Alice Ettinger and her teacher, Sara Hershey Eddy (seated) from the Rose Ettinger Papers.
BEATTY, CARRIE KELLY (1853-1925)
Papers, 1874-1999. 3 linear inches.
Young woman who came to Hancock County, Iowa in 1868. Her experiences were recorded in the book, “A Prairie Rose,” by Bertha E. Bush which was based on Carrie Kelly’s life.
BONNEY, MARGARET ATHERTON
Papers, 1810-1992.1.25 linear feet.
Papers include Bonney’s research files on Iowa suffragist Mary Jane Coggeshall; first woman member of the Davenport Academy of Science Mary Louise Putnam; University of Iowa physician Jennie McCowen; and pioneer evangelist and minister Abner Kneeland.
BOWERSOX/OSBORN FAMILY
Papers, 1861-1995. 7 linear inches.
The Bowersox family settled in Johnson County, Iowa in approximately 1855. The papers include a family account book, school exams and teaching certificates.
BRADLEY FAMILY
Papers, 1811-1897.1.7 linear feet.
Correspondence of a nineteenth-century family that resided in the Hudson River Valley of New York.
CALL, ETTA LUELLA.
Unprocessed papers, 1881-1882. 0.3 linear inches.
A Protestant from Algona, Iowa who attended St. Mary’s Academy in Notre Dame, Indiana during her high school senior year, 1881-1882.
CALL, LEONA
Papers, 1885-1943.0.25 linear inches.
Professor of Greek at the State University of Iowa during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
CHENEY, ANNA SUSAN MOORE (1877-1953)
Papers, 1892-1953. 2 linear inches.
Diarist, mother and minster’s wife in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.
CLIONIAN CLUB OF DAVENPORT, IOWA
Records, 1874-1996. 1 linear foot.
Women’s study group originated in 1874.
COROTHERS, MARGARET STRANG (1871-1934?)
Papers, 0.4 linear inches.
Family History of the McDowall-Wilson, Strang-McDowall, and Corothers-Strang Families.
COSSON, JENNIFER RIGGS (18xx-1943)
Papers, 1890-1943, 10 linear inches.
Active in politics and community groups and a known suffragist.
CUPLIN, MILLICENT MARY (1866-1950)
Papers, 1889-1994 (bulk 1889-1905).1 linear inch (1 volume).
Mathematics teacher at East High School in Des Moines who initiated the school’s first football team.
DAUGHTERS OF CERES
Records, 1898-1988 (bulk 1898-1973). 5 linear inches.
Walnut and Webster chapter records of this statewide social and benevolent club comprised of farmwomen. Minutes, correspondence, photographs.
ETTINGER, ROSE(1877-1909).
Papers, 1880-1929. 1 linear foot.
Concert singer who toured Europe from 1897 to 1907. Correspondence and photographs.
ETTLEMAN, MARGARET BOBBITT (1877-1984)
Papers, 1951-1984. 0.25 linear inches.
The 1951 memoir describes rural life in nineteenth century Iowa and Indiana.
EVERSMEYER, CORA (1876-1952)
Papers, 1848-1950. 2 linear inches.
Born and raised on a farm in Lee County, Iowa, Eversmeyer was the daughter of a German immigrant.
FARNHAM, ALMIRA AMES (1800-1896)
1 item.
Essay describing the life of Almira Ames Farnham, a pioneer woman from New England who settled near Morley, Iowa in 1859.
FAXON, CHARLOTTE
Diary, 1864-1867. 67 pages.
Teacher who traveled widely during the Civil War period.
GANGESTAD, ROSA KNUTSON (1867-1943)
Papers, undated. 0.5 linear inches.
Born to Norwegian immigrants who came to Humboldt County, Iowa in 1872, Gangestad’s handwritten stories and letters for her grandchildren provide insight into pioneer life in Iowa.
HARPER, VIRGINIA (1929-1997).
