IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
ELVIRA HOUSTON (1901-1981)
PAPERS, 1928-1984
15 linear inches
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ACQUISITION: |
The Elvira
Houston papers (donor no.
167) were donated by Alyce Houston Schavone in 1998. |
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ACCESS: |
The papers are open
for research. |
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COPYRIGHT: |
Copyright held by the donor has been transferred to the University of Iowa. |
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PROCESSED BY: |
Lisa Mott, 2003. [HoustonElvira.doc] |
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Biography
Elvira Irene Metz was born on February
19, 1901 in Tama County, Iowa. She
married Clifford Allen Houston on March 19, 1924. The couple had two children, Allen Benedict, born in 1925 and
Alyce Elvira, born in 1927. They were a
rural family, living primarily near Chelsea and Tama, Iowa. In 1935, Clifford Houston lost everything
and the family moved to Birmingham, Alabama to live with and work for Clifford
Houston’s well-to-do uncle, C.W. Wright.
The Houston family returned to Iowa about a year or so later. A poor but self-sufficient family, daughter
Alyce recalled that she never had a store-bought garment until she was fourteen
years old. Her mother made most of the
children’s clothes from old coats and other used materials. In 1942, Elvira Houston ran for city council
in Chelsea on the Women’s Progressive Ticket.
Houston also wrote poetry and often submitted it to be read on a local
radio show. In her later years, Houston
became an Avon representative. Elvira
Houston died on January 24, 1981 in Spearfish, South Dakota.
Scope and
Content Note
The Elvira Houston» papers date from 1928 to 1984 and measure 15 linear inches.
The bulk of the papers consist of the Houston family’s account books,
kept by Elvira Houston from 1928 through 1984.
Though Elvira Houston died in 1981, her daughter Alyce Schavone
continued to maintain an account book from 1982 to 1984 to comfort her father,
Clifford Houston until his death.
Several of the account books are handmade and bound with string Elvira
Houston took from old corsets. The
series of books reveals the financial status of the Houston family through the
nineteenth century, beginning just before the Depression, continuing through
World War II, the “prosperous” 1950s, and on through the 1960s, 1970s and into
the farm crisis of the 1980s. In
addition to the account books, the Elvira Houston papers also contain bank
notes and Tama County tax receipts for the years 1928 to 1932, and the
assessment roll for the years 1929 to 1933, 1940 and 1941. There is also a 1941 application for the
homestead tax credit. Also included in
the collection is a 1942 newspaper article regarding Elvira Houston’s run for
city council and a sample ballot with the election returns recorded on it.