Iowa Women's Archives
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, Iowa

NELLIE BOOKER (1918-2002)

PAPERS, c.1910-1999
3.25 linear feet

Collection Overview

Biography

Nellie Pakison Booker was born in 1918 in Riverton, Iowa. She was an only child and began reading books and writing poetry at the age of eight. She graduated from Riverton High School in 1936 and married James E. Booker in 1941. The couple had two sons, Norman and Roger. Nellie Booker became a newspaper reporter in 1934 and worked for six newspapers in the course of her career. She published her first poetry book when she was eighty years old. Booker died in 2002.

Scope and Content Note

The Nellie Booker » papers date from the 1910s » to 1999 and measure 3.25 linear feet. The bulk of the collection consists of Booker’s scrapbooks and photograph albums, which include family photographs, some of which are identified and dated, copies of Booker’s columns, and clippings from local newspapers. The autobiographical writings consist of drafts of Booker’s poems and essays; many are handwritten, and a few were written in her childhood years. A collection of essays from the late 1990s and the book of poetry Booker published in 1998 complete the collection. Booker’s poems, essays, and reminiscences deal with religious beliefs, child-raising, farm life, Saturday nights in a small town, home remedies, early cosmetics, the “funny papers,” holiday preparations, and many other topics.

Box List

Box 1

General “ Down Memory Lane,” c. 1999 “Poetry by Nellie,” 1998 Poems and autobiographical writings (7 folders)

Box 2

Poems and autobiographical writings (7 folders)

Box 3

Scrapbooks and photograph albums, 1910s-1950s (5 volumes)

Box 4

Scrapbooks and photograph albums, 1950s-1980s (5 volumes)

Box 5

Scrapbooks and photograph albums, 1950s-1980s (4 volumes)

Box 6

Scrapbooks and photograph albums, 1980s-1990s (5 volumes)

Box 7

Scrapbooks and photograph albums, 1980s-1990s (5 volumes)

Box 8

Scrapbooks and photograph albums, 1990s (6 volumes)

 

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This page created July 2006.