Lucille Schwilck papers
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Scope and Contents
The Lucille Schwilck papers date from 1986 to 2001 and measure 2.5 linear inches. Biographical information consists of a 2001 letter Schwilck wrote to the Iowa Women's Archives telling about some of her life experiences. There is also a 1996 newspaper clipping regarding the Distinguished Alumna Service Award she received from the University of Iowa. Comments contains notes that Schwilck made regarding various news articles she'd read. Correspondence holds a 1997 letter Schwilck wrote to Reverend Jesse Jackson and an undated "Dear Editor" letter she wrote concerning United States Senator Paul H. Douglas' proposal to adopt the corn tassel as the national flower. Course notes are Schwilck's notes for "U.S. Citizenship," one of the courses she taught at the Baltimore Y.W.C.A. in her later life. The bulk of the collection consists of Schwilck's Essays, a collection of original writings dealing with such subjects as abortion, the Bill of Rights, the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings, women as soldiers and American imperialism. Prayers and poetry is a collection of typed prayers and poems. It is not clear which, if any, are Schwilck's original work.
Dates
- Creation: 1986-2001
Creator
- Schwilck, Lucille (1904-2005) (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.
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. For further information, visit https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc/services/rights/
Biographical / Historical
Lucille Schwilck was born on a farm in Wayne County, Iowa, in 1905. Schwilck attended a rural school through the eighth grade. Her father did not believe that any further education was necessary for girls. At age thirteen, following the marriage of her two oldest sisters, Schwilck took over the housekeeping chores for her family of six. Schwilck continued this routine for five years until the death of her younger sister in 1924 when Schwilck's mother announced to visiting relatives that Schwilck would be attending high school that fall. Schwilck later said that she thought more education would provide her with a way to earn a living without feeling compelled to marry "some man in need of a housekeeper."
Schwilck completed her high school course work in just three years and enrolled at Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa where she worked up to fifty hours per week in order to pay her own way. Schwilck majored in Latin because it did not require long hours studying at the library, an impossibility with her work schedule. Graduating from Parsons College in 1931, Schwilck had a summer job as a traveling salesman and then spent a year teaching Latin, history and public speaking in a high school before registering for graduate courses in political science at the University of Iowa. Schwilck earned her M.A. in 1933 and found a job teaching high school. The following year Schwilck was offered a position as a graduate assistant at the University of Iowa, taking half her work in the law school.
She continued teaching at a junior college during the year and attended law school during the summers until her final year when she quit her teaching post and devoted her time to her studies. Schwilck graduated in 1939, the only woman in a class of one hundred. She was unable to attend the graduation ceremony as she had already procured a job in Des Moines with the law firm Putnam, Putnam, Fillmore and Putnam and she was unable to get time off work to attend the ceremony. At Putnam et al, Schwilck prepared appeals to the Iowa Supreme Court from the firm's personal injury cases around the state. She argued at least six of the cases herself. Eventually Schwilck built-up her own law practice specializing in divorce and separate maintenance suits for women.
Schwilck took a job with another Des Moines law firm before passing the Civil Service exam and accepting a job in Washington, D.C. with the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1943. Schwilck worked for the Department of the Interior for the next twenty-one years. Her professional work is recorded in the files of the Department of the Interior of the U.S. Government and concerns rulings of the Department of Public Land matters, including railroad land grants, contracts for construction work in Alaska and the Virgin Islands, Bureau of Reclamation negotiations for the Yangtze River project in China and interpretations of contract provisions and expenditures.
Schwilck left the Department of the Interior in 1964 and spent the following twelve years traveling the globe and living in various foreign countries, including a stint teaching English in Chile. Schwilck eventually settled in Baltimore where she later taught English and citizenship classes at the YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association). In 1996 she received the Distinguished Alumna Service Award from the University of Iowa and experienced her delayed graduation ceremony. Lucille Schwilck passed away in 2005.
Extent
2.50 linear inches
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
1939 graduate from the State University of Iowa College of Law who worked for the U. S. Department of the Interior between 1943 and 1964.
Method of Acquisition
The papers (donor no. 261) were donated by Lucille Schwilck in 2001.
Subject
- State University of Iowa. College of Law (Organization)
- United States. Department of the Interior (Organization)
- Schwilck, Lucille (1904-2005) (Person)
Genre / Form
Geographic
Occupation
Temporal
Topical
- Author
- Lisa Mott, 2003.
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- eng
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