The University of Iowa Libraries

Estefanía "Steff" Joyce Rodríguez was born in Bettendorf, Iowa, on October 30, 1923 to Muggie Adams Rodríguez and Norberto Rodríguez. Norberto Rodríguez, was born in Jalisco, Mexico, and migrated to the United States in 1910 at the age of seventeen. He met Muggie Adams, an African American woman from Alabama, in the coal mining community of Lovilia, Iowa, where the couple married in 1919. The family lived in south central Iowa coal mining towns such as Albia and Centerville until 1923, when they moved to Bettendorf, Iowa, after Norberto Rodríguez secured work in the foundry of the Bettendorf Company. The Rodríguez family lived in Holy City, a predominately Mexican settlement near the Bettendorf Company, from 1924 to 1937, when they moved to Davenport, Iowa. During these years, Steff Rodríguez often worked in the onion fields of nearby Pleasant Valley with her siblings and friends.
 
Steff Rodríguez attended school until the tenth grade and later worked in local factories including the Rock Island Arsenal during World War II. She raised eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. Her oldest son, Norbert Simmons, a U.S. Marine Sergeant, was killed in Da Nang, Vietnam, in 1966.
 
Steff Rodríguez was an active member of the Davenport council of the League of United Latin American Citizens, LULAC Council 10, and served for many years as secretary to the organization. In later years, she returned to school to complete her education and received her GED in 1992. Estefania Joyce Rodríguez passed away on March 16, 2008.

The Estefanía Joyce Rodríguez photographs date from 1902 to 2008 and measure 2.5 linear inches. This collection consists of over 150 photographs, mostly black and white, that illuminate the history of Steff Rodríguez's extended family in Alabama, Iowa, and Mexico. Most of the photographs have been identified and this information is contained in a comprehensive index to the photographs. Many of the photographs have been digitized. Newspaper clippings, including Steff Rodríguez's obituary, can be found in the biographical information folder.

The collection contains several photographs of Steff Rodríguez's mother's family (the Adams family) from Alabama. These include photographs of Muggie Adams Rodríguez's brother, Milton Monroe Adams, known as "Uncle Bud," and her sister Adeline Adams Rowlett, known as "Aunt Tiny." The collection includes photographs of Muggie Adams' first two children, Herman Glenn Rodríguez and Nestora Rivera Rodríguez, as well as the children of Muggie and Norberto Rodríguez.

Some of the photographs in the collection were taken in Iowa communities such as Holy City, Bettendorf, Davenport and coal mining towns of south central Iowa including Buxton; others were taken in Alabama, St. Louis, Missouri, and the Panama Canal Zone.

Alternate Extent Statement: Photographs: In Box 1.

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. 998) were donated by Estefanía Rodríguez in 2007.

Preferred Citation: Estefanía Joyce Rodríguez 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:
Rodriguez, Estefania Joyce, 1923-2008
Adams, Monroe Milton
Rowlett, Adeline Adams
Rodriguez, Herman Glenn
Rodriguez, Nestora Rivera
Rodriguez, Norberto
Rodriguez, Muggie Adams

Dates:
20th century
2000-2009

Topics:
Mexican American families
Mexican American women
Coal mines and mining

Occupations:
Blue collar workers
Homemakers

Geographic Names:
Alabama
Mexico
Bettendorf (Iowa)
Davenport (Iowa)

Genre/Form of Materials:
Photographs
Archives
Personal papers

Family Names:
Adams family

Browse:
Latinas and Their Families