IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
JOYCE JENSEN NIELSEN (1933- )
PAPERS, 1951-1996
3.1 linear feet
|
ACQUISITION: |
The papers (donor no. 132) were donated by Joyce Jensen Nielsen in 1996. |
|
|
ACCESS: |
The papers are open for research. |
|
|
COPYRIGHT: |
Copyright held by the donor has been transferred to the University of Iowa. |
|
PROCESSED BY: Randal Lackore, 1997.
REVISION: Bridgett Williams-Searle, 1999. [NielsenJoyce.doc]
Biography
Joyce Elaine Jensen Nielsen, feminist, activist, and legislator, was born in Askov, Minnesota on November 20, 1933. She graduated from Cloquet High School in Cloquet, Minnesota in 1951. She continued her formal education in a variety of settings. She took classes in child development and psychology at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; investment management and insurance coursework at Kirkwood Community College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and staff development seminars at Des Moines Area Community College, Ankeny, Iowa and University of Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri. She considered herself largely self-educated, however. She independently gained expertise in such varied fields as domestic violence victim advocacy, private investigation, and rental property management.
Although employed or self-employed in a variety of jobs, the unifying theme of her 40-year professional career was helping others. She coordinated neighborhood tutoring programs and worked as an Urban Center supervisor for the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (HACAP) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa from 1965 to 1976. In 1977, she started a number of companies that offered services ranging from group therapy to driver’s education for newly single adult women. As president of Nielsen Financial Consultants, she directed a network of professional women who combined their skills to provide actuarial, insurance, legal, and financial advice.
Nielsen’s community activism also reflected her compassionate commitment to the welfare of others. In 1969, she was a driving force behind the Cedar Rapids League of Women Voters’ study of high-school dropouts. Throughout the 1970s, she was an energetic advocate for housing code reform and tenants' rights in Cedar Rapids. Her engagement with feminist principles is evident in her early support of liberalized abortion legislation (1970) and her longstanding involvement with the YWCA Women’s Emergency Shelter in Cedar Rapids, Planned Parenthood, and the Women’s Resource Center. When she recognized that women needed greater access to information about financial investments, she founded Women Unlimited (1979). She served on seven advisory committees and six boards of directors; she organized five independent community groups. Through her activism, she gained additional experience in public speaking, grassroots organizing, and management. She won numerous awards for her distinguished record of community service.
In 1988, she was elected to the Iowa General Assembly as the Democratic State Representative for District 50 in Cedar Rapids. She served two terms.
She married Eric Nielsen in 1955. They have one daughter, Cindy.
Scope and Content Note
The Joyce Jensen Nielsen papers date from 1951 to 1996 and measure 3.1 linear feet. The papers are arranged in 6 series, as follows: Correspondence; Personal information; Business ventures; Community service; Iowa General Assembly; and Photographs.
The Correspondence series contains letters to and from the Nielsen household between 1963-1991. Letters written by Joyce Jensen to Eric Nielsen during their courtship are interesting for the wealth of detail they offer about social life in a small Minnesota town during the 1950s, as well as for the insight they provide into the maturation of their romantic relationship. Letters written by Cindy Nielsen offer a view of college life at the University of Iowa in the 1970s. Letters between Joyce Nielsen and her former co-workers at HACAP provide an inside look at the operation of that social services agency. Notes exchanged between several families over three decades allow readers to discern the considerable changes in American family life during that time. Finally, the patient researcher can discover many references to the ups and downs of the Nielsens' marriage, including the circumstances surrounding their temporary separation in the late 1970s.
The Personal information series contains miscellaneous artifacts and papers pertaining to the Nielsen family. A brief essay, titled “My Thoughts,” offers a quiet personal reflection on the internal dynamics of the Nielsens’ marriage. A small folder of biographical information pertaining to Eric Nielsen includes papers chronicling his experience at the University of Minnesota and his days as a state champion marksman.
The Business ventures series contains papers pertaining to Joyce Nielsen’s entrepreneurial activities. Of special interest are her activities undertaken to empower women, such as her driver's education business for women. The bulk of this series refers to Nielsen’s activities as president of Nielsen Financial Consultants and reflects her burgeoning confidence in her financial savvy.
The Community service series spans a wide range of Nielsen’s activities. Certain subseries are especially rich, such as the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (HACAP) subseries. There, one can find, for example, privacy-protected interviews with aggrieved tenants and problem landlords in the Cedar Rapids; researchers can also study the records of an early tenant-run co- op. Community development programs and their critics share equal space in this subseries. The League of Women Voters subseries contains unexpected information, such as a highly detailed study of persons who dropped out of Cedar Rapids high schools in 1970 and interviews that discern their reasons for doing so. The YWCA subseries is a substantial one, for the YWCA was a hub of feminist activity in Cedar Rapids during the 1970s. Domestic violence scholars will find folders containing statistics and some aggregated case history information on clients of the Women's Emergency Shelter; they will also find budgets, publicity files, and an extensive folder of public discourse on the topic of spousal abuse. It also features more general information on spousal abuse victim advocacy in Iowa, collected by Joyce Nielsen during her work as an advocate for battered women. Most subseries contain newspaper clippings gleaned from the Cedar Rapids Gazette and other area papers.
The Iowa General Assembly series tightly focuses on Nielsen’s work as a member of the Non-Gender-Bias Insurance Interim Study Committee during the 1989-1990 session. A folder of congratulatory notices from Nielsen's supporters reveals the grassroots organizing that led to Nielsen's victory.
