"Two Miles North of Mason City: Sugar Beet Row, 1930-1935" collection
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Scope and Contents
The "Two Miles North of Mason City: Sugar Beet Row, 1930-1935" collection dates from 1923 to 2021 and measures 2.5 linear inches in one box. Two folders contain a local history project authored by Karen Byrne entitled “Two Miles North of Mason City: Sugar Beet Row, 1930-1935.” The project documents the lives of Mexican migrant workers living and working at a sugar beet processing plant and the lives of religious charity workers assisting those who could not travel back during the winter. These folders contain instances of racial violence, including threats and demonstrations made by local chapters of the Ku Klux Klan. The third folder contains research notes about the lives and descendants of Miguel Jesús and Margarita Vega, who lived in the nearby area of Lehigh Row.
Dates
- Creation: 1923 - 2021
Creator
- Byrne, Karen [1954-] (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/has been retained by the donor.
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.
Biographical / Historical
Sugar Beet Row was a residential area north of Mason City, Iowa, that was established in the 1920s to house migrants and their families working nearby at the American Beet Sugar Company’s factory. Estimates from the 1930s suggest that nearly seven hundred people lived in Sugar Beet Row during peak growing season. Local and migrant children attended a school constructed on the same parcel of land known colloquially as the “Sugar Beet School,” and clergy from different Christian denominations would offer support to families that could not move for the winter. New technologies would reduce the amount of labor needed to harvest and process sugar beets, and the population of Sugar Beet Row would decline until the 1960s when the homes were demolished.
Biographical / Historical
Karen Byrne was born in 1954. Byrne received master’s degrees in Developmental Reading and Theology. She worked as a teacher in the Mason City School District, a pastoral associate for Epiphany Parish in Mason City, and later as a certified cemetery tour guide and a Court Appointed Special Advocate for the Cerro Gordo County Courthouse.
Extent
2.5 linear inches
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Local history project on Mexican American migration and agriculture in Mason City, Iowa.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The papers (donor no. 1637) were donated by Karen Byrne in 2021.
- Author
- Andrew Newell, 2024
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Iowa Women's Archives Repository
100 Main Library
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City IA 52242 IaU
319-335-5068
319-335-5900 (Fax)
lib-women@uiowa.edu