Harry Harper Papers

Collection

Identifier: MsC0365

Staff Only
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Scope and Contents

The papers of Harry D. Harper are comprised of three boxes (or 1.5 linear feet) of manuscripts dating from 1946 to 1985. Autobiographical and biographical sketches, correspondence, civil rights speeches, newspaper clippings, etc. document Dr. Harper's life and career. There are three audio cassettes of an interview with George Garcia consisting of reminiscences of Harper's civil rights work. There is also a box relating to a discrimination controversy involving U.S. Highway 61 in Fort Madison, Iowa.

Dates

Creation: 1946-1985

Creator

Harper, Harry (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Biographical / Historical

Fort Madison native, Harry Dandridge Harper was born on February 12, 1900. He graduated from the University of Iowa and from Howard University of Washington, D.C. Dr. Harper practiced medicine in Fort Madison, Iowa for more than fifty years. He was very involved in civil rights activities in Iowa. He was chairman of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and president of the Fort Madison branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Active in other community affairs, Dr. Harper was a past vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce and a charter member of the Kiwanis club. Dr. Harry D. Harper died in January 1977, at the age of seventy-six.

Extent

1.50 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Physician and civil rights leader in Fort Madison, IA. Correspondence, speeches, biographical and autobiographical materials, and subject files document both his career and his Civil Rights activism.

Method of Acquisition

This collection was donated to the University of Iowa Libraries in 1981 by the descendants of Harry Harper, represented by his daughter Virginia Harper.