The Photographs series includes photographs enclosed in Christmas cards received by the Nielsen family from 1966-1979.
Related Collections
Iowa League of Women Voters
Box no. Description
Box 1
Correspondence
Incoming
General
1963-1965
1966-1969
1970-1975
1976-1979
1980-1983
1984-1990
Jensen, Dorothy (mother)
1968, 1970-1974
Nielsen, Cindy (daughter)
1968-1969, 1974-1979
1980-1984
Nielsen family
1966-1969
Box 2
1970-1974
1975-1979
1980-1991
Outgoing
General
1967-1969
1970-1972
1973-1975
1976-1979
Nielsen, Eric (husband)
1953
1954
1955
Box 3
Personal information
High school graduation announcement, 1951
Wedding napkin, 1955
University of Minnesota coursework, 1956
Daughter’s baptismal certificate, 1956
Parents’ 25th wedding anniversary celebration, 1957
Membership cards, magazine subscriptions, donations, and gifts, 1976, 1980-1986
Voter registration card, 1978
“My Thoughts,” essay, undated
Eric Nielsen -- biographical information, 1952-1957
Business ventures
Babysitting exchange cooperative, 1977 (2 folders)
Business start up ideas and incorporation inquiries, 1977
Driving instructor, 1977
New people referral service, 1977
Private investigator, 1977-1979
Problem solving group for women, 1977
Rental property
General, 1979-1981 and undated
Purchase agreement, 1979-1981
Tenant information, 1980-1981
Insurance sales and financial planning
Accounts receivable, 1985-1987
Annuity mailing, 1985-1986
Brochure development, undated
Box 4
Client financial information worksheets, undated
Continuing education
Classes, 1983-1994
Notes, 1982-1989
Comparison of single premium annuities, undated
Direct mailing
Advertising, 1987
Letter design, 1982 and undated
Employee applications, 1985-1989
“How to Get Rich” classes, 1981-1984
Insurance selling ideas, 1985-1987
Investors Professional Services, Inc., 1979-1980
Iowa insurance license, 1985-1995
Mailing list, undated
Newsletter, 1986-1987
Notes from financial planning seminars, undated
Office internship 1987
Office leases, 1984-1989
Open house, 1985
Pension plans, 1981-1987
Prospective customers, 1981-1986
Publicity, 1985-1986
Speech materials, 1982-1986 and undated
Standard financial planning recommendations, 1985 and undated
Tax laws, 1980-1984
Telephone contacts, 1986-1989
Testimonials, 1985
Box 5
Trade name registration, 1986
Trusts, 1979-1984
Community service
Hawkeye Area Community Action Program
"Opportunity Now!" Cedar Rapids black community self-help
enabler kick-off
Coalition for Social Action
Articles of incorporation and by-laws, 1978
Publicity, 1978
Steering committee meeting, 1977-1978
Community development
701 social planning update, 1974
701 residential relocation project, 1972-1973
Timecheck -St. Pat's citizen committee materials and
newsletter, 1975
Housing
Housing code subcommittee
Code review, 1976 and undated
Minutes, 1976-1977
Proposed Cedar Rapids housing code, 1979
Leased housing subcommittee
Attendance lists and meeting notes, 1975
Client reports, 1975
Facilitator's notes for community meeting and transcript
of meeting, 1975
Meeting notes, 1974-1976 and undated (2 folders)
Problem landlords
Publicity and public discourse on low-income housing,
1975-1976
Research subcommittee notes, 1972-1975
Section 8 new housing, 1975
Strategy plan for east central Iowa, 1976
Tenants rights
Notes, 1975-1977
The Needy Co- op, 1975
Information and Referral Service of Linn County, 1977-1978
Box 6
League
of Women Voters
Distinguished member profile, 1990
High school drop out portfolio
Agendas of study committee, 1969
Annual report on local study item [1969]
Background information, 1959, 1969
Flexible scheduling, 1968-1969
Reports of findings, 1968-1969
Speeches to annual board meeting, 1968-1969
Statement to Linn County School Board, 1969
Unit meeting presentation, 1969
Workshop and notes, 1969
Minnesota School Boards Association Convention, 1966
Planned Parenthood, 1977-1978
Young Women’s Christian Association
Board of directors
Annual reports, 1976-1978
Board member’s notebook, 1977
Minutes
1977
1978
Constitution and by-laws, 1975
Feminist activities, 1977
Newsletters and activities, 1977
Women’s Emergency Shelter
Advisory committee
Agendas and notes, 1976-1978
Minutes
1975-1977
1978-1979
Box 7
1980-1981
1982-1983
Budget, 1978-1984
Correspondence, 1975-1983 and undated
Emergency housing, 1977-1978
Harriet Tubman Women’s Shelter of Minneapolis, 1977 and undated
Proposals, 1978 and undated
Publicity, 1975-1984
Speeches, 1975-1978
Strategies from Wife Assault Workshop by Frances Wood, 1976
State-wide coalition for battered women, 1977-1996
Statistics, 1976-1979
Wife beating articles, 1975-1983
Iowa General Assembly
Letters from supporters, 1988
Box 8
Non-gender Bias Insurance Interim Study Committee
“Addressing the Health Care Needs of Iowa’s Uninsured and
Underinsured” workshop, 1989
Correspondence, 1989
Final report, 1989-1990
Memoranda, 1989 (2 folders)
Minutes, 1989
Notes on statements to the committee, 1989
Statements to the committee, 1989