ISU’s First Female Graduate in Mechanical Engineering: Florence Kimball

Graduation is a special time at Iowa State.  It is a time to celebrate our recent graduates’ accomplishments and remember those of our alumni.  Today, we honor the first female mechanical engineering graduate at Iowa State, Florence Kimball Stoufer. 

Florence Lottie Kimball was born in 1885 to Jessie Atkinson Kimball (1860-1929) and Charles Kimball (1859-1946) in Anamosa, Iowa. In 1904, following her junior year of high school, Florence pursued a mechanical engineering degree at Iowa State, where she was active on campus in various student organizations. She played both left and right guard on the women’s varsity hockey team, was a member of the Cliolian Literary Society, a class officer, a reporter and society editor for the Iowa State Student (now the Iowa State Daily), and a member of the Bomb Board as a junior. She was also a member of S.S., which became the Sigma Sigma chapter of the Kappa Delta sorority, serving as Kappa Delta’s first president. In June of 1908, Florence became the first woman to graduate from Iowa State College with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree.

Florence Kimball Stoufer pictured in her yearbook which includes her notes about classmates for class reunions. Draped on the corner of the yearbook is a 1908 class armband used during the 1908 class reunion in 1953. Kimball and Stoufer family papers RS 21/7/329, unprocessed. Special Collections and University Archives, Iowa State University Library, Ames, Iowa.

In 1911, Florence married Donald B. “D.B.” Stoufer, a fellow mechanical engineering graduate from Iowa State.  He went on to work in the Kimball family business, Kimball Elevator Co., while Florence managed the business’s real estate holdings.  The couple maintained ties with Iowa State through the attendance of their three children, Richard, William (ME ’38), and Lucy Beall (HEC ’46), and multiple grandchildren.  They also were involved with the Omaha-Council Bluffs chapter of the ISU Alumni Association.  In 1977, Florence passed away at the age of 91.  Two years later, her family honored her through the Florence Kimball Stoufer Recognition Award, which was granted to women in mechanical engineering to honor their achievements at Iowa State between 1978 and 2001.

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  Image of D.B. Stoufer (left), daughter Lucy Beall Stoufer (middle), and Florence Kimball Stoufer (right) visiting Iowa State College in the Fall of 1942. Kimball and Stoufer family papers RS 21/7/329, unprocessed. Special Collections and University Archives, Iowa State University Library, Ames, Iowa.

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  Program for the Florence Kimball Stoufer Recognition Award, undated. Iowa State University. Alumni and Former Student Subject Files RS 21/7/1. Special Collections and University Archives, Iowa State University Library, Ames, Iowa.

Through the generosity of her family, Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) recently acquired her records, along with those of her family members.  Portions of Florence’s educational journey are documented in her papers through her notes and marginalia in textbooks, while her campus life is visible through things like programs to campus plays. However, most prevalent throughout the collection are materials documenting the Stoufers’ lives as alumni through correspondence with classmates, organizing class reunions, and their active participation in the Omaha-Council Bluffs chapter of the ISU Alumni Association.

[Photo of Botany Notebook]

^{Pages from Florence Kimball’s notany notebook, undated. Kimball and Stoufer family papers RS 21/7/329, unprocessed. Special Collections and University Archives, Iowa State University Library, Ames, Iowa.}

Letter from William J. Scherle to Florence Stoufer, June 15, 1973. Kimball and Stoufer family papers RS 21/7/329, unprocessed. Special Collections and University Archives, Iowa State University Library, Ames, Iowa.

Stay tuned for more stories about the Kimball and Stoufer families, with generations of Iowa Staters spanning 1886 through 2022! 

Artifacts in the Archives – A small exhibit

The Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) has installed a new exhibit in their Reading Reading which features items from its artifact collection. Each member of the SCUA staff was given the chance to select one item from the artifact collection and write a short description about it.

A misconception about many special collections and archives is that they collect a large amount of 3-d objects, more commonly called artifacts. An archives main focus is the collecting preserving and providing access to documents, photos, moving image, sound recordings and books. Artifacts commonly enter into museum collections as this is their dedicated purpose and have space dedicated to store and display these items.

This distinction is true to how SCUA operates here at ISU, with our collections being made up of over 17,000 linear feet of documents, 20,000 audio-visual items, 50,000 rare volumes, and 1,000,000 still images (photos, slides, negatives). Yet, SCUA does have an artifact collection that consists of nearly 4,000 items.

