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Iowa Women’s Political Milestones

Resources on Iowa women and politics

The following resources include the sources used to create the Iowa Women’s Political Milestones timeline as well as additional sources of information on Iowa suffragists, the suffrage movement, voting rights in Iowa, and women in Iowa politics.

Books

  • Bloomer, D.C. 1895. Life and Writings of Amelia Bloomer. Boston: Arena Publishing Company.
  • Egge, Sara. 2018. Woman suffrage and citizenship in the Midwest, 1870-1920 (Iowa and the Midwest experience). Iowa City, Iowa: University Of Iowa Press.
  • Feminist Majority Foundation. 1993. New Strategies, Old Obstacles in the Fight for Equality: An Analysis of the 1992 Equal Rights Amendment Referendum Campaign.
  • Ferris, John N. 2017. Mary Jane Whiteley Coggeshall, Hicksite Quaker, Iowa/national suffragette and her speeches. Cambridge City, IN: Kids at Heart Publishing & Books.
  • Fink, Deborah. 1986. Rural Women, Tradition, and Change. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN-13: 978-0887063183
  • Gallaher, Ruth A. 1918. Legal and Political Status of Women in Iowa: An Historical Account of the Rights of Women in Iowa from 1838-1918. Iowa City, IA: State Historical Society of Iowa.
  • Gue, Benjamin F. 1903. History of Iowa From the Earliest Time to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century. New York: Century History Company. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007839454.
  • Hanft, Ethel W. and Paula J. Manley. 1980. Outstanding Iowa Women: Past and Present. Muscatine, IA: River Bend Publishing.
  • Meloy, Linda. 2020. And They Persisted… A Century of Impact by Iowa Leagues. Iowa City, IA: League of Women Voters of Johnson County. ISBN: 978-0-578-71685-5.
  • Noun, Louise Rosenfield. 1969. Strong-Minded Women: The Emergence of the Woman-Suffrage Movement in Iowa. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press. ISBN-13:‎ 978-0813816029.
  • Noun, Louise Rosenfield. 1986. Strong-Minded Women: The Emergence of the Woman-Suffrage Movement in Iowa. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press. ISBN-13: 978-0813817248.
  • Noun, Louise Rosenfield. 1990. Journey to Autonomy: A Memoir. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press. ISBN-13: 978-0813818993.
  • Noun, Louise Rosenfield. 1992. More Strong-Minded Women: Iowa Feminists Tell Their Stories. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press. ISBN-13: ‎978-0813818191
  • Noun, Louise Rosenfield. 1999. Iowa Women in the WPA. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press. ISBN-13: 978-0813826479.
  • Noun, Louise Rosenfield. 2002. Leader and Pariah: Annie Savery and the Campaign for Women’s Rights in Iowa, 1868-1891. Iowa City: Iowa Women’s Archives. ISBN-13: ‎978-0874141290.
  • O’Dea, Suzanne. 2012. Madman Chairman: Mary Louise Smith and the Republican Revival After Watergate. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri. ISBN-13:‎ 978-0826219954.
  • Reeves, Winona Evans, ed. 1914. The Blue Book: A History of Iowa Contemporary Women. Mexico, MO: Missouri Printing and Publishing Company.
  • Schenken, Suzanne O’Dea. 1995. Legislators & Politicians: Iowa’s Women Lawmakers. (Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press. ISBN-13: 978-0813822778.
  • Schwieder, Dorothy, Thomas Morain, and Lynn Nielsen. 2011. Iowa Past to Present: The People and the Prairie 3rd ed. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press. ISBN-13: 9781609380366

