The Miriam Newsom Rosik papers date from 1915 to 2003 (bulk 1960-1984) and consist of one folder. The collection includes digital copies of three photographs, two short biographies of Rosik written and/or compiled by family members, and a 59-page first-person memoir by Rosik, entitled “My Life Story.” Rosik began writing the memoir by hand in the 1960s and continued to add to it, with the assistance of her daughters, until the 1980s. The copy held by IWA is a transcribed, expanded, and edited version of the original.

Much of the memoir focuses on Rosik’s early life, growing up on Kentucky farms, part of a large family struggling to make ends meet. Rosik describes childhood pastimes like making playhouses, roaming outdoors, and hunting squirrels, as well her experience going to school only a few months a year. Under her mother’s supervision, Rosik and her siblings contributed to work on the farm, including spinning and knitting, making soap and doing the washing, hoeing corn, and driving the cows to pasture. Rosik describes her mother, Mary Elizabeth’s, difficult life as a woman at that time, including the dangers of childbirth and the heavy demands on her labor and time.

The memoir also discusses Rosik’s married life, balancing the demands of husband, children, household, and farm, much as her mother did. She was active in her children’s lives, encouraging them in school and other activities. Rosik mentions some of the challenges the family faced due to war-time shortages and the Depression.

The other biographical material in the collection consists of two documents: The first, “Memories of Mother: Miriam Newsom Rosik,” is a short recollection written by Rosik’s daughter, Helene Rosik Tracy, in 1981. The second, entitled “Rosik Miriam Newsom,” includes some material related to the book of recollections and the memoir. One of the photographs shows Miriam and William Rosik on their wedding day; in the memoir, Rosik writes about earning the money for her wedding dress.