The University of Iowa Libraries

Jesse Virginia Antrim Perkins was born February 2, 1893 to Lola Hay Antrim and John Harvey Antrim. She was the youngest of three sisters and one brother. After graduating from high school, Perkins attended the University of Colorado at Boulder and then the University of Nebraska. Her father died while she was in college, and after graduation she moved back to Iowa to teach at a rural grade school and be near her mother. She married a farmer, Albert Leonard Perkins, and had four daughters, Dorothy Esther, Virginia Alice, and twins Patricia Susan and Elizabeth Lulu.

The Jesse Virginia Antrim Perkins papers date from 1905 to 1938 and 1999 and measure 0.5 linear inches. There are three partial journals included in this collection. Her first journal was given to her by her father in 1905 at the age of twelve. She writes of the weather, visitors, and personal and family illnesses. The second journal begins in 1914 after she has graduated from college and returned to Iowa to teach in rural grade schools. In this journal she often writes about student behavior and local events. One entry records the birth of her youngest daughter and the death of her mother in 1927. In the midst of her journals is a livestock breeding record from the farm she shared with her husband. A letter to the archives written by her daughter in 1999 provides a short biography of her education and family life. There is also a copy of a photograph of people gathered around the first car Perkins ever owned in 1915.

Alternate Extent Statement: Photographs in folder 1.

Arrangement: One folder, shelved in SCVF.

Access: The papers are open for research.

Use: Copyright held by the donor has not been transferred to The University of Iowa.

Acquisition: The papers (donor no. 651) were donated by Virginia Alice Miller in 1999.

Preferred Citation: Jesse Antrim Perkins papers, 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.

Personal Names:
Perkins, Jesse Virginia Antrim, 1893-

Dates:
20th century

Topics:
Family life
Rural women
Rural schools
Farm life
Rural families

Occupations:
Elementary school teachers
Farmers

Geographic Names:
Iowa

Genre/Form of Materials:
Diaries
Archives
Personal papers
Photographs

Browse:
Rural and Farm Women
Teachers and Teaching
Autobiographical Resources: Diaries, Memoirs and Oral Histories