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: Helen Grundman 4-H scrapbook, 1928-1932 Creator: Helen Grundman Collection: Iowa Women’s Scrapbooks Digital Collection When 4-H judges awarded Helen Grundman a blue ribbon for most complete scrapbook, they knew what they wereContinue reading “IDL staff pick: 4-H scrapbook, 1928-1932”

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: Boys in front of boxcar, Holy City, Bettendorf, Iowa, 1920s Creator: unknown Collection: Mujeres Latinas Digital Collection How can one not be moved by this simple but compelling photo? Two littleContinue reading “IDL staff pick: Holy City boys, Bettendorf, Iowa, 1920s”

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: Baseball game, Iowa City, Iowa, 1895 Creator: Samuel Calvin Digital collection:  Iowa City Town and Campus Scenes The action of the baseball game in the photograph combined with the austere surroundings of centralContinue reading “IDL staff pick: Iowa City baseball game, 1895”

This academic year marks the 15th anniversary of the Iowa Women’s Archives, which was founded by Louise Noun and Mary Louise Smith. Two new online resources celebrate their vision: the Iowa Women’s Archives Founders Collection and the Iowa Women’s Archives Timeline. The Founders Collection includes a scrapbook that chronicles Smith’s early involvement in politics, whichContinue reading “IWA and DLS launch Iowa Women’s Archives Digital Collections portal”

Anybody who spends more than a few months on a university campus knows how quickly the buildings and landscape can change. For instance, a sidewalk I used to traverse everyday on my way to and from the Main Library while in library school (ca. 2003) is now the Adler Journalism Building. A whole swath of land southContinue reading “Campus maps, now with ones and zeros”

The granddaughter of slaves and daughter of a college professor, (Alice) Elizabeth Catlett grew up in a household that placed great value on education. She received a B.A. in art from Howard University in 1936, and then taught high school for two years before coming to The University of Iowa for graduate school to studyContinue reading “World-renowned sculptor and printmaker”

Sara Baird, an assistant in the Libraries’ Technical Services department, has recently begun augmenting her duties cataloging physical objects for the online catalog with creating metadata records for digital objects in the Iowa Digital Library. In the process of describing and providing access to archival materials in the digital collections, she’s gained no small expertise onContinue reading “Iowa native, world traveler, and activist librarian”

In honor of African American History Month, DLS will be highlighting the stories of African Americans featured in the Iowa Digital Library. First up is Digital Librarianship Fellow Shawn Averkamp on Dora Martin Berry, campus queen of the UI (then State University of Iowa), 1955. Though segregation was never a matter of official policy at The University of Iowa, AfricanContinue reading “Queen of the campus”

With his expertise in video art, Bryan Stusse was a natural fit to digitize selections from the Artists’ Television Network, a subset of Special Collections’ Alternative Traditions in the Contemporary Arts materials. But although equipped for the curatorial tasks of selecting from hundreds of original works by visual and performing artists broadcast on New YorkContinue reading “Digital library fellowship profile: Bryan Stusse & Artists’ Television Network”

Fellow Shawn Averkamp got more than she bargained for when she signed on for our African American student history project. Unlike other DLS fellows who were culling from only one archival collection, Shawn was working from a scholarly article listing primary source materials in a variety of collections drawn from the Iowa Women’s Archives andContinue reading “Digital library fellowship profile: Shawn Averkamp & African American Women Students at the UI”