Colleen Theisen – News from the Archives

Mar 31 2017

Travel Grant Applications due April 15, 2017

Posted on March 31, 2017April 17, 2017 by Colleen Theisen

Linda and Richard Kerber Fund for Research in the Iowa Women’s Archives

In honor of Linda and Richard Kerber’s enduring support for scholarship in the history of women, the Iowa Women’s Archives (University of Iowa Libraries) announces a grant of $1000 to fund travel to Iowa City, Iowa, to conduct research in the Iowa Women’s Archives. We welcome applicants from a variety of backgrounds, including graduate students, academic and public historians, and independent researchers and writers, although preference will be given to graduate students. The grant is intended to offset travel and lodging expenses of researchers whose work will benefit from using collections in the archives. The strengths of the Iowa Women’s Archives include rich collections on the history of the women’s movement, political activism, African Americans, rural women, and Latinas, especially in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The collections are global in scope. (See http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/viewshare/).

Grant recipients are expected to donate a courtesy copy of any publications that make use of the collections, and to acknowledge support of the Iowa Women’s Archives in any theses, dissertations, and publications.

Applications should be sent to lib-women@uiowa.edu with the subject line TRAVEL GRANT APPLICATION. Applications must be received via email by April 15, 2017. Notification of awards will be made by May 1, 2017.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES

Who is eligible?

We welcome applications from graduate students, academic and public historians, and independent researchers and writers who reside outside a 100-mile radius of Iowa City, Iowa, and whose research projects would be substantially enriched by the use of materials held by the Iowa Women’s Archives.
Research topics should be strongly supported by the collections of the Iowa Women’s Archives. We encourage each prospective grant applicant to discuss his or her research project and the collections that might support it with the Iowa Women’s Archives staff before submitting an application.
For information about the collections, please see our collection guides.

What expenses does the award cover?

The award may be used for travel and lodging but not for meals or photocopying. Prior to applying, non-US citizens should contact the library regarding visas or other required paperwork.

How do I apply?

The application packet consists of the following:

A one-page letter of application. Be sure to state your name, mailing address, email address, and phone number.
A research proposal of no more than 500 words describing the purpose of the research, the Iowa Women’s Archives holdings to be consulted, and the significance of these holdings to the overall project.
A curriculum vita of no more than two pages.
A proposed budget (not to exceed $1000) indicating how the funds will be spent.

Submit application to lib-women@uiowa.edu with the subject line TRAVEL GRANT APPLICATION. If you do not receive an email within 3 days confirming that your application has been received, please contact karen-mason@uiowa.edu or janet-weaver@uiowa.edu and write TRAVEL FUND in the subject line.

What dates do I need to remember?

Applications must be emailed by April 15, 2017.
Grant recipients will be notified by May 1, 2017.
Funds must be spent between June 1, 2017 and May 31, 2018.

For questions about the program, please contact: karen-mason@uiowa.edu or janet-weaver@uiowa.edu and write TRAVEL FUND in the subject line.

Iowa Women’s Archives
The University of Iowa Libraries
125 West Washington Street
Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1420

319-335-5068

http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/

lib-women@uiowa.edu

Quilt squares about Iowa women, by Iowa girls.

Mar 21 2017

Every Girl Has a Voice: 8-14 Year Old Girls Explore IWA

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Colleen Theisen

Every girl has a voice. Every woman has a story!

This month the IWA held an event for area girls from ages 8 – 14. The girls learned about Iowa girls and women from decades past like Dora Martin Berry, the first black student to be named Miss State University of Iowa; Dorothy Fox Wurster, who joined the local boys 4-H club in order to competitively show cattle; and Phyliss Henry, Des Moines’ first police woman.
Using photocopies of what they found, the kids made their own mini-exhibits and decorated a quilt square about a girl or woman of their choice.

All who participated had a blast, and we hope to have a similar event in the future.

The girls examine our current exhibit "History as it Happens: Women's March 2017 — The girls examine our current exhibit “History as it Happens: Women’s March 2017

Curator Kären Mason shows the girls some artifacts from IWA collections.

Assistant curator Janet Weaver helps a girl write her exhibit caption, "And the women powered through it!" — Assistant curator Janet Weaver helps a girl write her exhibit caption, “And the women powered through it!”

