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IDL staff pick: Mary Louise Smith listening to anti-ERA speech, Iowa, 1980

As the Iowa Digital Library approaches the 100,000-item mark, we’re celebrating this milestonetemp by highlighting some of our favorite items from the collections.

Title: Rosa Cunningham and Mary Louise Smith listening to anti-ERA speech at state GOP convention, Iowa, June 1980
Creator: unknown
Collection: Iowa Women’s Archives Founders Digital Collection

These two women are listening to an anti-ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) speech, and I like how their almost identical bodily demeanor—scowls, clenched jaws, crossed arms—tell us everything about what they think of this speech.  No words are necessary; the picture says it all.

–Jeanne Bryson
Library Assistant, Central Technical Services