Biography

Social worker Gladys Trailer Conn was born in 1910 in Marne, Iowa to Frank Holcomb and Elma Graves Trailer. She was eleven when her father Frank Trailer, a respected farmer in Marne, Iowa died at the age of 46 in 1921. Elma Trailer remarried within a year, and after being widowed for a second time ten years later, remarried a third and final time.

Gladys Trailer attended grade school in Marne, Iowa and completed junior and senior high school in Atlantic, Iowa. She received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa) in 1933. She later moved to Chicago, Illinois to work for her uncle and pursue a graduate degree in social work at the University of Chicago. Trailer did not complete her graduate work in Chicago; however, while there she supervised fieldwork for the Unemployment Relief Center and worked for United Charities. After a social worker was murdered in Chicago, Trailer’s uncle encouraged her to return to Burlington, Iowa to marry her college sweetheart, Blythe Conn, who was starting a law practice.

Gladys Trailer married Blythe Conn in 1935. The couple raised two children, Christopher and Meredith. Gladys Conn was employed by a small private agency in Burlington, Iowa, the Social Service League. The Burlington Social Service League was later absorbed by the Des Moines County Mental Health Center, where Conn was employed as a social worker.

During the early 1960s Gladys Conn and her daughter were running the family farm while Blythe Conn served in the Legislature in Des Moines and Chris was a college student at Grinnell College. During a stormy night the horses had run loose leaving Conn and her daughter to chase after them. Conn recalls being fed up with caring for the farm and sold bonds to take a three month trip to Europe with her fifteen year old daughter Meredith in 1961. Their summer travels included stops in England, Finland, Switzerland, and ten days in Russia. Upon returning to Iowa the two gave presentations about their travels to numerous local organizations; Meredith Conn earned 4H credits for speaking to some 1000 people over a year’s time. The Conns' son Christopher was killed in a car accident in 1966.

Scope and Content Note

The Gladys Conn papers date from 1868 to 2001 and measure 1.7 linear feet. The papers are arranged in six series: Biographical information, Correspondence, Diaries, Social work, Trailer family album, and Travel scrapbook.

The Biographical Information series (1868-1975) contains a biographical information sheet written by Conn, obituaries, genealogical papers that trace the Trailer ancestry to 13 th century France and a “History of Grandfather Trailer’s Life.” Conn’s activities at Atlantic High School are evident in drama programs, clippings and a bound 1927 edition of the newspaper, The Needle, for which she was the editor-in-chief.

The Correspondence series (1908-1968) consists of greeting cards written by Gladys Conn’s children, Chris and Meredith, and letters and postcards from her aunt Grace Trailer MacAvoy, her brother William Trailer, and her father Frank Trailer. Included are letters and notes written by Frank Trailer during his courtship with Elma Graves Trailer and later letters home to his wife and children. A series of Christmas cards by Jerome Young, an acquaintance Conn met in Chicago, completes the series.

The Diaries series (1929-1955) contains two bound diaries detailing the active social life of a university student, dated 1929-1932. The diaries for 1947-1949 and 1955 are written in the style of a five-year diary, with each page containing entries for the same date over several years: in these diaries Conn recorded her daily activities as a mother and community member. In entries dated 1941-1942, Conn provides a detailed account of the birth of her son Chris and his early childhood development.

Conn’s training and later employment as a social worker in Iowa and Chicago are documented in the Social Work: Education and Employment series (1931-1969). Included are university transcripts and correspondence regarding her course requirements, the Social Service League annual reports dating 1938-1943, and case studies.

The Trailer Family Album series (1908-1975) consists of newspaper clippings, correspondence, and numerous candid and posed images of the Trailer family on their homestead in Marne, Iowa. Inserts include Conn’s baby book, her first letter, and wedding, death, and birth announcements. The album was disassembled for preservation purposes.

Conn’s trip to Europe with her daughter Meredith in 1961 is detailed in the Travel Scrapbook series (1961-2001). The scrapbook contains printed travel brochures, itineraries, and postcards. Conn’s travel notes, photographs, and correspondence with acquaintances made during their travels provide a personal account of the trip. Gladys and Meredith Conn’s presentation notes and outlines complete the series.

Box List

Box 1

Biographical information

Atlantic High School

1928-1929, and undated The Needle, 1927 [Shelved in map case] Biographical Information Sheet Calendar, 1903-1994 Genealogy Marne Centennial Celebration, 1975 Obituaries, 1913, 1921, 1941, 1951, 1984, and undated Trailer Family Certificates, 1868, 1899, 1904, 1908

Correspondence

Conn, Chris and Meredith, 1960, and undated Graves, Elma, 1908 Trailer, Frank, 1916, 1920, 1932, and undated Trailer, Grace MacAvoy, 1933 Trailer, William, undated Young, Jerome Artz: Christmas Greetings Cards, 1939-1953, 1962, 1966-1968, and undated

Diaries

1929-1932 (2 volumes) 1941-1942 1947-1949, 1955

January-March April-June

Box 2

July-September October-December

Loose pages, undated

Social work, education and employment

United Charities ( Chicago, Illinois), 1931-1934 University of Chicago, 1933-1934, and undated Robert S. Abbott Correspondence, 1934 American Association of Social Workers, 1936 State University of Iowa, 1937-1940 Social Service League ( Burlington, Iowa), 1938-1943, 1954 Des Moines County Mental Health Center ( Burlington, Iowa), 1954 New York School of Social Work (Summer Courses), 1958 Youth for Understanding ( Iowa), 1963-1969 Planned Parenthood Study ( Burlington, Iowa), undated

Trailer family album [Oversize: in Box 3] Loose items removed or photocopied from album:

Correspondence, 1916-1917 Marriage Certificate, 1908 Newspaper Clippings, 1915, 1951, 1963, and undated Photographs, 1910-1920, 1975, and undated Portraits, undated

Travel scrapbook [oversize: in Box 4] Loose items removed or photocopied from scrapbook:

Correspondence, 1961-1963, 1986 Newspaper Clippings, 1962, 2001, and undated Speeches, 1962 Travel Brochures Travel Itineraries, 1961 Travel Expenses

Box 3

Oversize:

Trailer Family Album The Needle, 1927

Box 4

Travel Scrapbook