IOWA
WOMEN’S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY
OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA
CITY, IOWA
CHARLENE CONKLIN (1929-
)
PAPERS,
1954-1981
(bulk
1965-1978)
7
linear feet
ACQUISITION: The papers (donor no. 5) were donated
by Charlene Conklin in 1984.
ACCESS: The papers are open for research.
COPYRIGHT:
Copyright has been
transferred to the University of Iowa.
PHOTOGRAPHS: In box 1.
PROCESSED
BY: George Mullally,
1994, and Special Collections staff.
Biography
Charlene Conklin was born on July 10, 1929 on a farm
in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, as Willa Charlene DeWitt, daughter of Charles
and Viola DeWitt. After graduating from Griswold High School in 1947, she attended
Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa), graduating
in 1950 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. From 1950 to 1952 Conklin
taught English, speech, and mathematics at Massena (Iowa) High School. In 1952
she married Dr. Dwight E. Conklin, an anesthesiologist in practice at St.
Francis Hospital in Waterloo, Iowa. The Conklins, who made their residence in
Waterloo, raised five children. In 1953 Conklin graduated from the State
University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa) with a Master of Arts degree in
speech pathology and audiology and worked from 1953 to 1954 as a speech
therapist at the University Hospital for Handicapped Children in Iowa City.
In 1966, running as the candidate for the Republican
Party, Conklin was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives from Black Hawk
County to serve in the 62nd General Assembly for the 1967-1968 term. In 1968
she was elected to the Iowa Senate and served in that capacity for two
consecutive terms, 1969-1970 (63rd General Assembly) and 1971-1972 (64th
General Assembly). She served on the following Senate committees:
Appropriations, Constitutional Amendments and Reapportionment, and Social
Services, and was the ranking member on the Schools Committee. In 1973 she
chose not to run for reelection.
Conklin is perhaps best known for being a key figure
in the legislative struggle for the liberalization of abortion rights in the
early 1970s. In fact, "she became in some sense the legislative point person
for Iowa abortion reform" (see "Iowa's Abortion Battles", by
James C. Mohr in The Annals of Iowa, vol. 50, 1989, p. 71). However, efforts to
liberalize Iowa's abortion policy in 1970 and 1971 were repeatedly defeated.
The issue was raised again in 1973 after Conklin's retirement from the Senate,
but the struggle for reform in Iowa and elsewhere was summarily preempted by
the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the case of Roe v. Wade in
1973.
In 1971 Conklin, with four other senators,
co-sponsored a resolution authorizing the State of Iowa to take possession of
Terrace Hill mansion, the classic Victorian home of Frederick M. Hubbell in Des
Moines for use either as the governor's mansion or a state museum, or both.
After leaving office, Conklin helped organize and was elected president of the
Terrace Hill Society, a non-profit group designed to provide funding for and
give direction to the restoration of the mansion. The mansion was eventually
restored and opened to the public in 1978.
Scope and Content Note
The Charlene Conklin papers date from 1954 to 1981
(bulk 1965-1978) and measure 7 linear feet. They are arranged in three series:
Biographical material, Speeches and writings, and Subject files.
The first, Biographical material, contains a
press release with biographical data, a published biographical sketch, and a
resume, arranged chronologically.
The second series, Speeches and writings,
contains Conklin's speeches, speech notes, and her newspaper column,
"Under the Gold Dome," arranged chronologically.
The third series, Subject files, comprises by
far the bulk of the papers. It includes correspondence, newspaper clippings,
printed materials, legislative bills both proposed and adopted (called House
Files (H.F.) or Senate Files (S.F.)), campaign literature, a scrapbook, voting
records, and other files relating to Conklin's legislative career, especially
her efforts to liberalize Iowa's abortion policy, and to her subsequent
involvement in acquiring and restoring the Terrace Hill mansion in Des Moines
for the State of Iowa. Of special note in the Terrace Hill Society file is a
complete set of blueprints for the mansion. This series is arranged
alphabetically.
Related Collections
A
Political Dialogue: Iowa's Women Legislators Oral History transcripts,
1988-1993 [Charlene Conklin transcript]
Box no.
