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”
Tag Archives: shirley briggs
Cards from Christmases Past
By Christine Vivian, SLIS student and IWA student assistant One of the lovely surprises of The Iowa Women’s Archives is the number of collections which contain holiday cards, such as the Shirley Briggs Papers. Briggs, an artist and naturalist, created a new hand-drawn card every year for over 50 years. Receiving one of theseContinue reading “Cards from Christmases Past”
Shirley Briggs and the Iowa Connection to “Silent Spring”
Fifty years ago, Rachel Carson published “Silent Spring,” a lyrical and compelling book about how DDT and other pesticides were damaging the environment and human health. The book called for a change in the way humankind viewed the natural world and became an inspiration for the environmental movement. One of Carson’s staunchest advocates andContinue reading “Shirley Briggs and the Iowa Connection to “Silent Spring””