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Archives Alive!: Iowa Women's Lives Collection

For students working on the Archives Alive! assignment

Contextualizing your document

A prize winning 4-H scrapbook describing a young woman's time in 4-H, including extensive details and postcards from a club trip to Chicago, November 1930.

A collection of diaries of an Iowa City seamstress who supported herself with her craft prior to her marriage in 1896.

Papers, travel journals, and autobiographical writings of  an artist who helped establish a Master's degree in Graphic and Plastic Arts at The University of Iowa in 1924.

You'll find these and other items/collections currently available for transcription in DIY History, the University of Iowa Libraries' crowdsourced history project. These items (and more!) give voice to local women and help tell stories of women's history in Iowa and beyond. Your work transcribing and researching the historical context surrounding these documents adds life and perspective to these stories.

Resources for individual collections

The following resources can help get you started exploring the historical context surrounding the production of Eve Drewelowe's written documents, currently available for transcription in DIY History.

Getting started:

  • Check out the University of Iowa Libraries Eve Drewelowe Papers Collection Collection Guide .

Primary sources:

Secondary sources:

  • Shannon, L.E. (2013). Eve Drewelowe: Feminist identity in American art. Women's History Review, 22(2), 295-309. Full text available through Libraries subscription.

For more information:

  • Search or browse Art specific resources and databases. See 'Art Resources' box available on the Art Library homepage for suggestions.
    • Need help searching Art specific resources and databases? Contact Art Librarians and Library Staff for assistance.
  • Try searching for more information (book, articles and more) in InfoHawk+ (available on the Libraries homepage). Try using keywords from your document (names, dates, art titles). Haven't found keywords yet? Check this out.

 

Perspectives

Women's History resources might provide a good perspective for thinking about the broader historical context surrounding your document. The following is a short list of resources to help you get started.

American Women's History: A Very Short Introduction by Susan Ware. E-book available through Libraries subscription. If accessing off-campus you may have to sign in with your hawkid and password. Some electronic collections (especially books) place limits on the number of individual readers that can access a resource at a given time. If you have trouble accessing this title, even after you've entered your credentials, we may have reached our limit of readers for the day/time for this title. If in doubt, always feel free to contact a Librarian.)

Check out the US Women's History LibGuide created by University of Iowa Librarian, Janalyn Moss. Janalyn's guide highlights digital collections, databases, newspapers, websites, and more that can help you explore the topic of US Women's History as it relates to your document. Janalyn is a library ninja. If you have questions related to Women's History or History in general, she's a great resource. Here's how you can contact Janalyn directly.

American Women Project. Provides a searchable and accessible online version of American Women: A Library of Congress Guide for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States.

  • Susan Ware's 'Introduction' provides an overview of site content and describes perspectives taken in Women's History studies that may help you think about framing your own research.