IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
JOSEPHINE GRUHN (1924- )
PAPERS, 1982-1992
5 linear inches
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ACQUISITION: |
The
papers (donor no. 545) were donated
by Josephine Gruhn in 1998. |
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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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PHOTOGRAPHS: |
Box 1. |
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PROCESSED BY: |
Doris Malkmus,
2000. [Word 7 Gruhn.doc] |
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Biography
Josephine Sanford was born April 14,
1927, in Britt, Iowa. Her father Ward
and her mother Kathleen raised her and her two brothers in various communities
in western Iowa where Ward Sanford taught high school physical education. Kathleen Sanford was from Ruthven, Iowa, and
Josephine attended Ruthven High School, graduating in 1945. Despite her dislike for school, she
followed her parents’ encouragement and pursued a two-year teaching course and
then enrolled at Morningside College, where she graduated in 1951.
During and after her college years,
Josephine Sanford taught rural school.
She reported that “it was typical for the young bachelor farmers to
check out the new school marm” and that is how she met future husband, farmer
Don Gruhn. After marrying, they lived
in their own home at his parents’ farm near Spirit Lake and she taught school
for one year. After her first child was
born, she was a substitute teacher for twenty-eight years. During that time, she was an active member
of a variety of civic organizations and the Democratic Party. Donald Gruhn resigned his seat on the the
Democratic Central Committee in Emmet County when he was appointed to the
Agricultural Conservation Board and Josephine Gruhn took that seat.
In 1982, redistricting created a new
seat in the Iowa House of Representatives for Emmet and Dickinson
Counties. The Democratic Central
Committee asked Josephine Gruhn, now a widow, to run for this seat on an
education platform. With the help of
her colleague, second grade teacher Stephanie Heitman, they ran an effective
and innovative campaign resulting in her election in 1982. As a member of the Iowa House of
Representatives, Gruhn was vice chair of the Committee on Agriculture during
the farm crisis of the 1980s. She was a
moderate Democrat, responding primarily to her constituents’ concerns--roads,
schools, and relief for the agriculture sector. She served four consecutive terms as representative from District
12, from 1982 until retiring in 1992.
She still lives on the Gruhn farm.
Scope
and Content Note
The Josephine Gruhn papers consist
of photocopies of scrapbooks and newsletters created between 1982 and 1992 and
measure five linear inches. The
collection is divided into two series: the scrapbooks and news releases.
The Scrapbook series pertains
primarily to her campaigns and public appearances, containing newspaper
clippings, photographs, and campaign ephemera.
Each folder consists of photocopies of one scrapbook. There are nineteen numbered scrapbook
folders as well as two scrapbook folders concerning her opponents and one containing
awards and ephemera. The two scrapbooks
about her political opponents consist of the campaign materials produced by
Curt Kuehl (1984), Bob Duncan (1986), Ruth Pelzer (1988), and Orville Berg
(1990). The last folder contains one
photograph, a recognition award presented by the Iowa Commission on the Status
of Women in 1997, and a bumper sticker none of which were attached to any
scrapbook.
The News Release series
consists entirely of Gruhn’s weekly or biweekly updates to her constituents
while the state legislature was in session from 1983 until 1990. They include a brief discussion of all
issues being considered by the Iowa house and by the committees of which Gruhn
was a member. They provide a brief
account of legislative responses to the farm crisis of the 1980s.
Box no. Description
Box 1
Scrapbooks
1982-1992 (19 folders)
Opponents’ campaigns
Curt Kuehl 1984 and Bob Duncan (1986)
Ruth Pelzer (1988) and Orville
Berg (1990)
Awards and Ephemera
News
Releases
1983-1990