IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
DOROTHY PEARL UNMACK DIX
(1908-1997)
PAPERS, 1982-1999
1 linear inch
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ACQUISITION: |
The papers (donor no. 658) were
donated by Catherine Dix
Bonham in 1999. |
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ACCESS: |
The papers are open for research. |
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COPYRIGHT: |
Copyright has been transferred to the University of Iowa. |
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PROCESSED BY: |
Doris Malkmus, 1999. |
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Biography
Dorothy
Pearl Unmack was born February 8, 1908 near Magnolia in Harrison County, Iowa. Her parents were farmers and descendants of
German and Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants.
During most of her childhood, the family moved between Calhoun township
and the town of Magnolia. Dorothy
Unmack received her education in both towns and graduated from Magnolia High
School in 1926. She married a
neighboring farmer Ernest Dix, in November of the same year, and together they
raised eight children. They farmed on
his family’s farm until they moved first to Magnolia during the Depression and
then to Missouri Valley during World War Two. When Dorothy Unmack Dix’s
youngest child was in third grade, she enrolled at Omaha University for teacher
certification. She taught for eighteen
years before retiring. In 1988, when
Ernest Dix died, they had sixty-one grand and great-grandchildren. Dorothy Dix died in 1997.
Scope and
Content Note
The
Dorothy Pearl Unmack Dix papers consist of photocopies of a manuscript memoir
that measures one linear inch. Dorothy
Dix wrote the memoir intermittently from 1982 to 1990. A typescript of this memoir and an
introduction by the author’s daughter Catherine Dix Bonham are also
included. Dorothy Dix wrote in a plain,
factual style and describes her childhood activities and schooling in the Loess
Hills area of Harrison County in western Iowa.
She describes berrying, riding to school on horse-drawn buses, shopping,
and working as hired help during high school.
She also describes the clothing worn by young girls of the time. The memoir details her marriage, the
austerities of the Depression, the loss of their family farm, and the careers
of eight healthy children.
Box no. Description
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