History

The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation worked closely with the Iowa Women’s Archives Rural Women’s Project Archivist in 1998 and 1999 to encourage farm women to preserve records that document their life experiences.  In response, many farm women wrote short autobiographical sketches.These have been gathered in one collection.

Scope and Content Note

The Autobiographical Sketches of Rural Iowa Women collection dates from 1998 to 1999 and 2003; it measures 0.5 linear inches.  The northeast and northwest corners of the state are the principal areas represented.  Included in the collections are newspaper columnist Dorothy Blunt, farm woman Artis England, the active Mennonite Gladys Fisher, care facility activity coordinator Irma Jacobsma, church organist Charlotte Vaughn, Clara Winkie who passed her General Education Development (GED) test at age 60, and Farm Bureau leader Doris Wright Zimmerman.  Also included are the recollections of five Plymouth County farm women: Elsie Easton, Laura Lauter, Doris Ludwigs, Lois Newberg and Randy Oetken.  For the most part, these women were born and raised on farms and raised their own families on farms during the Depression and World War II.  Newspaper clippings, family histories, and church histories accompany some of the sketches.While not extensive, this collection offers perspectives from rural women who have not created many records or found representation in major repositories.

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Autobiographical Sketches of Rural Iowa Women

Folder 1

Blunt, Dorothy (Fayette County), 1999
England, Artis Hatland (Emmet County), 1999
Jacobsma, Irma Ruth (O’Brien County), undated
Vaughn, Charlotte Louise (Pocahontas County), undated
Zimmerman, Doris (Plymouth County), 1998

Folder 2

Fisher, Gladys (Johnson County), undated

Folder 3

Winkie, Clara P. Saride (Allamakee County), 1999

Folder 4

Easton, Elsie Johnson (Plymouth County), undated
Lauters, Laura L. (Plymouth County), undated
Ludwigs, Doris (Plymouth County), undated
Newberg, Lois Kovarna (Plymouth County), undated
Oetken, Randy Marienau (Plymouth County), undated