Articles and Book Chapters

  • Allen, Anne Beiser. 2002. “Sowing Seeds of Kindness and Change: A History of the Iowa Association of Colored Women’s Clubs.” Iowa Heritage Illustrated. Spring. 2-13.
  • Beins, Agatha and Julie R. Enszer. 2013. “‘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(2): 186-221. https://doi.org/10.5250/fronjwomestud.34.2.0186.
  • Breaux, Richard M. 2002. “‘Maintaining a Home for Girls:’ The Iowa Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs at the University of Iowa, 1919-1950.” Journal of African American History. 87(2): 236-255. https://doi.org/10.2307/1562465.
  • Bromswick, Emily. 2024. “‘I Felt if Things Didn’t Change, the World Would Come to an End;’ Black Iowa Women’s Activism During the Civil Rights Era, 1945-1965.” The Annals of Iowa, 83(3). https://history.iowa.gov/learn/publications/annals-iowa/current-issue#table-of-contents.
  • Bystrom, Dianne. 2006. From Voting to Running for Political Office: The Role of Women in Midwestern Politics. https://iastate.app.box.com/v/FromVotingToRunning.
  • Campbell, Maggie and Victoria Brown. 2002. “Introduction.” In Why Did the Iowa League of Women Voters Oppose the Equal Rights Amendment during the 1940s and 1950s? Women and Social Movements Database. Alexander Street. Hosted by the State University of New York at Binghamton. https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1000677048.
  • Coe, Lulu Mae. 1962. “Many Iowa Women Won Fame.” The Annals of Iowa. 36(6): 457-460. https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.7645.
  • Coon, Anne C, ed. 1994. Hear Me Patiently: The Reform Speeches of Amelia Jenks Bloomer. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. ISBN-13: ‎978-0274949847
  • Deslippe, Dennis. 1993. “‘We Had an Awful Time with Our Women:’ Iowa’s United Packinghouse Workers of America, 1945-1975.” Journal of Women’s History. 5(1): 10-32. https://doi.org/10.1353/jowh.2010.0253.
  • Devine, Jenny Barker. 2005. “‘Quite a Ripple But no Revolution:’ The Changing Roles of Women in the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation.” The Annals of Iowa. 64(1): 1-36. https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.10866.
  • Devine, Jenny Barker. 2009. “‘Hop to the Top with the Iowa Chop:’ The Iowa Porkettes and Cultivating Agrarian Feminisms in the Midwest, 1964-1992.” Agricultural History. 83(4): 477-502. https://doi.org/10.1215/00021482-83.4.477.
  • Devine, Jenny Barker. 2010. “‘The Secret to a Successful Farm Organization:’ Township Farm Bureau Women’s Clubs in Iowa, 1945-1970.” The Annals of Iowa. 69(4): 418-448. https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.1475.
  • Devine, Jenny Barker. 2013. On Behalf of the Family Farm: Iowa Farm Women’s Activism Since 1945. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press. ISBN-13: ‎978-1609381707
  • Dofner, Kenneth. 2014. “Picket Lines, Picket Fences: How Feminism Saved Iowa’s Family Farms During the Farm Crisis of the 1980s.” Iowa Historical Review. 42(2): 52-53. https://doi.org/10.17077/2373-1842.1026.
  • Flaming, Anna L. Bostwick. 2013. “Opening Doors for Iowa Women: Gender, Politics, and the Displaced Homemaker, 1977, 1983.” The Annals of Iowa. 72(3): 238-273.
  • Friedberger, Mark. 1993. “Women Advocates in the Iowa Farm Crisis of the 1980s.” Agricultural History. 67(2): 224-234. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3744059.
  • Fuller, Steven J. and Alastia Mellecker. “Behind the Yellow Banner: Anna B. Lawther and the Winning of Suffrage for Iowa Women.” The Palimpsest. 65(3): 106-117. https://doi.org/10.17077/0031-0360.22308.
  • Iowa Civil Rights Commission. 2015. Civil rights: Celebrating 50 years of higher quality through equality. https://icrc.iowa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2016/Civil%20Rights%20Toolkit%20updated.pdf.
  • Itzkowitz, Dan and Victoria Brown, “Introduction.” In How Did Iowa Coalitions Campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment in 1980 and 1992? Alexander Street. Binghamton, NY: SUNY Binghamton. 2002. https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1000679334.
  • Jordan, Philip D. 1939. “The Bloomers in Iowa.” The Palimpsest. 20(9): 295-309. https://doi.org/10.17077/0031-0360.24591.
  • Jordan, Philip D. 1957. “Amelia Jenks Bloomer.” The Palimpsest. 38(4): 139-148. https://doi.org/10.17077/0031-0360.22590.
  • Joseph, Margaret F. and Matthew J. Dickinson. 2020. “Democracy’s Disparity? Gender, Equality and the 2020 Iowa Causes.” Society. 57: 686-692. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-020-00552-w.