Feb 13 2017

Janet Weaver wins 2017 ACRL WGSS Significant Achievement Award

Posted on February 13, 2017February 13, 2017 by Colleen Theisen

via Association of College and Research Libraries: http://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2017/02/weaver-wins-2017-acrl-wgss-significant-achievement-award

CHICAGO – Janet Weaver, assistant curator of the Iowa Women’s Archives at the University of Iowa, is the winner of the 2017 Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Women and Gender Studies Section (WGSS) Award for Significant Achievement in Woman’s Studies Librarianship. The WGSS award honors a significant or one-time contribution to women’s studies librarianship.

A plaque will be presented to Weaver at a WGSS event during the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.

“The Awards Committee was greatly impressed by Weaver’s creation of the Migration is Beautiful website, which is a project constructed from oral histories and other archival material housed at the Iowa Women’s Archives,” said award chair Stacy Russo, librarian and associate professor at Santa Ana College. “Migration is Beautiful was developed from the Iowa Women’s Archives’ Mujeres Latinas project that launched in 2005. The committee especially noted Weaver’s level of collaboration with her colleagues and undergraduate students. The students selected documents for the website and also wrote vignettes. The introduction on the website reads: ‘Migration is Beautiful highlights the contributions Latinas and Latinos have made to Iowa history. Migration is central to understanding and interpreting the past, shaped first by Native Americans, and later by immigrants from around the world.’”

The Migration is Beautiful digital humanities project highlights the contributions of Latinas, their families, and their organizations to Iowa history. Visitors can navigate the site in multiple ways to access hundreds of digitized primary documents and audio clips from oral history interviews through historical topics, life stories, and a migration map.

“Weaver’s work has brought accessibility to primary source documents that were previously only available to visitors at the Iowa Women’s Archives,” continued Russo. “After its launch in 2016, Migration is Beautiful debuted with a travelling exhibit at the national League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) convention in Washington, D.C. In her continued emphasis on outreach, Weaver has made presentations to Latino groups around Iowa regarding the project. Her work has also been featured on Hola Iowa, a news outlet that focuses on Latinos in the Midwest.”

Weaver received her M.A. in Modern History from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

CONGRATULATIONS JANET!

Dec 15 2016

IWA Graduate Assistant Rachel Black Graduates from SLIS

Posted on December 15, 2016 by Colleen Theisen

Rachel Black, IWA graduate assistant completed her studies and graduated from the School of Library and Information Science. She will walk tomorrow at graduation.

Earlier this month, Rachel successfully defended her poster, “Community Building and Humanizing Social Media.”

Earlier we highlighted Rachel’s work on her blog, “@ Your Local Library.” You can read more about the project here.

Please join us in congratulating Rachel and wishing her the best in her future career.
Two SLIS students at their poster sessions

Nov 22 2016

“At Your Local Library” Interviews with IWA

Posted on November 22, 2016January 27, 2017 by Colleen Theisen

Rachel Black is a graduate assistant in the Iowa Women’s Archives. As part of her graduate work in the School of Library and Information Science she has been working on a project called “@ Your Local Library.”

“@ Your Local Library” is a series of photo essays bringing to life stories of the important work going on behind the scenes in libraries around the area, and posting about them on a WordPress site as well as Tumblr and Facebook.

On the “About” page for her website, Black describes her goals:

“Unfortunately, a lot of people aren’t aware of everything their local library has to offer. They see the books and the computers, but not the new programs or initiatives librarians are working to provide in order to create a happy and healthy community. I started this website in order to share with everyone the different ways librarians are working to benefit their communities.”

As part of the project, Black posted a six part series featuring librarians and staff from the Iowa Women’s Archives. The posts are embedded as a series below. Be sure to check out her pages to read all of the compelling stories of work going on in libraries around The Corridor.

https://atyourlocallibrary.tumblr.com/post/152566097429/my-mother-was-a-librarian-in-elementary-school

https://atyourlocallibrary.tumblr.com/post/152596425799/about-a-year-after-i-finished-my-dissertation-my

https://atyourlocallibrary.tumblr.com/post/152643829869/currently-im-processing-the-collection-of-a

https://atyourlocallibrary.tumblr.com/post/152686111664/weve-had-very-special-projects-to-preserve-the

https://atyourlocallibrary.tumblr.com/post/152728897074/whats-your-favorite-part-about-working-at-iowa

https://atyourlocallibrary.tumblr.com/post/152768035209/i-think-one-of-the-biggest-challenges-of-archives

Sep 02 2016

New Furniture in the Iowa Womens Archives

Posted on September 2, 2016December 2, 2016 by Colleen Theisen

The Iowa Women’s Archives is approaching its 25th Anniversary in 2017. In preparation, through a series of fundraisers our donors have helped make it possible to update the Reading Room with new paint, tables, and technology. Most everything is place though some finishing touches like hanging artwork still remain. Sincere thanks to all of our supporters. Be sure to stop by and see our new look.