Papers, [1940s]-1997. 1 linear foot.
Includes “The Dandridge Family History” written in 1971 by Rosa Dandridge Pryor, in which she describes her parents’ experiences as slaves, their migration to Iowa after emancipation, and their lives as farmers in Lee County, Iowa.
HAYGARTH, GEORGIA PEESO (1882-1952)
Papers, 1912-1952. 2.5 linear inches.
The papers include a transcript of the 1859 diary kept by Haygarth’s father, Melvin Moses Peeso, while he was logging in California.
HILL, CATHERINE SNEDEKER (ca. 1843-1890)
Papers, 1854-1871.6 linear inches.
Illinois student who moved to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Primarily correspondence.
HOLDEN, IDA “BELLE” BANDFIELD (?-1905)
Papers, 1898-1905. 0.5 linear inches.
Schoolteacher in the Waterloo area at the turn of the century.
JOHNSON, HELEN I.
Oral history, 0.5 linear inches.
Native of Marshalltown, Iowa whose interview includes a description of her father’s experiences as a slave and as a freedman.
KERN, NANNIE (1800s)
One item, 1864-1886.
Autograph book presented to Kern as a gift in 1864.
KEYES FAMILY
Papers, 1832-1999. 3 linear feet and artifacts. Mount Vernon, Iowa, family whose papers include photographs, account books, correspondence and civil war diaries.
KROMMINGA, MARIA MARGARETHA (1874-1937)
Papers, 1897-1921. 6 linear inches.
Monticello, Iowa, native who never married but had one son whom she raised alone, living with her parents on their farm. Diaries, photographs.
LARIMER, ANN
Letters, February-July 1865. 1 linear inch.
Queen City, Iowa resident who wrote to her husband, John Larimer, while he was serving in the Civil War.
LINDAHL, CARRIE (1887-1977).
Papers, 1875-2001. 1.25 linear feet.
Rural Linn County banker who worked outside of the home from 1910s to 1960s.
MARTINSON, KATE (1858-1941)
Papers, 1872-1944 (bulk 1872-1917).1 linear inch.
Yearly journal entries by this northern Iowa woman chronicle her marriage, childrearing, management of the family farm, divorce, and remarriage.
McHENRY, MARY SEARS (1834-1912)
Papers, 1865-1998. 1 linear inch.
Diary and account book of Rockford College graduate as a young bride of a Civil War officer describes her visit to Illinois from Denison, Iowa.
MASON, STELLA M. (1861-1957)
Papers, 1852-1958. 1.5 linear feet and artifacts.
Physician and surgeon who practiced in Mason City, Iowa, and was also active in the woman sufffrage movement.
MERICLE, PHOEBE KELLUM (1820-1893).
1 item.
Obituary, 1893 of an early settler in Webster County, Iowa.
MILLER, ELLEN MOWRER (1848-1922)
Papers, 1856-1994. 10 linear inches.
Correspondence includes letters from her brother in medical school and Civil War and from her sister who raised a family and maintained a farm.
MORE, FLORINDA WAKEFIELD (1839-1890)
Papers, 1853-1891.1.5 linear inches.
Letters to Florinda More from friends and family in New England and Iowa and from her husband, the itinerant minister Thomas More.
PARSONS, MARY JANE (1842-1938)
Memoir, 1935. 179 pages.
Provides insight into nineteenth century family life, travel, Civil War and homesteading in Iowa as told by Parsons to her granddaughter, Myrtle Parsons, in 1935.
PATTEN, GRACE (1888-19xx)
Papers, 1903-1943. 0.25 linear inches.
Midwife and nurse from Thornton, Iowa.
PLATT, ELVIRA (1818-1914)
Papers, 1853-1974.1 linear inch.
Teacher and abolitionist who assisted fleeing slaves on the Underground Railroad while living in Fremont County, Iowa. Taught school to Pawnee children in Pennsylvania and Nebraska.