Description
Box
1
Biographical material
Press release, 1966 [includes photograph]
Biographical notice from Two Thousand
Women of Achievement,
1970-1971
Resume, [1973]
Speeches and writings
Speeches, 1968-1971
"Under the Gold Dome": newspaper
column, 1969-1970
Subject files
Abortion
Correspondence
1969 (2 folders)
1970 (2 folders)
1971
Anti-abortion reform
January
Box 2
February (2 folders)
Undated
Pro-abortion reform
January
February
March-December
Undated
"Voters' lobby": program on abortion on Iowa
Educational
Broadcast Network
1972
1973
Resource file
1969-1970 (folder 1)
Box 3
1969-1970 (folders 2-5)
1971 (2 folders)
1972
Box 4
1973 (2 folders)
1974
Abortion bill from the State of Hawaii, 1970
Abortion laws: responses to "Zero
population growth" newspaper
query, 1971
Adoptions, 1971
Agriculture, 1969-1972
Correspondence
Resource file
Alcohol and drugs, 1971-1972
Appointments, 1971-1972
Assistance payments (State), 1970-1971
Blood alcohol testing legislation, 1969-1970
Bow hunting, 1971-1972
Campaign literature, [undated]
Cedar Valley Historical Society, 1971
Centralized purchasing and H.F. 129, 1971
Coin laundry, 1971
Common law marriages, 1969-1970
Conservation, 1971-1972
County officers, 1972
Court employees, 1971
Box 5
Court reform and S.F. 428, 1971-1972
Courtesy letters, 1969-1973
Credit card legislation (S.F. 1247), 1970
Dental practices, 1965-1967
Drugs: Education
Correspondence,
1971-1972
Resource file (including
S.F. 1), 1965-1971
Early childhood education, 1971-1972
Editorials (television and radio), 1971-1972
Educational television, 1971-1972
Correspondence
Resource file
Election reform, 1971-1972
Environment and agriculture, 1971-1972
Environmental preservation, 1970-1971
Eyeglasses, 1971
Firemen, 1972
Flag (State of Iowa), 1971
G.O.P., 1972
Box 6
Gun control, 1968-1969
Correspondence
Resource file (including
S.F. 175)
Hake, Herbert (Director of Radio-TV,
University of Northern Iowa):
radio scripts, 1970-1972
Health, education, and welfare, 1971
Higher education
1970
1971
Highways
Correspondence,
1969-1972
Resource file, 1971-1972
Historic landmarks of Black Hawk County, 1954-1971
(folder 1)
Box 7
Historic landmarks of Black Hawk County,
1954-1971 (folder 2)
Historical societies, 1971
Home rule, 1971-1972
Hospitals, 1971
Iowa High School Athletic Association, 1970
Iowa history, 1970-1971
Iowa Public Employees Retirement System,
1971-1972
Judicial matters, 1971
Law enforcement, 1971-1972
Legislation needed in 1973
Legislation research requested by Conklin,
1970-1971
Legislation sponsored by Conklin
1970
1971
1972
Legislative contact persons (physicians),
1972
Legislative issues, 1972
Legislative redistricting, 1971
Legislature, 1970-1972
"Liberty amendment", 1971
Lotteries and liquor, 1971
Low rent housing, 1971
Box 8
Majority rights, 1971-1972
Correspondence
Resource file
Medical (licensing of physicians), 1970-1972
(2 folders)
Merit pay for teachers and H.F. 183, 1971
Miscellaneous
Correspondence
1969-1970
1971
1972
Resource file
1970
1971
Motor vehicles and S.F. 302, 1971
Municipal court, 1972
National Guard, 1972
Natural history of Iowa, 1971-1972
Box 9
Pending legislation, 1971
Personal correspondence, 1969-1972
Pets, 1971-1972
Pharmacy, 1971-1972
Politics, 1972
Priorities for 1972
Proposed legislation, 1967-1971
Public employees (collective bargaining),
1971
Public power districts, 1971
Reapportionment, 1972
Regents and private colleges, 1971-1972
Rural Electric Cooperatives, 1971
Schools
General correspondence
1971
1972
Appropriations (H.F.
121), 1971
Bills proposed, 1971
Bus transportation, 1969
Box 10
County school systems,
1972
Correspondence (2 folders)
Resource file
Department of Public
Instruction (H.F. 709), 1971
Elections, 1972
Litigation (Serrano
case), 1971
Lunch program, 1971
Malcolm Price Laboratory
School, University of Northern Iowa, 1971
Miscellaneous, 1972
Private schools,
1966-1972
Box 11
Publications, 1971
Reorganization,
1971-1972
State Board of
Education, 1972
Superintendent of
Schools
Blackhawk and Buchanan Counties, 1972
State Superintendent, 1971-1972
Systems and standards
(interim studies)
1971
1972
Waterloo, 1972
Scrapbook, 1969-1971
Senate rules, 1971
Senior citizens, 1971-1972
Sex discrimination, 1971
Sex education, 1971-1972
Social services, 1970-1972
State Capitol, 1965-1970 (folder 1)
Box 12
State Capitol, 1965-1970 (folder 2)
State Historical Board
Membership and H.F.
1491, 1977-1978
Meeting agendas, Oct.
23, 1974-Nov. 17, 1977
Minutes, Oct. 23,
1974-June 1, 1978
State Historical Museum Committee: Minutes,
June 15,
1977-Dec. 15, 1977
State Historical Society, 1973-1981
Correspondence (2
folders)
Resource file (2
folders)
Tax bill (early editions), 1971
Box 13
Taxation Study Committee, 1970-1971
Membership, rules, and
authorization
Minutes
July 10-July 17, 1970
July 20-Aug. 7, 1970
Aug. 19, 1970-Feb. 2, 1971
Correspondence
Miscellaneous
Taxes
Correspondence
1967-1970
1971
1972
Resource file, 1971-1972
Box 14
Exempt property,
1971-1972
Property tax survey
responses, [1971?]
Questionnaire and
responses, 1971 (3 folders)
Veterans' exemption,
1972
Terrace Hill: General correspondence,
1970-1978
Terrace Hill Planning Commission: Minutes,
1971-1975
Terrace Hill Society
General, 1955-1977
(folder 1)
Box 15
General, 1955-1977
(folders 2-3)
Blueprints, 1962
Bylaws, Annual meetings,
Minutes, 1975-1977
Committee reports,
1954-1975
Transportation, 1971
Unemployment compensation, 1971
University of Northern Iowa, 1967-1972
Correspondence
Newspaper clippings
Voting records, 1965-1967
Ways and Means Committee, 1972
Women in politics, 1966-1970
Women's liberation, 1971-1972