The University of Iowa Libraries

Iowa Byington was born on July 23, 1851 to Mary McCollister Byington and LeGrand Byington. She was the second of five children: Charlie (born 1846), Robert (born 1854), Mahaska “Hattie” (born 1857), Otto (born 1859) and Lee (born 1862). Byington grew up in the Iowa City area. She taught for a while in both Iowa and Illinois, but spent the better portion of her unmarried years earning money sewing. Byington was an accomplished seamstress. She also embroidered, knitted, and tatted lace. Iowa Byington married William “Will” Reed on May 12, 1896 in Iowa City. According to his obituary, Will Reed engaged in farming with conspicuous success.”Will Reed died on December 10, 1918. Iowa Byington Reed died February 13, 1936.

The Iowa Byington Reed papers date from1872 to 1936 and measure 2.25 linear feet. The papers consist of Iowa Reed's diaries, with daily entries covering her life from age twenty to just a few weeks before her death at age eighty-four. Also included is the diary of her brother Robert Byington, covering the last year and a half of his life, April 1893 to August 1894.
 
Iowa Byington Reed's diaries are filled with information about housekeeping chores, entertainments, the rituals of birth, marriage and death, holiday practices, illnesses and the weather. Reed writes about family and friends, as well as local and national news. She writes of family birthdays and deaths, including the death of her brother Robert in 1884 at age thirty, and the death of her niece Edith at age seventeen in 1898. She writes about her lengthy courtship with Will Reed, the months of preparations before their wedding, their married life, and her inconsolable grief at his death. Reed also writes about local fires, deaths and politics. On the national front, Reed and her brother Robert attended the World's Fair in St. Louis just months before his death. She writes about Grover Cleveland's election to President, President McKinley's assassination, the deadly theater fire in Chicago in 1903, and World War I.
 
Robert Byington's diary complements Reed's from April 1883 to August 1884. Byington writes about the family's business ventures. His entries provide information about the family's farming operations, their finances, and their position in the Iowa City community. Byington writes about meeting former Confederate President Jefferson Davis during his visit to St. Louis during the World's Fair. He also writes of his illness.
 
A small vertical file contains loose items that were interspersed throughout Iowa Reed's diaries. The items include Will Reed's 1918 obituary, Robert Byington's 1873 teaching certificate, a Halloween card, Christmas card lists, and an 1890 souvenir ribbon celebrating Iowa's first two capital cities of Burlington and Iowa City.

Access: The papers are open for research.

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

Acquisition: The papers (donor no. 984) were donated by Helen and Bill Byington in 2005.

Preferred Citation: Iowa Byington Reed 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:
Reed, Iowa Byington, 1851-1936
Byington, Robert, -1884
Reed, Will, -1918

Dates:
1870-1879
1880-1889
1890-1899
20th century

Topics:
Sewing
Housekeeping
Family life
Courtship
Marriage

Occupations:
Tailors
Homemakers

Geographic Names:
Iowa City (Iowa)

Genre/Form of Materials:
Diaries

Browse:
Nineteenth Century Women
Autobiographical Resources: Diaries, Memoirs and Oral Histories