Below you can see a live video from just when the new furniture was put into place:

Jul 28 2016

Meet IWA’s Graduate Assistants

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Colleen Theisen

While these two fabulous ladies aren’t brand new to IWA, they both recently accepted positions as graduate assistants for the up-coming semesters.

Rachel Black grew up in the southwestern corner of Iowa in a tiny town that had more ponies than people. Now living in the Iowa City area, she hopes to graduate with a MLIS this December.

Her archives journey began last summer as a volunteer working on the Myrtle Hinkhouse papers. She is excited to tackle more collections this fall.

Outside of the archives, Rachel can be found knitting poorly constructed hand towels, messing up her kitchen while baking, losing arrows on the archery range, and just generally enjoying her life.

Katie Gandhi still doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up, but she does know she loves libraries, history, people, and archives. Other past-times include hiking, painting, weaving, and playing cello.

Since being hired in January, her primary focus has been helping Janet prepare content for the IWA’s “Migration is Beautiful” project Omeka site, which went live on July 5th.

Katie just finished an M.S. in Urban and Regional Planning and will be working to complete her M.A. in Library and Information Science this year.

Jul 25 2016

Migration is Beautiful Website Premieres at 2016 National LULAC Convention

Posted on July 25, 2016December 2, 2016 by Colleen Theisen

July 12th was the kickoff for the 2016 National LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) convention. Janet, assistant curator here at the IWA, attended the conference to promote “Migration is Beautiful,” a new website featuring vignettes, oral history interview clips, memoirs, letters, and photographs from the IWA’s Mujeres Latinas Project.

The new website highlights the experiences and contributions Latinas and Latinos have made to the state of Iowa. It also hosts an interactive map that shows the migration of Latinos through Iowa during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Recently, Hola Iowa, a news outlet focusing on Latinos in the Midwest, featured a vignette and photos from the Migration is Beautiful website.

We are very proud of Janet, and can’t wait to hear more about the convention when she returns!

Apr 21 2016

Fundraiser for IWA: Music at the Mill with Tom Mason and HomeBrewed

Posted on April 21, 2016December 2, 2016 by Colleen Theisen

Mar 11 2016

Public Talk March 24, 2016 at 4:00PM “Jewish Women and Community Life in Iowa”

Posted on March 11, 2016December 2, 2016 by Colleen Theisen

WE DID SO MUCH BEYOND THE HOME

JEWISH WOMEN AND COMMUNITY LIFE IN IOWA

A talk by Jeannette Gabriel, Graduate Research Assistant, Jewish Women in Iowa Project, Iowa Women’s Archives

Join us to hear the untold stories of Jewish women’s involvement in community activities throughout Iowa history, whether in cities with robust Jewish populations or in small towns where only one or two Jewish families lived.

Thursday, March 24, 2016 4:00-5:30 p.m.

Iowa Women’s Archives, 3^rd Floor, Main Library, University of Iowa

Reception at 4:00 p.m. — Talk will begin at 4:30 p.m.

RSVP lib-women@uiowa.edu Questions? 319-335-5068

Save this event to your profile on the University of Iowa Calendar of Events.

Presented by the Iowa Women’s Archives at the University of Iowa Libraries in celebration of Women’s History Month.

Jeannette Gabriel is a PhD candidate in the department of Teaching and Learning, College of Education. Her dissertation is ‘I Don’t See Race’: Examining History Teachers’ Use of Images through the Teaching Amerian History (TAH) Grant to Study African-American History”. The Jewish Women in Iowa Project has helped develop her understanding of historical memory and consciousness. Jeannette is deeply grateful and appreciative for the warmth and graciousness with which I have been received by the Jewish families and communities that have become part of this project.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact (name of person or department) in advance at (telephone number).