collection — Folder: 1

Identifier: IWA0409

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Mabel Korver Van Haaften papers consist of a photocopy of a handwritten reminiscence that measures one linear inch. The twenty-five page reminiscence gives detailed information about childhood on a Dutch immigrant farm. It describes her mother's housewifely attention to sewing and care for clothing, the family's simple meals and arrangements to butcher, cook, and preserve foods on this farm without electricity or running water. It also describes the warm care shown by her father in teaching her to read on cold winter days and building a path across fields and streams for her to walk to school. She describes her father's first car, bought in 1914; her school days; hired help; and their move to their own farm in1917. She ends the childhood reminiscence with a description of her fortieth wedding anniversary in 1968.

Dates

Creation: 1986

Creator

Van Haaften, Mabel Korver, 1901-1989 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The papers are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright held by the donor has been retained by the donor.

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Biographical / Historical

Mabel Korver was born to Dutch immigrant parents in 1901 and raised on a farm near Leighton, Iowa with her three sisters. Her parents rented farms until 1919, when they bought a farm that they then lived on for more than twenty years. Mabel Korver married Arie Van Haaften in 1928; they raised four children and farmed near Leighton, retiring to that town in 1964.