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News from the Archives

Tag: rachel black

Oct 24 2018

New Website Celebrates Mildred Wirt Benson, the First Carolyn Keene

Posted on October 24, 2018 by Anna Holland
Mildred Wirt Benson as a student in 1920s
Rachel Black, creator of The Mysterious Mildred Benson, poses by a cabinet filled with Benson’s work.

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 Iowa woman, as the original ghost writer. Benson began working as a ghost writer for the Stratemeyer Syndicate in 1927 when she was still a student at the State University of Iowa. Eventually, she wrote 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew mysteries. The Iowa Women’s Archives received Mildred Wirt Benson’s papers in 2013. 

In The Mysterious Mildred Wirt Benson, you can learn more about Benson’s papers, her legacy, and her adventurous life as a ghost writer, an airplane pilot, and a journalist. Benson was an alum of the University of Iowa. She became the first person to receive a master’s in journalism from the State University of Iowa in 1927.

In the 1990s, she was inducted into the University of Iowa’s journalism schools Alumni Hall of Fame and received the University’s distinguished alumni award. The site includes pages dedicated to biography, the University of Iowa Nancy Drew Conference in 1993, the story of the custom made cabinet that houses 146 of Mildred Wirt Benson’s published works, and resources for Nancy Drew and Mildred Wirt Benson scholarship. 

 

 

 

Posted in Exhibits, From the collections, In the news, IWA UpdateTagged fiction, journalism, mildred wirt benson, nancy drew, rachel black, website
Dec 15 2016

IWA Graduate Assistant Rachel Black Graduates from SLIS

Posted on December 15, 2016January 18, 2021 by Colleen Theisen

Image of Rachel Black holding a bookRachel 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

Posted in UncategorizedTagged graduation, poster, rachel black, slis, staff
Nov 22 2016

“At Your Local Library” Interviews with IWA

Posted on November 22, 2016January 18, 2021 by Colleen Theisen

Image of Rachel Black holding a bookRachel 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

 

Posted in UncategorizedTagged anna tunnicliff, at your local library, karen mason, Katie Gandhi, rachel black
Image of Katie and Rachel
Jul 28 2016

Meet IWA’s Graduate Assistants

Posted on July 28, 2016January 18, 2021 by Colleen Theisen

Image of Katie and Rachel

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.

Posted in PeopleTagged Katie Gandhi, rachel black, staff

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