The University of Iowa Libraries

The Grant Wood Chapter of the American Business Women's Association was organized in Iowa City, Iowa, on June 21, 1971, with twenty-seven charter members. Its mission is "to bring together business women of diverse backgrounds and to provide opportunities for them to help themselves and others to grow personally and professionally through leadership, education, networking support and national recognition."" The chapter publishes a monthly bulletin which contains the minutes and financial report of the previous month's meeting, the agenda for the upcoming meeting, messages from officers and various announcements about chapter events and activities.

In addition to monthly meetings, the chapter organizes several annual events: the Style Show, held in September; Boss Night, held in February, to honor an outstanding local business manager (this event was changed in 1987 to the Business Associate Night, to introduce members' supervisors and other guests to the chapter's activities); Woman of the Year, to honor an outstanding chapter member; and the Anniversary Program, held each June.

From its beginning the chapter has held numerous fund-raising events, primarily for the purpose of sponsoring scholarships for local students. In 1971 a modest $500 was awarded to two students. By 1994 scholarship grants had risen to over $6000, awarded to nine students. Total outlay for scholarships alone totaled nearly $70,000 by that time. In 1992 the chapter established a scholarship in memory of the late Rosemary Vitosh, a former member and director of finance for the city of Iowa City. The scholarship awards $1000 to a student in the University of Iowa's College of Business.

The Grant Wood Chapter had two sister chapters also in Iowa City: the Golden Hawks Chapter and the Old Capitol Chapter.

The records of the Grant Wood Chapter of the American Business Women's Association date from 1971 to 1996 and measure 3.33 linear feet. They are arranged in five series: Administrative files, Financial records, National materials, Program files, and Artifacts. The records document the efforts of women to share their experiences as participants, educators, and promoters of businesses at the local level.

The first series, Administrative files, is arranged in six sub-series. The first, Record book (1971-1996) contains the following sections: charter members, officers, membership roster, committee chairmen [sic], Ways and Means Committee cumulative statistics, chapter awards, attendance records, scholarships, Boss of the Year awards (up to 1987), Woman of the Year awards, and lists of delegates to national and regional conventions.

The second subseries, Scrapbooks, contains the Charter/history scrapbook (1971-1986) and thirteen annual scrapbooks, ending with the year 1997. The scrapbooks contain within their covers all of the materials produced by the chapter, such as its Bulletin, as well as photographs and mementos of each year's events. The third subseries, Bulletins, contains the chapter's newsletter as it was separately maintained by the chapter apart from the annual scrapbook beginning in 1984. The Bulletin, consistently so-called in the records, had various other titles over the years: the Grant Wood Palette, the Palette, and the Grant Wood Tribune.

The fourth subseries, Chapter officer and committee guides, contains the manuals for those offices as published by the national association for the years 1985/1986 and 1993/1994. The fifth subseries, Membership rosters, contains the annual rosters of members from 1988 to 1994, listing addresses, phone numbers, business associations and general interests. The sixth subseries, Scholarships, contains a description of the Rosemary Vitosh Scholarship fund established in 1992 as well as other scholarships awarded by the association. The seventh subseries, Gubernatorial proclamations, contains a single proclamation by Governor Terry Branstad, dated May 21, 1994, declaring that month as the ABWA Education Month.

The second series, Financial records (1979-1996), consists of treasurer's reports which include monthly account balances and budgets and transaction records and journal entries which log expenditures and deposits.

The third series, National materials, consists of bylaws, brochures, and newsletters from the ABWA's national organization. Also included are issues of the Women in Business magazine.

The fourth series, Program files, contains representative programs of three annual events: the Anniversary program, held in June; the Business Associate Night, held in February; and the Style Show, held in September. It also contains materials on the First Annual Women's Business Fair in 1994, the Holiday Auction in 1990, and the West Central Spring Conference in 1996.

The fifth series, Artifacts, contains two buttons, a poster honoring Rosemary Vitosh and the chapter's Award Banner, which displays awards won during the years 1972 to 1993.

Access: The records are open for research.

Use: Copyright held by the donor has been retained by the donor/transferred to The University of Iowa.

Acquisition: The records (donor no. 223) were donated by the Grant Wood Chapter of the American Business Women's Association in 1994 and succeeding years.

Preferred Citation: American Business Women's Association records, Iowa Women's Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City.

Repository:	Iowa Women's Archives
Address:	100 Main Library University of Iowa Libraries Iowa City, IA 52242
Phone:	319-335-5068
Curator:	Kären Mason
Email:	lib-women@uiowa.edu
Website:	http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa

This collection is indexed under the following subject terms.

Corporate Names:
American Business Women's Association (Grant Wood Chapter)

Dates:
1970-1979
1980-1989
1990-1999

Occupations:
Businesswomen

Geographic Names:
Iowa City (Iowa)
Iowa

Genre/Form of Materials:
Scrapbooks
Archives
Administrative records
Cultural artifacts
Financial records

Browse:
Women's Clubs and Organizations