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Stong Family papers

 Collection
Identifier: IWA0819

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Scope and Contents

The Stong Family papers date from 1887 to 2007 and measure 2.5 linear inches. The papers are arranged in one series, which contains genealogical charts, correspondence, newspaper clippings and photographs. The papers include the letters written by Alice Stong to her parents in Kilbourne, Iowa, during her first undergraduate years at the State University of Iowa. These letters describe Alice's academic courses, professors and her day-to-day life in the dormitory Eastlawn. She also describes her courtship with Roy Robert Kountz. A 1940 letter documents the couple's first year in Iowa City. An obituary and additional documents describe Roy Rupert Kountz's war service and professional life. Newspaper clippings contain samples of some of the columns by Alice Kountz, including "Santa's Gift Ends Promising Career" and "Hospital Birth Rules Change." Photographs include Alice Stong at her 1937 graduation from the State University of Iowa.

Dates

  • Creation: 1887-2007

Creator

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

Alice Cynthia Stong Kountz was born June 22, 1916 in Kilbourne, Iowa to Martha Alice Tobias and Ernest Lee Stong. Martha Alice Tobias was born November 11, 1878 in Lick Creek, Van Buren, Iowa. Her husband Ernest Lee Stong was born February 2, 1878 in Kilbourne, Iowa. The Stongs worked as merchants for the ?Stong Bros? company in Kilbourne, Iowa. Ernest Stong died on December 1, 1933. Martha Stong lived to be 83; she died on May 9, 1961.

Alice Stong attended the University of Iowa (then the State University of Iowa) from 1933 to 1935, where she met her future husband Roy Rupert Kountz, a chemistry major from Fort Madison. The couple married on July 6, 1940. They lived in Iowa City until 1942 when they moved to California after Roy enlisted in the military. They had two children: Carol Lee, born in 1944, and Robert Roy, born in 1951. Alice Kountz became a journalist. Between 1971 and 1981 she wrote a column for the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pennsylvania, where she and the Kountz family lived after World War II.

Roy Kountz was professor of civil and sanitary engineering at the Pennsylvania State University until his death in 1971. Alice Stong Kountz died at 78 in 1994.

Extent

2.50 linear inches

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Correspondence of Alice Stong details her undergraduate experiences at The University of Iowa.

Method of Acquisition

The papers (donor no.1240) were donated by Carol Kountz in 2010.

Author
Rosemary Riess, 2012.
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Iowa Women's Archives Repository

Contact:
100 Main Library
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City IA 52242 IaU
319-335-5068
319-335-5900 (Fax)