IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES

IOWA CITY, IOWA

 

 

 

EDNA HIDLEBAUGH (1892-1995)

 

PAPERS, 1871-1987

9 linear inches

 

 

 

ACQUISITION:

The papers (donor no. 562) were donated by Norma Hidlebaugh Naylor in 1998.

ACCESS:

The papers are open for research.

COPYRIGHT:

Copyright has been transferred to the University of Iowa.

PROCESSED BY:

Doris Malkmus, 2001.  [HidlebaughE.doc]

 

Biography

Edna Kendig Hidlebaugh, teacher and clubwoman, was born in 1892 in Muscatine, Iowa, to Jacob and Emma Baldwin Kendig.  She graduated from Muscatine High School, attended Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, and completed a Bachelor of Didactics degree at Grandview College in Des Moines in 1916.  Her first position was teaching domestic science at the Bayard High School.  While teaching there in the early 1920s, she happened to go into a barbershop to have her hair washed and the Bayard school board called a special meeting to consider if that were grounds for dismissal.

 

Because state law prohibited married women from teaching, she dated the owner of the Bayard general store Guy Hidlebaugh for three years before they married in the early 1920s.  Edna Hidlebaugh raised two children, Norma Hidlebaugh and a son Lee Hidlebaugh, rarely assisting in the store or holding other jobs.  Her husband remarked that he was pleased his wife never looked “all worn out” like farm wives.  She was active in the Methodist Church, the Adelphian Society, the Bayard Women’s Club, the American Legion Auxiliary, and the Order of the Eastern Star.  In the 1930s, she was a key figure in the Bayard Women’s Club project to found a public library.  In the 1960s and 1970s, she traveled in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.  She lived until the age of 102 and died October 13, 1995.  Her daughter Norma Hidlebaugh married Max Naylor and raised three daughters in nearby Jefferson, Iowa.  Her son Lee Hidlebaugh lived and worked in San Francisco.  [Information for this biographical sketch is drawn from conversations with Norma Hidlebaugh Naylor in 1998.]

 

 

Scope and Content Note

The Edna Kendig Hidlebaugh papers date from 1871 to 1987 and measure 9 linear inches.  The papers are divided into three series, Family, Clubs, and Photographs. 

 

The Family series includes an obituary of Hidlebaugh’s mother Emma Baldwin Kendig and two calendar diaries by Edna Hidlebaugh.  There are also many letters written by various women to Lee Hidlebaugh from 1946 to 1949.  The letters demonstrate a playful, sometimes ardent, flirtatiousness.  This series also includes cards and letters from Norma Naylor on her Asian travels and from Lee Hidlebaugh in San Francisco, and a scrapbook of travel mementos, theater programs, and greeting cards.

 

The Club series consists of annual programs from the General Federated Women’s Club of Bayard, the American Legion Auxiliary, and the United Methodist Women.  A manuscript report, “Project: A Public Library,” was presented by Edna Hidlebaugh to the Bayard Women’s Club at the thirtieth anniversary of the club. 

 

The Photographs series includes three undated photograph albums from the 1900s, 1910s, and early 1920s.  These photographs are a rich source of detail about turn of the century young womanhood in rural Iowa and at various vacation spots.  There are many loose photographs from the same period, including portraits of three generations of women in the family—the mother (unidentified), wife (Emma Baldwin Kendig), and daughter (Edna Kendig Hidlebaugh) of Jacob Kendig.  There are also photographs of Norma Hidlebaugh in a 1940s style basketball uniform.  There are several negatives and snapshot photographs from the letters to Lee Hidlebaugh in San Francisco and Seattle.

 

 

Box no.   Description

Box 1

Family

      Diaries, 1967, 1970

      Emma Baldwin Kendig funeral service, 1944

      Letters to Lee Hidlebaugh, 1946-1949

      Cards and letters, 1954-1963 and undated

      Newspaper clippings, 1966, 1985, and undated

      Scrapbook, 1950s-1960s (located in oversize)

 

Clubs

      Bayard Women’s Club

            Sewing division and other club papers, 1967-1972 and undated

            Annual programs

               1926-1960

               1960-1980

               “Project: A Public Library,” undated

      American Legion Auxiliary annual programs, 1970-1987 (scattered)

      United Methodist Women, 1941, 1974, 1977, 1981

 

Box 2

                     Photographs

                           Albums

                                 1900s-1910

                                 1910s, 1920s

                           Loose photographs

                                 Kendig-Hidlebaugh women, 1870s-1970s

                                    [includes photograph of Norma Hidlebaugh Naylor in basketball uniform, ca.1940s]

                                 Edna Hidlebaugh, 1910s-1950s

                                 From Lee Hidlebaugh correspondence, 1940s-1950s

 

Box 3

                     Oversize:

                           Scrapbook, 1950s-1960s