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Only top-level descriptions Grinnell College Libraries Special Collections W.P.A.
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Florence Stewart and Robert Kerr Papers 1917-1963 1937-1948

  • US US-IaGG MS/MS 01.24
  • Collection

The collection contains an oral interview with Florence Kerr; photographs, personal correspondence (notably with President and Mrs. Roosevelt), and other items unrelated to her business life; correspondence and other materials relating to her defense activities in 1941; and materials from two productions of the Federal Theater Project.

The bulk of the collection contains correspondence, memos, and reports from her tenure with the Work Projects Administration and includes numerous WPA publications.  There are two photograph albums and ten scrapbooks of newspaper clippings regarding her WPA activities.

Also included is correspondence of her husband, Robert Y. Kerr.

Florence Stewart Kerr (Class of 1912)

Matlack Family Papers 1879-1997

  • US US-IaGG MS/MS 01.46
  • Collection

The collection includes a variety of materials belonging to several family members that were found in Laura's house after her death: legal papers; personal calendars of Merta, David, and Laura; papers of Henry and Merta from their professional careers; and family correspondence and other personal papers. They provide a glimpse into the activities of this fascinating Grinnell family.

The family papers generally include legal papers, information about genealogy, photos, correspondence, and miscellaneous items. Noteworthy items include My Family's History by Helen M. Hatch, A Christmas Memoiry by Margaret M. Kiesel, and numerous editions of The Maggie Gazette and Intelligence, a family newsletter written and published by Margaret M. Kiesel. The family correspondence is extensive, and gives a good look into the family members' lives.

Henry's papers include music that he wrote, church programs when he was organist, articles that he wrote on a variety of music-related issues, articles and talks on education (some written during his time as Alumni Secretary), and files of historical material from the Alumni Office.

Merta's papers include programs, reports, and yearbooks of organizations to which she belonged including Entre Nous, Uncle Sam's Club, and Congregational women's groups. Her professional papers include memos, time sheets, correspondence from her tenure with the Consumer Purchases Study and miscellaneous other activities. There are also items from Merta's college years, including papers and notebooks. Go to College and The Education of Merta Johnson Matlack as told by herself give a glimpse into what a woman's education was like around the turn-of-the-century. Gust Johnson's papers include newspaper clippings, letters, report cards, and other miscellaneous stuff.

David's papers include a birth certificate, newspaper clippings, programs from events in Grinnell, correspondence and calenders.

Laura corresponded with Art Department colleagues, other Grinnell College graduates from her class, and with Edith Sternfeld, a former art professor at the college. The remainder of Laura's papers contain material relating to her weaving and to organizations in which she was active including the League of Women Voters, Peace Links, and weavers' groups. Noteworthy items include letters and SGA minutes in response to Kent State killings and closing of Grinnell College, miscellaneous items regarding convocation of 1967 when Martin Luther King Jr spoke at Grinnell College and the Wiemans hosting Benjamin Mays at the 1967 convocation, Recollections of My Husband, Henry Nelson Wieman, and The History of Architecture ... Grinnell Iowa, 1949. Henry N. Wieman's papers include correspondence and newspaper articles, He was a professor of philosophy who taught at several notable universities. The bulk of Henry N. Wieman's papers are at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

There are also items from the four remaining Matlack siblings: Mary Davenport, Margaret Kiesel, Jane Rutherford, and Connie Wieman; Merta's parents, Gust and Elma Johnson; Laura'/s husband, Henry N. Wieman; and Maggie's mother-in-law, Anna Kiesel. Correspondence to the Matlack sisters and other papers of theirs are included. Stories about the birth of Connie (born on Christmas day) are especially charming. Anna Kiesel's items include photos, programs, and correspondence. She and Gust Johnson have papers in German and Swedish, that give a glimpse into the ethnic communities of the mid-west in the 19th Century.

There are four boxes of oversize materials that include records, artwork, certificates, photos, music, and correspondence.

Matlack, Henry W.

George T. McJimsey Papers 1904-1970's

  • US US-IaGG MS/MS 01.88
  • Collection

This collection was gathered by George T. McJimsey, professor of History at Iowa State University, in the process of writing his book Harry Hopkins: Ally of the Poor and Defender of Democracy. Included are articles written by Hopkins, his personal and professional correspondence, WPA files, minutes from the meetings of the American Association of Social Workers, War Munitions Board minutes, Lend- Lease files, diary entries of top government officials, American Red Cross files among others.

The collection contains information relevant not only to researchers studying Hopkins but also Roosevelt, World War II, Lend- Lease, the New Deal, social work, the American Red Cross, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, the FERA, WPA, CWA, American Association of Social Workers, New York BCW, and NYTBA.

The research is drawn from several collections including the Hopkins Papers at the FDR Library in Hyde Park, the National Archives, the George C. Marshall Papers, the Social Work History Archives in Minneapolis, the Harry S. Truman Library, Parks Library of Iowa State University, New York State Library at Albany, the Library of Congress, University of Virginia Library, the Houghton Library of Harvard University among many others.

Additional information on Harry Hopkins can be found in Georgetown University’s special collection.

McJimsey, George T.