Collection: Mary Baker Skinner papers | ArchivesSpace at the University of Iowa

Scope and Contents

The Mary Baker Skinner papers comprise of Skinner’s poetry, and a 2012 article from the Des Moines Register about Skinner and other former inmates from the state reform school. The collection also includes another article from Iowa Heritage Illustrated about an 1899 riot at the Mitchellville Girls School. Shelved separately, the Iowa Training School for Girls newsletters, including The Tattler, contain articles and poems by women inmates at the school from 1960 to 1973.

Dates

(1998 - 2012)

Creator

Skinner, Mary Baker, 1951- (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The papers are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Mary Baker Skinner retains copyright to her poetry.

Biographical / Historical

Mary Baker was born c. 1951. In 1965, when she was fourteen, she was sent to the Iowa Training School for Girls in Mitchellville after being convicted of assault and battery for fighting at school. She is one of many women who recall the abuse they suffered at the Mitchellville facility; this abuse became the subject of a legislative inquiry in the 1960s by State Representative and juvenile justice advocate Minnette Doderer.

Extent

.5 linear inches

Additional Description

Overview

Writings by a former inmate of the Iowa Training School for Girls in Mitchellville.

Arrangement

Two folders, shelved in SCVF.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The papers (donor no. 1325) were donated by Mary Baker Skinner in 2012.

Related Materials

Minnette Doderer papers, Iowa Women’s Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City; Campus Newsy, Tattler, Mitchellville, Iowa: Iowa Training School for Girls, 1960-1973, Iowa Women’s Archives