Taryn D. Jordan was researching Ella Fitzgerald at the Schlesinger Library in the Radcliffe Institute when she first encountered the papers that would bring her to the Iowa Women’s Archives. Jordan is a doctoral candidate in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies at Emory University and an ACLS Mellon Dissertation Completion fellow who has been researchingContinue reading “Encountering Soul in the Iowa Women’s Archives: Scholar Taryn D. Jordan and the Aldeen Davis Papers”
Category Archives: IWA Update
Feminist Activism on Display in IWA
Over the next year, we’ll be celebrating the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States. Already, we’re marking important dates. 100 years ago on June 4th, Congress passed the 19th amendment, and July 2nd was the 100th anniversary of Iowa’s becoming the tenth state to ratify it. Women’s suffrage is one of theContinue reading “Feminist Activism on Display in IWA”
Playing, Pretending, Becoming: Iowa Girls and Their Dolls
Shirley Briggs had a lot of toys. As a very little girl in the early 1920s, Shirley had dozens of pictures taken of her ensconced in an oversized chair with children’s book, playing in a wheel barrow, sitting in the sun, all with a coterie of stuffed animals and dolls. The most frequent companion, andContinue reading “Playing, Pretending, Becoming: Iowa Girls and Their Dolls”
History Reflected Back: Part II
Below is a reflection from Micaela Terronez, Olson Graduate Assistant, on a recent talk about her interest in the Mexican barrios of the Quad Cities at a local community gathering in Davenport, Iowa. She will be giving a version of this talk at “Workers’ Dream for an America that ‘Yet Must Be’ Struggles for Freedom and Dignity, Past andContinue reading “History Reflected Back: Part II”
History Reflected Back: Part I
Below is a reflection from Micaela Terronez, Olson Graduate Assistant, on a recent talk about her interest in the Mexican barrios of the Quad Cities at a local community gathering in Davenport, Iowa. She will be giving a version of this talk at “Workers’ Dream for an America that ‘Yet Must Be’ Struggles for Freedom and Dignity, Past andContinue reading “History Reflected Back: Part I”
Activists in the Archives: Connecting High School Students with Local LGBTQ History
Guest post by Dr. Heather Cooper, Visiting Assistant Professor in History and Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies During LGBTQ History Month in October 2018, I worked with the Iowa Women’s Archives and University Special Collections to organize an archives visit for students from West Liberty High School. The several students who were able to attendContinue reading “Activists in the Archives: Connecting High School Students with Local LGBTQ History”
An Iowa Woman in Japan: Kären Mason’s Trip to Rikkyo University
Kären Mason, Iowa Women’s Archives curator, traveled to Tokyo in November to speak at Rikkyo University. Sixty library students, archivists, and others attended her lecture, entitled “Archives for All: Creating More Inclusive Archives in the United States.” Kären was invited by Ellen Hammond, former Japanese Studies librarian at Iowa and then at Yale, now livingContinue reading “An Iowa Woman in Japan: Kären Mason’s Trip to Rikkyo University”
New Website Celebrates Mildred Wirt Benson, the First Carolyn Keene
In 1930, the Stratemeyer Syndicate published the first Nancy Drew mystery, The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene. Since then, Nancy Drew has become known around the world. But who was behind Carolyn Keene? The mystery of the pseudonym persisted until a 1980 court case identified Mildred Wirt Benson, a journalist and IowaContinue reading “New Website Celebrates Mildred Wirt Benson, the First Carolyn Keene”
Lupita Larios Travels through Time with Mujeres Latinas Oral Histories
Guest post by Lupita Larios Have you ever heard a story that your grandparents, for example, told you and you were so fascinated to hear the story that you still remember it? With oral histories, a person is able to travel through time and imagine all the events and experiences that the narrator was livingContinue reading “Lupita Larios Travels through Time with Mujeres Latinas Oral Histories”
Dr. Myrtle Hinkhouse: From China to the Iowa Women’s Archives
In 1916, a young doctor by the name of Myrtle Hinkhouse stepped onto a ship heading toward China. Years earlier, the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions appointed her to serve in Tengchoufu and, after studying at the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia, she was ready to begin her work. Hinkhouse worked in China for threeContinue reading “Dr. Myrtle Hinkhouse: From China to the Iowa Women’s Archives”