The Iowa Women’s Archives holds more than 1200 manuscript collections that chronicle the lives and work of Iowa women, their families, and their communities. These personal papers and organizational records date from the nineteenth century to the present. Together with oral histories, they document the activities of Iowa women throughout the state and beyond its borders. The Iowa Women’s Archives is open to the public.
News from the Archives
- YOU Make the Government: The Iowa League of Women Voters and Civic Responsibility
A non-partisan organization, the LWV focuses on voters understanding their power and responsibility in government at all levels. It also emphasizes that for democracy to be for the people, citizens must engage with government at every level. In a 1947 project entitled You are Democracy, the LWV […]
- Done biting their tongues: UI dental hygiene and gender discrimination
by Beatrice Kearns, graduate assistant, Iowa Women’s Archives The University of Iowa Dental Hygiene Program began in 1953 with 24 students and despite being nationally renowned, the female-dominated program did not make it to its 50th anniversary. Until the final graduating class in 1995, the […]
- Call for nominations for Libraries’ Excellence Award
The University of Iowa Libraries is seeking nominations for the Arthur Benton University Librarian’s Award for Excellence. Funded by a generous endowment, this award acknowledges a Libraries staff member’s professional contribution in the practice of librarianship, service to the profession, […]
- Kerber Grant Recipient’s Work Will Feature Political Activist Edna Griffin
Edna Griffin, known as the Rosa Parks of Iowa, has gained deserved attention over the years for her civil rights activism, especially for her role in the effort to desegregate the lunch counter at Katz Drug Store in Des Moines. Her actions resulted in a successful suit against the store under […]
- New Big Ten Open Books First Collection provides open access to scholarly monographs
The university librarians of the Big Ten Academic Alliance have launched the Big Ten Open Books project, a collaboration between the university presses and libraries of the Big Ten Academic Alliance. The first 100-title collection centered on gender and sexuality studies is now published. The works […]
- Kerber Grant Recipient Ezra Temko Delves into Gender Parity in Politics at IWA
Every year, the Linda and Richard Kerber Travel Grant allows researchers from across the country to come to Iowa City and use the Iowa Women’s Archives’ collections. Ezra Temko, is the grant’s first second-time winner. He first visited the IWA in 2018 as a PhD candidate in Sociology from the […]
- Women, Disability, and Reparative Description in IWA
The following post was written by IWA Student Specialist, Abbie Steuhm. In the process of creating a LibGuide on women and disability for the Iowa Women’s Archives (IWA), I discovered a trove of artifacts from disabled women and disability advocates. However, this did not come easy as the […]