As mentioned above, artifacts are not an area that we focus on collecting. So, why have we, and why do we continue to collect some artifacts? When we do decide to bring an artifact it is because it documents an important aspect of the university’s history, or shows an important aspect of history related to our manuscript collecting area.

Please visit SCUA Monday through Thursday, 10am-4pm to view the new exhibit.

National Exercise Day

Physical education and kinesiology (exercise sciences) have long been an important part of the Iowa State education. Today we celebrate that tradition with some snapshots of exercise activities on campus over the years.

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  Tennis 1908, University Photographs, box 800

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  Swimming 1927, University Photographs, box 800

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  Swimming, no date, University Photographs, box 800

Feel free to walk, skip, run, bike, however you choose to move, over to the reading room on the 4th floor of Parks Library to see our collections in person!

Exhibition of student art inspired by rare books

In February students from Raluca Iancu’s ArtIS 355x / 555x: Letterpress Book Arts class visited Special Collections and University Archives to learn about the history and materiality of the book and to explore a variety of historical, fine press, and artists’ books to inspire their own accordion book projects. Now, you can see the fruits of their labor on display in Parks Library. 

Dimensions of Dialogue exhibit, Parks Library

Dimensions of Dialogue is a student art exhibition featuring pairs of accordion books that are in dialogue with one another through their binding, form, scale, materials, or use of imagery. They are also responding to an element of a particular rare book from Special Collections that inspired their work. These artists’ book “conversations” can be seen in the glass exhibit case in the lobby of Parks Library to the East of the Main Desk, in front of the wall of windows. They will be on display through the end of spring semester. 

Arranging a book on a shelf

The Library will be hosting a closing reception for the exhibition on May 7, 2:15-4:15pm in Rm. 198. Students will be giving individual presentations about their accordion books as well as their semester-long research projects into the work of a book artist. The reception is free and open to the public. 

Agriculture Experiment Station

Crossed Seedlings, University Photos box 529, folder 4. No date.

March is the anniversary of the creation of the Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station at Iowa State. The Experiment Station was founded as a result of legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in 1887. Known as the Hatch Act, the legislation provided for the funding of agricultural research at Land Grant Colleges. In February of 1888, the Iowa General Assembly approved the terms of the Hatch Act and the Iowa Experiment Station was established. Administrative oversight of the Experiment Station was assigned to the Board of Trustees of the Iowa Agricultural College (Iowa State University). The Board, in turn, elected Captain R. P. Speer as the first director of the Experiment Station.

1889 Catalog

1889 Catalog

Experiment Station-Analysis of foods, University Photos box 536. No date

The work of the Experiment Station included improving and experimenting with various crops. The Station was equipped with (among other things) experimental orchards, fields, and farms. Farmers across the state were invited to contact the Station for help with their crops and domestic animals.

136 years after it opened, the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station is still doing its important work.

The Experiment Station is not a building or location. It is a program of research that is supported in part with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the State of Iowa. At Iowa State University, these public investments support research aimed at solving our state’s most pressing concerns in the areas of food safety, food security, natural resource stewardship, and the economic health of Iowa communities.

IA Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station homepage

The Experiment Station regularly produced Bulletins to disseminate their information and research. Many of these can be read in the Digital Repository. Many more Bulletins can be accessed by visiting the Special Collections and University Archives reading room.

Remembering the Green Gander

The other day, whilst wandering around the stacks, I stumbled upon collections of the Green Gander. Being an editor of Iowa State’s literary journal, Sketch, and admiring collaborative magazines and works such as Trend, I was intrigued and had to scope out the printed publications for myself!  

In case you need a refresher, the Green Gander was a campus humor magazine, complete with ads, anecdotes, comics, and more. This previous blog post provides more information about the history of the magazine: Campus Humor-The Green Gander 

Cover of Green Gander Vol. 37 No. 3, RS 22/6/0/4, Box 3, Folder 4

The specific issue pictured above was published during the spring semester of 1953, exactly 70 years ago, and features an enticing short piece of fiction titled “The Love Life of a Space Cadet,” which chronicles an alien named Krzcl and his trouble with love. Small cartoon aliens provide visuals for the story.  

 

Figure 2 and 3: Cartoons featured in Vol. 37 No. 3

The Green Gander published quarterly each school year, oftentimes releasing issues for Fall, Christmas, Veishea, and more.  