PROTEUS CLUB (Des Moines, Iowa)
Records, 1897-1993. 2.4 linear feet.
Women’s study club organized in 1896 by college graduates for their intellectual improvement. Correspondence, programs, photographs.
REED, IOWA BYINGTON (1851-1936)
Papers, 1872-1936. 2.25 linear feet.
Diaries of an Iowa City woman who supported herself as a seamstress prior to her marriage in 1896.
ROBINSON-LACY FAMILY
Papers, 1852-2001. 10 linear inches.
Correspondence and diaries of Dubuque residents Belle Robinson and Laura Robinson. Scrapbook of Dubuque Literacy Society. Newspaper clipping about suffrage.
ROGERS, EFFIE HOFFMAN (1855-1918)
Biographical sketch, 1992.
Reporter and city editor for Oskaloosa’s Globe Press later elected Grand supreme chapter president of the PEO sisterhood.
RUMBLE, MARIE (1894-1974)
Papers, 1890-2002. 4 linear inches.
Homesteader who lived in Wyoming, Colorado and Washington State.
RUTLEDGE, ALMIRA SAFELY (1869-1950)
Diaries, 1885-1950.1 linear foot.
Wife and mother. Photocopies of diaries.
SCHRAMM, EMILY PUTNAM (1864-1889)
Papers, 1887-1889 and 1913, 1 linear inch.
Sketchbooks by a young Iowa woman, with mostly landscapes concentrating on the Mississippi River.
SHALE AND WOLF FAMILIES
Letters, 1878-1999.1 linear inch.
Correspondence between families recording important events of farm life in northern Iowa and the Dakota territory, primarily from a farm woman’s perspective.
SIES, JENNIE (1859-1880)
Papers, 1880.1 linear inch.
Jennie Sies lived on a farm near Oxford, Iowa and made daily entries in her journal from January to September, 1880. She died on October 3, 1880.
SWANSON, AUGUSTA GUSTAFSON (ca1862-?)
Correspondence, 1884-1938. 1 linear inch.
Swedish immigrant who moved to Iowa in 1889. Photocopies of letters written to her family in Sweden . (Swedish with English translations.)
TAYLOR, RUTH FATHERSON (1912- )
Papers, 1915-2002. 3 linear inches.
Includes reflections and essays written by Taylor and the transcript of a memoir written by her grandmother Editha Phillips Fatherson in 1915.
TAYLOR, SARAH C. (1835-1950)
Papers, 1881-1907.13 items.
Physician who operated the Taylor Sanitarium in Hamburg, Iowa for two decades around the turn of the century.
TRIMBLE FAMILY (1883-1999)
Papers, 1879-1999. 1 linear inch.
Reminiscences of Gladys Trimble Leith and Marie Jeffers about their mother, Mary Pyle Trimble as well as their own childhood experience.
VAN ZANTE AND DE COOK FAMILIES
Papers, 1888-1960s.1 linear inch.
Diary of adolescent Dutch-American farm girl Mary Van Zante in the late nineteenth century and the 1932 farm diary of her daughter-in-law, Besse DeCook.
WELCH AND ANGRICK COLLECTION
Collection, 1880-1995. 3.75 linear feet.
Material relating to the Heart of Hawkeye Council of Campfire Girls, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and the Iowa Department of the Women’s Relief Corps.
WHITE, LUCY VAN VOORHIS (1869-1936)
Papers, 1880-1932.1 linear foot.
Schoolteacher and farm wife of Dallas County, Iowa. Correspondence, diaries, photographs.
WOMAN’S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION OF IOWA
Records, 1874-2006. 18.5 linear feet.
Organization dedicated to legislative and educational efforts to prevent juvenile delinquency and support woman’s suffrage.
YWCA OF GREATER DES MOINES
Records, 1895-1995. 10.75 linear feet.
Local chapter affiliated with the national YWCA in 1896.