PAPERS (1973-2000)

7.5 linear inches

»QUANTITY:»

ACQUISITION:	The Helen Knievel papers» (donor no. 688) were donated by Helen Knievel in 2001.
ACCESS:		The »papers are open for research.
COPYRIGHT:		»Copyright held by the donor has been transferred to the University of Iowa.
PHOTOGRAPHS:		In Box 1. [with unbound scrapbook materials]
PROCESSED BY:		Stacy Ross, 2001 [KnievelHelen.doc]Your name, year».

»Biography

Rural Iowa librarian and author Helen Jean Anderson was born in Cherokee, Iowa, on November 28, 1923 to Adam William Anderson and Lillie Constance Tollefson Anderson. The Anderson family lived on a farm in Cherokee county, Iowa. Helen Anderson attended one-room country schools in Cherokee and O’Brien counties in Iowa through eighth grade, and completed high school in Paullina, Iowa. In 1941, she attended Northwestern Junior College in Orange City, Iowa, where she majored in library science and worked part time in the school’s library. In 1942, she moved to Wichita, Kansas and then to Kansas City, Missouri, working on the electrical wiring for B-52 bombers at North American Aviation. In 1944, Helen Anderson moved to Minneapolis and enrolled in the library science program at the University of Minnesota, while also working in the chemistry library. In March 1946, Helen Anderson married William R. Knievel, who was majoring in psychology at the University of Minnesota. After her marriage, Helen Knievel left school to work at the State Law Library in St. Paul until 1949.

Helen Knievel returned to school at the University of Northern Iowa and earned her BA in school librarianship in 1969. Upon her graduation, she began working full time at the Cedar Falls Public Library in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She also earned her master’s degree from the University of Missouri in 1973. In 1974, her husband Bill Knievel died due to complications following heart surgery. Helen Knievel then accepted a position as traveling librarian for the Northeastern Iowa Regional Library System, serving seventy-eight libraries. She held this position for six years.

Through her life, Helen Knievel worked at libraries in Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Oregon, and California holding a variety of positions: clerk, reference librarian, interlibrary loan librarian, traveling librarian, director of libraries, library board member, and volunteer. She was also active in the American Library Association, presented papers at several conferences, and helped to organize networks for librarians in small communities.

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Although she officially retired in 1984, Helen Knievel has remained active in library service, volunteering at libraries in South Dakota, Oregon, and Iowa. Since 1995, she has served on the board of the Northwestern Regional Library in Sioux City, Iowa and continues to write editorials and articles about librarian work.

Scope and Content Note

Begin text here:The Helen Knievel papers date from» 1973 to and measure »7.5 linear inches. The »papers »are arranged in four» series: Biographical, Articles, Professional, and Conferences and Programs.

The Biographical series consists of limited correspondence, certificates and awards from Beta Phi Mu (International Library Science Honor Society), and Helen Knievel’s memoir. The memoir contains information about Knievel’s life growing up in Cherokee, Iowa, her education, marriage, and more detailed descriptions of her various positions as a librarian.

In the course of her career in library science, Helen Knievel wrote various articles for local newspapers as well as professional journals. The Articles series contains copies of these articles in both manuscript and published form. Many of the articles address issues of importance to rural librarians such as the difficulties faced by librarians working alone. Some of the articles also discuss subjects of interest to various patrons of the libraries, specifically children and the elderly.

The Professional series contains records from Helen Knievel’s positions at the Northeast Iowa Regional Library System and at the Yankton, South Dakota public library. These records include information about projects Knievel worked on with the Northeast Iowa Regional Library System, including a children’s materials course. This series also includes the scrapbook containing letters, cards, and photographs presented to Knievel at her retirement from the Northeast Iowa Regional Library System in 1980. This scrapbook, originally contained in a plastic binder, was removed from the binder and placed in folders for archival preservation purposes.

The Conferences and Programs series contains Helen Knievel’s records of her attendance at professional conferences as well as her own notes and preparation for conferences that she helped to coordinate. Of specific interest to researchers looking for information on rural Iowa would be the materials for the “Services to Farmers” conference that Knievel prepared in 1979. Also of note are the conference materials for the Midwest Federation of Library Associations, the Rural Library Association, and the American Library Association.»

Box no. Description

Box 1

Biographical

Beta Phi Mu and the University of Missouri- Columbia, 1973

Correspondence, 1980, 1988

Memoir, May 2000

Articles

Published in the Yankton Press Democrat, Yankton, South

Dakota, March 1981- December 1983 (2 folders)

Published in the Mail Tribune, Medford, Oregon,

1984-1985

Published in Senior News, Eugene, Oregon, 1989

Professional

Northeast Iowa Regional Libraries: Children’s Materials Course, 1978

Small and Medium Sized Libraries- Public Library Association

Formation and activities, 1978-1980

Questionnaire for Library Trustee Program, July 1980

Retirement from Northeast Iowa Regional Library System

scrapbook, August 1980 (2 folders) [originally in binder]

National Endowment for the Humanities Public Library Program,

1981

Yankton, South Dakota Public Library, 1981-1983

Bookmarks for Mitchell, South Dakota (designed by Helen Knievel),

September- December 1985

Box 2

Conferences and Programs

Miscellaneous notes and materials for speeches and articles, undated

“Forgotten Disadvantaged”, American Library Association

Pre-conference, June 23, 1978

American Library Association and Rural Library Association

Conferences, 1979-1980

Materials for Services to Farmers Workshop, March 25, 1979

Midwest Federation of Library Associations Conference,

October, 31- November 3, 1979

University of Wisconsin Extension, Educational Telephone Network

Conference, December 10, 1980

Small Library Management Workshop, April 1982