Books

• Beran, Janice A. From Six-on-Six to Full Court Press: A Century of Iowa Girls’ Basketball. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1993.
• Chalmers, Carolyn. They Don't Want Her There: Fighting Sexual and Racial Harassment in the American University. Iowa: University of Iowa Press, 2022.
• Devine, Jenny Barker. On Behalf of the Family Farm: Iowa Farm Women’s Activism since 1945. Iowa: University of Iowa Press, 2013.
• Egge, Sara. Woman Suffrage & Citizenship in the Midwest, 1870-1920. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2018.
• Ford, Melissa. A Brick and a Bible: Black Women’s Activism in the Midwest during the Great Depression. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press, 2021.
• Meloy, Linda. And They Persisted...: A Century of Impact by Iowa Leagues. Iowa City: League of Women Voters of Johnson County, 2020. 
• Noun, Louise R.
  • Strong-Minded Women: The Emergence of the Woman-Suffrage Movement in Iowa. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1986.
  • More Strong-Minded Women: Iowa Feminists Tell Their Stories. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1992. 
• Osborn, Tracy L. How Women Represent Women: Political Parties, Gender, and Representation in the State Legislatures. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
• Shrader, Dorothy H. Iowa Press Women, Inc.: A History. Publisher unknown, ca. 1980. 
• Spiller, Erica. Iowa Women’s Corrections: A History. Charleston, South Carolina: History Press, 2021. 
• Schenken, Suzanne O’Dea. Legislators and Politicians: Iowa’s Women Lawmakers.  Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1995.
• Schwieder, Dorothy, ed. Patterns and Perspectives in Iowa History. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1973.
• University of Iowa Women’s Resource and Action Center. At the Center: Celebrating Thirty Years of Activism and Communities. Iowa City: Women’s Resource and Action Center, 2002.
• Wood, Sharon E. The Freedom of the Streets: Work, Citizenship, and Sexuality in a Gilded Age City. Gender & American Culture. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2005. 

Articles & Book Chapters

• Beins, Agatha, and Julie R. Enszer. “‘We Couldn’t Get Them Printed,’ So We Learned to Print: Ain’t I a Woman? And the Iowa City Women’s Press.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies 34, no. 2 (2013): 186–221. 
• Breaux, Richard M. “‘To the Uplift and Protection of Young Womanhood’: African-American Women at Iowa’s Private Colleges and the University of Iowa, 1878–1928.” History of Education Quarterly 50, no. 2 (2010): 159–81. 
• Derifield, Coreen. “‘I Thought of the Money That We Could Use’: Iowa Women and Industrial Wage Work, 1950-1970.” Annals of Iowa 73, no. 1 (2014): 28–59. 
• Devine, Jenny Barker. “‘Hop to the Top with the Iowa Chop’: The Iowa Porkettes and Cultivating Agrarian Feminisms in the Midwest, 1964-1992.” Agricultural History 83, no. 4 (2009): 477–502.

• Fehn, Bruce. “Race for Justice: The Terry Lee Sims Rape Case in Sioux City, 1949-1952.” Annals of Iowa 64, no. 4 (October 2005): 311–39.

• Fink, Deborah, and Dorothy Schwieder. “Iowa Farm Women in the 1930s.” The Annals of Iowa 49, no. 7 (1989): 570–90. 
• Flaming, Anna L. Bostwick. “Opening Doors for Iowa Women: Gender, Politics, and the Displaced Homemaker, 1977–1983.” Annals of Iowa 72, no. 3 (2013): 238–73. 
• Friedburger, Mark. “Women Advocates in the Iowa Farm Crisis of the 1980s.” Agricultural History 67:2 (Spring 1993).

• Green, John C., Lyman A. Kellstedt, and Donald P. Racheter. “Iowa: Crucible of the Christian Right.” In The Christian Right in American Politics, edited by John C. Green, Mark J. Rozell, and Clyde Wilcox. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2003.

• Hawbaker, Becky Wilson. “Oral History Interviews With Iowa Women: A Survey of Collections in Iowa.”  Annals of Iowa 53, no. 3 (1994): 246–64. 
• Lawrence, Noah. “‘Since It Is My Right, I Would like to Have It’: Edna Griffin and the Katz Drug Store Desegregation Movement.” Annals of Iowa 67, no. 4 (2008): 298–330. 
• Lucas, Shelley Marie. “Cornography: Selling Women’s Professional Basketball in a Girls’ Basketball State.” Annals of Iowa 64, no. 4 (2005). 
• Mohr, James C. “Iowa’s Abortion Battles of the 1960’s and Early 1970’s: Long-Term Perspectives and Short-Term Analyses.” Annals of Iowa 50, no. 1 (1989). 
• Mollano, Kara. “Race, Roads, and Right-of-Way: A Campaign to Block Highway Construction in Fort Madison, 1967-1976.” Annals of Iowa 68, no. 3 (Summer 2009): 255-97. 
• Nielsen, Kim E. “Dangerous Iowa Women: Pacifism, Patriotism, and the Woman-Citizen in Sioux City, 1920-1927.” Annals of Iowa 56, no. 1 (January 1997): 80–98. 
• Romeo, Sharon. “Criminal Seduction and Women’s Citizenship in Iowa, 1865-1879.” Annals of Iowa 79, no. 1 (January 2020): 35–55. 
• Rymph, Catherine E. “‘Keeping the Political Fires Burning’: Republican Women’s Clubs and Female Political Culture in Small-Town Iowa, 1928-1938.” Annals of Iowa 56, no. 1 (January 1997): 99–127. 
• Stek, Pamela. “The 1898 American Cereal Company Strike in Cedar Rapids: Gender, Ethnicity, and Labor Activism in Late Nineteenth Century Iowa.” Annals of Iowa 74, no. 2 (Spring 2015): 142-76. 
• Swenson Arnold, Brie. “An Opportunity to Challenge the ‘Color Line’: Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Women’s Labor Activism in Late Nineteenth-Century Cedar Rapids, Iowa.” Annals of Iowa 74, no. 2 (April 2015): 101–41. 
• Weaver, Janet. “From Barrio to ‘¡Boicoteo!’: The Emergence of Mexican American Activism in Davenport, 1917–1970.” Annals of Iowa 68, no. 3 (July 2009): 215-54. 
• Yorgason, Ethan. “The Public Memory of Women’s Suffrage in Iowa.” Social Science Journal 37, no. 2 (2000): 261–76. 

