“We will meet all of us women of every land. We will meet at the center, make a circle. We will weave a world we to entangle the powers that bury our children.” — cover art for WRAC’s December 1978 newsletter Iowa City’s Women’s Resource and Action Center (WRAC) opened in 1971 as a place for womenContinue reading “Iowa City Feminists: The Women’s Resource and Action Center”
Category Archives: From the collections
Dottie and Jack: An Epistolary Friendship
“Schöner Bruder,” “Ma Chère Petite,” “Sonny Boy,” Honey Child,” these are just a few of the salutations used by Dorothy and Warren “Jack” Wirtz in their letters to each other. Although their greetings may have been somewhat tongue in cheek, Dorothy and Jack’s correspondence reveals a relationship full of common interests, good humor, and affection.Continue reading “Dottie and Jack: An Epistolary Friendship”
Dr. Dorothy Wirtz, PhD: A Woman “In the Profession”
“Gentlemen, As you had hoped, I have found your questionnaire interesting to answer. However, I cannot refrain from expressing my resentment at the phrasing of certain statements, which seem to me to reflect discrimination on the basis of sex.” So begins Dr. Dorothy Wirtz’s 1969 letter to The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education. She followedContinue reading “Dr. Dorothy Wirtz, PhD: A Woman “In the Profession””
Meet Dorothy Wirtz
A few years after the Iowa Women’s Archives opened, Dr. Dorothy Wirtz [1915 – 2013] donated some pieces of her college years at the University of Iowa. Dorothy Wirtz’s 1997 gift to the IWA includes her academic articles and a selection of her poetry. However, the papers mostly concern the exploits of Wirtz and herContinue reading “Meet Dorothy Wirtz”
Piñatas of Christmas Past
By Vitalina Nova, Preservation Projects Librarian Season’s greetings from the Iowa Women’s Archives! This is the time of treats and parties. Seen below are photographs of children in the 1960s – partaking of all the joys of holiday parties. These images come from the Iowa Women’s Archives LULAC (League of United Latino American Citizens) Council 10Continue reading “Piñatas of Christmas Past”
Kerber Fund Recipient Uncovers Women’s History
Say hello to Hannah Dudley-Shotwell, a scholar who is visiting the Archives this week, thanks to assistance from the Linda and Richard Kerber Fund for Research in the Iowa Women’s Archives. Hannah is one of the first recipients of the grant, which was inaugurated last spring. She’s a doctoral candidate in History at the UniversityContinue reading “Kerber Fund Recipient Uncovers Women’s History”
Light and Letters: An Iowa Woman’s Experience of Tuberculosis
Celebrate women’s history month with refreshments and conversation! Come join us for “Light and Letters: An Iowa Woman’s Experience of Tuberculosis,” a talk by Jennifer Burek Pierce, PhD, on Wednesday, March 25 at 4:00pm. Prof. Burek Pierce will discuss the importance of reading and letters from home for Marjorie McVicker Sutcliffe during her treatments inContinue reading “Light and Letters: An Iowa Woman’s Experience of Tuberculosis”
Black History Month: African American Women at University of Iowa
Photos of Adah Hyde Johnson (1912), Dora Martin Berry (1956), and students in the newly integrated Currier Hall (1946). Though the University of Iowa was one of the first institutions to open admission to African Americans, these students often had to overcome other barriers to an equal education. Our digital collection on African American Women StudentsContinue reading “Black History Month: African American Women at University of Iowa”
“Unbossed and Unbought”: Shirley Chisholm and the Voice of the People
Sunday, November 30 is the 90th anniversary of the birth of Shirley Chisholm. The following blog post was written by Anna Bostwick Flaming. Image via usps.com Shirley Chisholm, the “unbought and unbossed” African American congresswoman and 1972 Presidential candidate from the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn is the subject of a 2014 limited edition stamp. Chisholm’sContinue reading ““Unbossed and Unbought”: Shirley Chisholm and the Voice of the People”
Election Day! Politics in the Archives
As the site of the Iowa caucuses as well as the home state of countless policy makers and political activists, Iowa is rich with electoral history. As we cast our votes today, we reflect on the decades of campaigning that has brought some of the 20th century’s biggest political names to Iowa, as well asContinue reading “Election Day! Politics in the Archives”