IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
ROSEMARY THARP (1921-1994)
PAPERS, 1940s-1994
1 linear inch
|
ACQUISITION: |
The papers (donor no. 177) were donated
by Rosemary Tharp in 1993. |
|
ACCESS: |
The papers are open for research. |
|
COPYRIGHT: |
»Copyright has been transferred to the University of Iowa. |
|
PHOTOGRAPHS: |
In folder 1. |
|
PROCESSED
BY: |
Your name, year»Marnie Schroer, 1995. |
Biography
Rosemary Tharp was born on January 26,
1921, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She entered
Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa) in 1938 and
graduated in 1942. After working a
summer making cartridge belts for the army at the Hinson Manufacturing Company
in Waterloo, Iowa, she began teaching junior and senior high school social
studies in Kanawha, Iowa.
In December 1942, Tharp joined the
WAVES, the women's branch of the Navy. She was sent first to Smith College and
later to Mount Holyoke College, both in Massachusetts, for officer's training
and communication school. After
training, Tharp was assigned to a naval air station in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. Later she became head of the
communications department there; however, since women were not supposed to have
men under their charge, a male personnel officer held the position on
paper. In 1944, she married Herman
Tharp, whom she had been dating since college.
She was discharged from the WAVES on October 25, 1945.
Tharp later returned to school to
earn a master's degree. She worked in
the Department of Otolaryngology and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of
Iowa Hospitals, Iowa City, and helped to author several scientific articles
during the early 1970s. From 1977 until
her retirement in 1985, she was employed as a research assistant in the
Department of Preventive Medicine, State Cancer Registry of Iowa. She died of a stroke on September 27, 1994.
Scope and
Content Note
The Rosemary Tharp papers date from the 1940s to 1994 and measure 1 linear inch. The bulk
of the collection consists of a personal memoir and a family history written by
Tharp. The first, "The Spring of
Our Lives," chronicles the period from 1938 to approximately 1945,
centering on Tharp's experiences in the WAVES and her courtship with Herman
Tharp. The second primarily describes
her mother and father, Everett A. and Vesie Fleming, and a paternal
grandmother, Minerva Etheline Ford Fleming.
The papers also contain reprints of several scientific articles which
Tharp co-authored, most from the Cleft
Palate Journal; a copy of her obituary; and two photographs of Tharp in
WAVES uniforms.
Related
Collections
T.F. Poduska papers
T.F. Poduska, an artist living in Colorado, is Rosemary
Tharp's sister. She drew the sketches
contained in the family history.
Box no. Description
Folder 1
Obituary, September 30, 1994
Personal memoir, 1992
Family history, 1992
Journal articles, 1973-1976
Photographs, 1940s