  • Keatley, J.H. 1874. “Amelia Bloomer.” The Annals of Iowa. 12(3): 190-194. https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.11896.
  • Kedrowski, Karen M. 2023. “’It’s My Greatest Desire Before I Die to be in the Iowa Constitution:’ Iowa and the Equal Rights Amendment.” The Annals of Iowa. 82(4): 293-321.
  • Kedrowski, Karen M. 2025. Women and Elective Office in Iowa. https://iastate.app.box.com/v/WomenaElectiveOfficeinIowa2025
  • Iowa PBS. Carrie Chapman Catt—Leading the way for women’s rights. https://www.iowapbs.org/iowapathways/mypath/2716/carrie-chapman-catt-leading-way-womens-rights.
  • Iowa PBS. The fight for women’s suffrage. https://www.iowapbs.org/iowapathways/mypath/2693/fight-womens-suffrage.
  • Lonnquist, M. Peg and Loraine M. Reesor. 1987. “The Margaret Sloss Women’s Center at Iowa State University: A Model.” NASPA Journal. 25(2): 137-140. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.1987.11072042.
  • Lucht, Tracy. 2021. “Amelia Bloomer, The Lily, and Early Feminist Discourse in the US.” American Journalism. 38(4): 391-415. https://doi.org/10.1080/08821127.2021.1982621.
  • Martin, Dorris B. 1983. “A Congressional Wife in Wartime Washington.” The Palimpsest. 64(2): 34-44. https://doi.org/10.17077/0031-0360.21593.
  • Mason, Karen M. 1997. “Women’s Clubs in Iowa: An Introduction.” The Annals of Iowa. 56(1-2): 1-11. https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.10994.
  • Mohr, James C. 2008. “Iowa’s Abortion Battles of the Late 1960s and Early 1970s: Long Term Perspectives and Short Term Analyses.” In Marvin Bergman, ed., Iowa History Reader. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2008: 411-431.
  • Morgan, Francesca. 1997. “‘Regions Remote from Revolutionary Scenes:’ Regionalism, Nationalism, and the Iowa Daughters of the American Revolution, 1890-1930.” The Annals of Iowa. 56(1-2):46-79. https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.10996.
  • Mullenbach, Cheryl. 2007. “The Election of Julia Addington: An Accidental Milestone in Iowa Politics.” Iowa Heritage Illustrated. Fall 2007. https://iastate.app.box.com/v/JuliaAddington.
  • Nielsen, Kim E. 1997. “Dangerous Iowa Women: Pacifism, Patriotism, and the Woman-Citizen in Sioux City, 1920-1927.” The Annals of Iowa. 56(1-2): 80-98.
  • Noun, Louise Rosenfield. 1962. “‘Queen for a Session:’ Iowa’s First Legislative Clerk.” The Annals of Iowa. 34(4): 296-298. https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.7631.
  • Noun, Louise Rosenfield. 1977. “Annie Savery: A Voice for Women’s Rights.” The Annals of Iowa. 44(1): 2-30. https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.11479.
  • Noun, Louise Rosenfield. 1985. “Amelia Bloomer, a Biography.” The Annals of Iowa. 47(7): 575-617. https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.9099.
  • Passet, Joanne. 2004. “Yours for Liberty: Women and Freethought in Nineteenth Century Iowa.” The Annals of Iowa. 53(2): 137-169. https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.10790
  • Porter, Lorle Ann. 1973. “Amelia Bloomer: An Early Iowa Feminist’s Sojourn on the Way West,” The Annals of Iowa. 41(8): 1242-1257. https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.11151.
  • Pounds, Diana. 1991. “Suffragists, Free Love, and the Woman Question.” The Palimpsest. 72(1): 2-15. https://doi.org/10.17077/0031-0360.24023.
  • Rymph, Catherine E. 1997. “‘Keeping the Home Fires Burning:’ Republican Women’s Clubs and Female Political Culture in Small-Town Iowa, 1928-1938.” The Annals of Iowa. 56(1-2): 99-127.
  • Shannon, Lindsay E. 2017. “Uncharted Territory: The Iowa Suffrage Memorial and the Pioneer Spirit.” Public Art Dialogue. 7(2): 172-195. https://doi.org/10.1080/21502552.2017.1343611.
  • Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage, eds. 1886. “Iowa.” In History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 3 (pp. 612-637). Rochester, NY: Susan B.Anthony and Charles Mann Press. PDF of chapter
  • Yanney, Linda J. 2021. “In the Heart of the Lesbian Nation: Iowa City, Iowa and the Building of a Lesbian Community.” Women’s History Review. 31(1): 154-160. https://doi.org/10.1080/09612025.2021.1954339.
  • Yorgason, Ethan. 2000. “The Public Memory of Women’s Suffrage in Iowa.” The Social Science Journal. 37(2: 261-276. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0362-3319(00)00059-8.

Theses and dissertations

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