IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
EMMA LOU LEEPER PHELAN
(1926- )
PAPERS, 1945,1995, 1998
6 items
|
ACQUISITION: |
The papers
(donor no. 312) were donated by Emma
Lou Leeper Phelan in 1995 and 1998. |
|
ACCESS: |
The papers
are open for research. |
|
COPYRIGHT: |
Copyright has been transferred to the University of Iowa. |
|
PHOTOGRAPHS: |
In folder 1. |
|
PROCESSED BY: |
Kristen Rassbach, 1997,
Margaret Richardson, 1998. |
|
REVISED: |
Margaret Richardson, July 16, 1998, version WORD97. |
Biography
Emma Lou Leeper was born July 30, 1926 in Iowa. Her mother died in 1933, leaving seven
children ages two to thirteen. Her
father moved the family to Brooklyn, Iowa to live with his mother-in-law
Katharine Roth and her sister Mary Fogel.
Graduating
from Brooklyn High School in 1944, Leeper took a greyhound bus to San Diego,
California where she found a job at Ryan Aeronautical Company. She worked there until September 1945 as a
riveter on jet airplanes for the Navy.
When the war ended most of the workforce was laid off. At that time she married Robert W. Phelan
whom she had met at Ryan Aeronautical and they returned to Cherokee, Iowa where
they established a home and raised a family of five children.
Scope and Content Note
The» Emma Lou Leeper Phelan papers date from 1945, 1995, 1998 and consist of 2
brief reminiscences by Phelan concerning her childhood in Brooklyn, Iowa, and
concerning her work as a riveter at Ryan Aeronautical Co. Included also are Phelan’s employee earnings
statement, her job classification statement, and a photograph of Phelan, her
sister, and a male colleague taken by Ryan Aeronautical Co. in 1945. In addition there is a photocopy of a
certificate issued by Ryan Aeronautical Company to her husband, Robert W.
Phelan, recognizing his performance of essential war work during World War II
in the production of airplanes and parts for the Army and Navy.