IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
SARAH DYKSTRA WHITE
(1905-1979)
PAPERS, 1941-1979
7.5 linear inches
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ACQUISITION: |
The Sarah
Dykstra White papers (donor
no. 131) were donated by Jeane Van Voorhis White in 1999. |
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ACCESS: |
The papers are open
for research. |
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COPYRIGHT: |
Copyright held by the donor has been transferred to The University of Iowa. |
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PHOTOGRAPHS: |
In Box 1. |
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PROCESSED BY: |
Lisa Mott, 2003. [WhiteSarah.doc]. |
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Biography
Sarah Berniece Dykstra was born on
November 3, 1905 to Della Bonthius Dykstra and Ralph Dykstra. Sarah Dykstra was the second child, coming
two years after her sister Dorothy, and preceding two boys, Clarence and
Andrew. Dykstra grew up in Roseland,
Illinois, a suburb of Chicago heavily populated by Dutch immigrants. Just before her senior year in high school,
the Dykstra family moved to a farm near Rock Valley in northwest Iowa. Because Sarah Dykstra had not had algebra in
her previous high school she was required to take it at Rock Valley. Stanley White, her future husband, on leave
from his studies at Iowa State University, was the algebra teacher that year.
After graduating from high school in
1923, Sarah Dykstra and her family moved to Pasadena, California. Shortly after the move, her father left the
family, taking the two boys and moving to Chicago. Following the separation there was some bitterness between the
boys and their sisters, and it would be several years before relationships
between the siblings improved.
After his graduation from Iowa State
University in 1925, Stanley White hitchhiked to California to renew his
acquaintance with his former pupil.
Sarah Dykstra, who had been working at I. Magnin’s department store,
decided to get additional education at this time and entered Pasadena Community
College. Stanley White took various
jobs until Dykstra graduated in 1927.
The couple married on June 28, 1927 and in March 1928 they returned to
Dallas Center, Iowa where Stanley took over the operation of his father’s
farm. The White family lived on the
farm for fifty years, raising their four children: Jeane (b1928), Carolyn
(b1929), Donald (b1933) and Janice (b1938).
In 1979 Sarah Dykstra White died in
a single car accident.
Scope and
Content Note
The Sarah Dykstra White papers date from 1941 to 1979 and measure 7.5 linear inches. The papers
are arranged in two series: Biographical and Correspondence. The Biographical series
contains a biographical sketch of Sarah Dykstra White written by her daughter Jeane
Van Voorhis White. It also contains a
pedigree chart of the Dykstra family and copies of family photographs. The Correspondence series supplies
the bulk of the White papers. White
took part in a “circle letter” which went around to her siblings. When letters came to her, she took out the
last letter she had written and saved it.
She also saved individual letters she received. The letters are arranged in chronological
order, spanning the years 1941 to 1979. White’s daughter Jeane Van Voorhis White
transcribed the letters and provided a personnel glossary for various names
mentioned in the letters.
Related
Collections
Lucy Van Voorhis White papers
Lucy Van Voorhis White was Sarah
Dykstra White’s mother-in-law.