In a Valentine’s-themed print from February of 1951, the magazine includes jokes and advertisements tailored to “all things romance.” This particular cover below features a photograph of a woman displayed inside an outline of a heart appearing to be in the middle of a very real nap, with her eyes closed, hair splayed perfectly out in waves, and her makeup flawless while a cut-out of a baby’s face looks up at her in awe. This same baby sporting different facial expressions can be found throughout the magazine, always placed next to pictures of stunning ladies from around campus. 

 

Cover for Vol. 35 No.3, RS 22/6/0/4, Box 3, Folder 2

It should be noted that the issues discussed in this post were published prior to the magazine’s makeover in 1959-60, which took place after complaints piled up regarding its unprofessional nature and “suggestive” humor. Publication ceased in 1960 but copies of these magazines remain here in SCUA. Should you decide to come check them out in our reading room (we’re located on the fourth floor of Parks library!) you’ll see that some of the material included in these issues are not necessarily up to today’s standards of what would be deemed “appropriate” and are a stark contrast to what students at the university publish today. Reader discretion is encouraged. 

Feel free to check out some of ISU’s current publications on Instagram!

• Sketch Literary Journal: @sketchlitjournal
• Trend Magazine: @trendmag_
• Iowa State Daily: @iowastatedaily
• Cardinal Eats Magazine: @cardinaleatsmag

New State Fair Exhibit

Iowa State University has a long, historical relationship with the Iowa State Fair. Iowa State has presented exhibits at the fair for different colleges, supported 4H in their endeavors, and had Extension present to help teach the community about new technology like electricity (see photo below).

University Photos, RS 16/1/E, Box 1328, Folder 6.
 1937

To celebrate this long relationship, we have a new exhibit on the 1st floor of Parks Library. The exhibit features photos of the “Butter Cow lady”, Norma Lyon, an alumna of Iowa State, 4H artifacts, general fair artifacts, and some of the earliest pictures we have from the State Fair in 1915.

Feel free to stop by whenever the library is open!

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Gallery Images:

• Iowa State University exhibit at Fair, 2011. University Marketing Photos.
• 4H Fair Program, 1948. Verneil Branstad Papers, RS 16/3/4/51, Box 1, Folder 6.
• Iowa State Fair souvenir program, 1948. Verneil Branstad papers,  RS 16/3/4/51, Box 1, Folder 7.
• Physical Education exhibit, 1930. University Photos, RS 16/1/E, Box 1328, Folder 5.
• Campanile model. University Photos, RS 16/1/E, Box 1329, Folder 6.
• Norma Lyon sculpting butter cow. No date. Norma Lyon Papers, RS 21/7/280, Box 1, Folder 14.

One Room Lincoln Township Schoolhouse

Lincoln Township Schoolhouse, 1870

I sometimes forget Iowa State is—

BIG.

Need the same reminder I do? Go back in time to this 1870 archival photo of a one room Lincoln Township one room schoolhouse.

Which do you prefer?

The Dark Plate of Dombey and Son

Buss, Robert William; Dickens’s Dream; Charles Dickens Museum, London; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/dickenss-dream-191221

Illustrations! When did books lose their way and stop putting them in?

At one point in Victorian literature, they were MORE IMPORTANT than the story! Yes, stop rolling your eyes. You see, at first Dickens’ phenomenon-starting The Pickwick Papers, was intended as window dressing for illustrator Robert Seymour’s drawings. However, floored by Dickens’ incredible imagination and energy, Seymour found the story dominated the drawings. Unable to keep pace and already in a bad mental state, Seymour committed suicide after several chapters had been published.

Still, illustrations remained key to Dickens’ stories for the rest of his career. Soon afterward, “Boz” (Dickens’ pen name) hired Hablot K. Browne (“Phiz”), who illustrated his books for the next 24 years. The popular images of many of Dickens’ characters: Scrooge, Uriah Heep, Wackford Squeers, and more come from Phiz’s faithful drawings.

And what great art! Let’s look at a special one.

Enter Dombey and Son, Dickens’ career hinge-point novel.

“On the Dark Road” by Phiz, relating a night scene of the novel uniquely featured a pre-tinted plate out of which the scene was drawn, one of the earliest examples of this method.

“On the Dark Road” by Phiz

Illustrations!

When you look at one so dark and exhilarating, don’t you want them back?

Come see “the Dark Plate” for yourself up in Special Collections and University Archives!

Summer Hours

Starting after Memorial Day, the reading room will be open 10-4, Monday-Thursday.

2 adult swans, 3 babies
1971 Bomb, page 64

As always, we can also be reached by email at archives@iastate.edu. Hope everyone has a fun and restful summer planned!