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Exploring women’s Hawkeye Histories with the Iowa Women’s Archives

In curating Hawkeye Histories | Sporting Stories, Dr. Jennifer Sterling worked with the staff of the Iowa Women’s Archives (IWA) and the University Archives at the University of Iowa Libraries to select collection materials that bring Iowa’s athletic history to life. Many of those items help tell the story of Hawkeye women who broke barriers to make Iowa a leader on the national athletic stage.

Anna Holland, associate curator for the IWA, assisted with the exhibit by helping to find materials that tell the story of women in Hawkeye sports. Holland enjoys discovering what she describes as “eye-catching items that invite the viewer to imagine what it would be like to be there in that moment.” Below, she shares three objects on display in the exhibition that demonstrate women’s central role in Hawkeye Histories.

Table tents

One of Holland’s favorite items in the exhibit is a pair of table tents dating to the 1920s, used at a dinner to mark seats for Pauline Spencer and Julia Darrow, both accomplished student-athletes. The tents, which belong to the C. Pauline Spencer papers within IWA, are lettered and illustrated by hand. This sense of camaraderie and enthusiasm is one of the strongest throughlines connecting the IWA materials in the exhibition, according to Holland. “The time that must have been put into these custom drawings shows how much fun these athletes were having and how much they cared about their sport and each other,” she says. [IWA 0627]

Pins

This assortment of pins serves as a reminder of the many obstacles women athletes took on to combat gender inequality. Among Holland’s favorites are those that represent the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). “The AIAW was constantly battling for women’s equality in sport and for its own existence in an NCAA-dominated landscape,” says Holland. “I like to imagine women defiantly wearing these pins.” She also appreciates some of the declarative slogans—including “I’m a sportswoman and proud of it!”—that appear in the Holly Wilson Greene papers.

Dr. Christine Grant cut-out

Dr. Christine Grant was the University of Iowa’s first director of women’s intercollegiate athletics, beginning in 1973 after Title IX was signed into law. She continued in the role for 27 years, working tirelessly to lay the foundation for today’s record-breaking women’s teams. During the height of the pandemic, when stands were empty at sporting events, this cut-out of Grant was used to encourage athletes. When sporting events re-opened, the cut-out was donated to the IWA. When it’s not in Hawkeye Histories, it’s occupying a place of honor in the IWA reading room. “I love having Dr. Grant in the Archives ‘watching’ us all work,” says Holland. “I’m just really thrilled to be able to share her with others.”

Holland hopes that visitors to the exhibition will come away with a renewed interest in preserving pieces of their own history. “What we have in the Archives is thanks in great part to Iowans who kept their papers,” she says. “I’d like people today, particularly student-athletes, to think about what they are saving.”


There’s so much more where these materials came from. If you’re interested in learning more about the history of women’s athletics at Iowa, Holland recommends beginning with a visit to explore records and collections from the three leaders listed below.

Learn more

  • Christine Grant, the first and only head of women’s athletics at the University of Iowa
  • Lark Birdsong, the first head coach of Iowa’s women’s basketball program
  • Nadine Domond, a Hawkeye women’s basketball star who played under Coach C. Vivian Stringer and had a career in the WNBA