IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
AMELIA MCNEILL (1890-1973)
PAPERS, 1929
2.5 linear inches
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ACQUISITION: |
The
papers (donor no. 598) were donated by Margaret Jane McNeill 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, 2000. WORD 7 McNeill.doc |
Biography
William and Nancy Harrison Hubbard, the
parents of Amelia Hubbard, were from prominent families among the early
settlers of Mills County in western Iowa.
William Hubbard’s father James was a circuit minister for the United
Brethren Church, while the Harrisons were active abolitionists. The Harrison and Hubbard families moved to
Monona County after the Civil War, purchasing large tracts of land in Monona
County. William Hubbard and Nancy
Harrison married and toward the end of the century moved to Nebraska to
homestead. Amelia Hubbard was born in
Nebraska in July 1890, but the family returned to Monona County two years
later. Three years after their return,
William Hubbard died. Nancy Harrison
Hubbard continued to farm with her young sons; she worked in the fields with
her sons, while Amelia, still a young child, accompanied them in the corn
wagon. Hubbard also supported her
family by selling Grand Union spices and providing weekly dinner for the local
grocer who delivered goods to farm families.
When the oldest Hubbard son married, he bought the farm. Nancy and Amelia Hubbard moved to Whiting,
Iowa, where Amelia Hubbard graduated from high school in 1908. Amelia Hubbard then worked at the
Cassidy-Whiting General Store and was active in church activities.
In 1911, Amelia Hubbard married high
school classmate Earl O’Neill. After
marriage, they lived with his parents, Louisa and Edwin McNeill, for three
years until they bought their own farm.
Both Amelia and Earl McNeill were active in the formation of the Farm
Bureau in Monona County. Amelia McNeill
served first as the secretary of the Ashton township Farm Bureau women’s club
and later as the chair of the Farm Bureau women’s committee. As chair, she helped organize Farm Bureau
women’s clubs in almost all of the townships of Monona County. Beginning in 1929, she became active in and
was later elected an officer of the Association of Interstate Farm Women, a
coalition of farm women in eastern Nebraska, western Iowa, and South Dakota. This organization continued until the Second
World War, when gasoline rationing made long-distance travel difficult. During these years, McNeill promoted
education for farm women by attending training classes at Iowa State University
herself and presenting lessons on homemaking and nuitrition to township women’s
clubs in Monona County.
Amelia McNeill also served on the
Monona County board of social welfare.
She traveled with the county public health nurse to rural schools,
promoted hot lunches at county schools, and actively supported other nutrition
programs.
Earl McNeill had helped organize the
Rural Electrification Association (REA) of Monona County and was a member of
its board. When he died unexpectedly in
1938, the board appointed Amelia McNeill to fill out his term. When that term expired, she ran for the
board position in her own right and became the first woman officer of the
REA. She was elected secretary in 1949
and served as the only woman on the Monona County board of the REA until she
retired in 1971. She died January 4,
1973.
Scope and Content Note
The Amelia McNeill papers date from 1929 to 1971 and
measure 2.5 linear inches. The papers
are arranged in four series: Programs, Extension Lessons, Published Material,
and Speeches.
The Programs
include photocopies of programs for the 1929, 1930, 1931, and 1938 Inter-state
Conference of Farm Women as well as a the topics program for 1930 Ashton
Township monthly meeting.
The Extension
Lessons includes notes and handouts from training classes at the Ames
Extension Offices. These cover topics
such as tableware, floor coverings, masterpieces of art, and decorative
stitching.
The Published Material File includes newspaper clippings, magazine
articles, and the Monona County Rural Electric Cooperative annual reports that concern
the activities of Amelia McNeill or her family members.
The Speeches include a manuscript, “Woman’s Place in the Rural
Electrification Program” and a typescript, “Producer-Consumer Relations.”
Box no. Description
Box 1
Programs
Inter-State Conference of Farm Women,
1929-1938
Extension Lessons
Art
Floor Coverings and Tableware
Decorative Stitching
Published Materials
Newspaper Clippings, 1929-1960
Annual Reports of the Rural Electric
Association, 1968, 1971
Speeches, undated