We are pleased to announce the launch of Our Rightful Place in collaboration with the University of Iowa Libraries Iowa Women’s Archives. This digital collection of oral history interviews, data visualizations, archival stories, and more celebrates the history of women in Iowa politics. This project originally grew from the work of 50-50 in 2020, a nonpartisan organization in Iowa founded with the goal of training and mentoring women of both political parties to hold seats in the legislature.
“In coalition with other groups, 50-50 in 2020 also organized a number of events to commemorate the centennial of the 19th Amendment and share stories of women’s political achievements with people across the state of Iowa. As a part of this commemorative work, Jean Lloyd-Jones spearheaded the development of an oral history project documenting the experiences of women like herself who had served in the Iowa legislature. In 2018, Jean began discussing this idea with John Culshaw, Jack B. King Librarian at the University of Iowa. Those conversations led to the creation of this website as a collaboration between the University of Iowa Libraries and 50-50 in 2020.
To ensure that the Libraries would be able to sustainably maintain that website and continue interviewing legislators in years to come, Jean Lloyd-Jones and her granddaughter, Michal Eynon-Lynch, endowed a staff position at the Iowa Women’s Archives to continue the project into the future. The archivist in that position will continue to solicit and conduct new interviews with each new cohort of women elected to the Iowa legislature, as well as politicians not yet interviewed for this project and extended interviews with select participants.
In 2024, this website was redesigned to acknowledge that, with the passage of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and the investiture of the Jean Lloyd-Jones and Michal Eynon-Lynch Women in Politics Archivist, the project has evolved beyond its initial concept. As part of the redesign efforts, the project was renamed Our Rightful Place: Iowa Women in Politics to more accurately convey its current scope.”
Explore more of Our Rightful Place and check back for updates as we share this new resource.