Dissertations & Theses

• Cavanaugh, Libby Jean. “Opposition to Female Enfranchisement: The Iowa Anti-Suffrage Movement.” MA thesis, Iowa State University, 2007.
• Lake, Sharon Marie Rose Killeen. “The Accidental Feminist: Iowa’s Breastfeeding Firefighter and the National Struggle for Workplace Equity.” Dissertation, University of Iowa, 2010.
• Stek, Pamela Renee. “Immigrant Women’s Political Activism in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, 1880-1920.” Dissertation, University of Iowa, 2017.
• Temko, Ezra. "Navigating the Path to Presence: Ideology, Politics, and the Campaign for Gender Balanced Boards and Commissions in Iowa." Dissertation, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, 2019.
• Yanney, Linda J. “The Practical Revolution: An Oral History of the Iowa City Feminist Community, 1965-1975.” Dissertation, University of Iowa, 1991. 

Other Resources

• “Women’s Suffrage in Iowa Timeline." Online resource. Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, Iowa State University.

In addition to the Iowa Women's Archives collections listed in this guide, the University of Iowa's University Archives and Special Collections repositories also hold many fascinating materials related to the history of women in politics. 

• University of Iowa Archives. Barceló, Nancy V. “Rusty” (1946-). Papers, 1946-2005. 5 linear feet. Longtime university administrator working on affirmative action and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; co-founder of the Chicano Indian-American Student Union at the University of Iowa and the first Mexican-American to earn a PhD at UI. 

• University of Iowa Archives. Focht, Helen E. (1901-2001). Papers, 1917-1983. 3 linear inches. Assistant to Dean of Women whose correspondence documents her concern for the status of women students at the University of Iowa. 

• University of Iowa Archives. Scott, M. Gladys (1905-1990). Papers, 1920-1988. 6 linear inches. Professor and head of women's physical education established the first women's intercollegiate athletic program at the University of Iowa in 1973 and hired Christine Grant as its first athletic director. Small collection of clippings, photographs, and correspondence, as well as an oral history. 

• University of Iowa Archives. Associated Women Students. Records, 1924-1970. University of Iowa Archives. 2 linear feet. National organization of collegiate women. Collection includes materials related to women's support for the war effort in the 1940s and to the women's judiciary board that handled certain forms of conduct violations for women students. 

• University of Iowa Archives. New Wave Party. Records, 1980-1992. 10 linear feet. Progressive student organization that collaborated with feminist organizations, including RVAP and the Women’s Caucus, and that supported actions against anti-abortion organizing in Iowa City. 

• University of Iowa Archives. Office of Equal Opportunity & Diversity. Records, 1970 –2010. 6 linear feet. Collection documents University efforts to combat discrimination and promote full inclusion of groups historically underrepresented at the University, including LGBTQ+ communities, people of color, and women. Includes material on topics such as sexual harassment and assault and benefits for same-sex partners of University staff. 

• University of Iowa Archives. Women’s Resource & Action Center. Records, 1974-2005. 9 linear inches. Women’s Center at the University of Iowa which provided space for community meetings and events, a library, and referrals to social services. See also Iowa Women’s Archives’ collection of WRAC records. 

• Special Collections & Archives. Trowbridge, Delbert (1903-1973). Papers, 1969-1973. 5 linear feet. Iowa legislator, 1971-1973, serving parts of Floyd, Mitchell, and Cerro Gordo counties; collection contains significant constituent correspondence on abortion. 

• Special Collections & Archives. Willits, Earl M. (1946-1990). Papers, 1970-1979. 3 linear feet. Iowa legislator, 1971-1979, serving Polk county; collection contains extensive constituent correspondence on abortion. 

The following resource guides related to women's legal and political history are maintained by the University of Iowa Libraries and are not focused on archival collections. For a list of related guides maintained by the Iowa Women's Archives and focused on archival materials, please visit the home page of this guide. 

• U.S. Women's History
• Gender, Women's & Sexuality Studies
• LGBTQ+ Resources
• Women & Islam