Magdalena “Helen” Gerhart Tylee (1894-1988) came from Coblenz, Germany, where she married Iowa soldier Ben Tylee and returned with him to the United States after his service in the Army during the occupation of Germany following World War I. The couple raised their daughter Peggy and farmed in the Toddville and Springville areas of Marion Township in Linn County. When Ben was stationed in Texas and Florida during World War II, Helen ably ran the family farm, like many women left at home who proved they could do traditional men’s work, including handling draft horses.
Whether in a dress or farm overalls, Magdalena Tylee showed her affection for and comfort with farm horses. The album is from the Magdalena “Helen” Tylee Papers housed in the Iowa Women’s Archives of the University of Iowa Special Collections. Tylee’s Papers also include letters she exchanged with her husband during his military service, a transcript of a radio interview she did for a Waterloo, Iowa, radio station about why she came to Iowa, how Iowa differs from Germany, and how she managed to handle the farm without her husband. Tylee’s diaries spanning the 1930s to the 1980s are also included. In 1942, the Cedar Rapids Gazette visited Tylee on her farm, took the photos of her doing chores, and published an article about her experience entitled “She’s a Soldier, Too.”
Iowa Women’s Archives, University of Iowa Libraries.
In the case:
18. Photo album
Magdalena “Helen” Tylee Papers, Iowa Women’s Archives