Collection Guide

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Administrative Information

Access and Restrictions: Th is collection is open for research.

Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections Department.

Copyright :   Please read The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on "Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished Materials"

Use of Collections:  The University of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement.

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Biographical Note

Ruth Suckow (1892 -- 1960) was born to William S. and Anna (Kluckhohn) Suckow in Hawarden, Iowa. William Suckow was a Congregationalist minister. He and the family (Anna, Ruth, and elder daughter Emma) lived in a number of Iowa towns including LeMars, Algona, Fort Dodge, and Manchester as he moved from one pastorate to another. Ruth attended Grinnell College (her sister’s alma mater) for three years, leaving without a degree. She next attended the Curry School of Expression in Boston. When she graduated in 1915, she returned to Iowa to keep house for her father who now had a church in Manchester. Emma, who was married with a family, was living in Denver, Colorado. She had contracted tuberculosis and their mother was there helping with the household while attending to her own health problems. Ruth opened a school in Manchester where she taught public speaking, but she was not happy and the school was not a success. The following year, she and her mother traded places. Ruth went to Denver to help Emma and enrolled in the University of Denver to complete her college degree. She received her B.A. in 1917. In 1918 she completed her M.A. and published her first poetry.

Anna Suckow died suddenly the following year. Once more Ruth returned to Iowa to live near her father. This time it was to Earlville, where she set up the “Orchard Apiary” and began beekeeping. The business flourished and she tended her hives for six years. However, these were not years of uneventful solitude. Saving her money for half of each year allowed her to spend her winters writing and traveling. Her first short story was published in 1921 in John T. Frederick’s The Midland. He in turn introduced her work to H.L. Mencken who published her stories in The Smart Set and encouraged her to write a novel. Country People was published in 1924 in serialized form in The Century Magazine. Ruth Suckow had established herself as an important new voice in regional literature.

While her writing career was blossoming, it was also a period of change in her personal life. In 1923 her sister Emma Hunting died. Her father was remarried and moved away, leaving Ruth alone. It was also during this time in Earlville that she met Ferner Nuhn (1908 -- 1989). He visited her at the Orchard Apiary after becoming an admirer of her writing. They were married in 1929 and spent the next seven years living in different places around the country. She and Ferner moved back to Cedar Falls, Iowa, in the 1930s to take charge of his family’s business. In 1952 they moved to Claremont, California.

The 1920s were the most successful years of Ruth’s career. But she continued to write all of her life, leaving a new novel unfinished at the time of her death in 1960. But writing was never her only activity. She had been a pacifist since the First World War. Later in her life she became a Quaker, like her husband, and devoted much of her time and energy to the conscientious objectors camps during WWII.

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Scope and Contents

T he Suckow collection is an extensive collection of manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, and artifacts from the life of an important regionalist author. The collection is divided into four series. Series I is Ruth Suckow Subject Files and Correspondence. Here are kept items from her personal life, such as artwork and needlework, recipes , bookplates, and her spectacles. Here also are kept clippings, records from her days as an apiarist, biographical materials, address books, and other personal materials. There is a large subseries of photographs here, as well as a collection of clippings. Suckow's correspondence comprises an important subseries, as do the records of the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association.

Series II is comprised of Suckow's manuscripts. This series contains manuscripts for most of her work, including some unpublished work. Usually included are the typescript, but sometimes there are extensive notes on characters, and some short stories include the published piece.

Series III, Other Writers and Family Members encompases materials from members of Ruth's extended family. Here are included items from the Washburn, Suckow, Kluckhohn, and Dafoe families, as well as materials from Ruth's husband, Ferner Nuhn, a writer himself and a painter. Also included here are scholarly essays on Ruth Suckow by students as well as international scholars.

Series IV, the 2007 addendum, is comprised of photocopies of a scrapbook of the extended Suckow family. This is accompanied by a CD of the images contained in the scrapbook.

Series V, 2001 addendum, was acquired long after the original collection, in 2011. It is a gift of Barb and Scott DePenning via Bob Suckow and the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association. It is comprised of letters from Ruth to her partner in the Earlville apiary business, Laura Werkmeister. It deals mostly with bees and cats, but there is a letter here that starts, "Ferner and I were married yesterday." In previous letters she had made reference to "the boy who visited us at the apiary last year" presumably meaning Nuhn. There is also a photograph here of the method, apparently originated by Suckow, that was used at the Orchard Apiary for wintering their beehives.

Series VI: Association books. These are books owned by Suckow or, in some cases, her father.

Several items that were with the Suckow collection were de-accessioned because they seemed to have no relation to this writer, but they are listed here along with the collection with which they were placed.

Mother's Whirring Wheel Rug: A Lady Family Genealogy. Transferred to Dickinson County Historical Society, 412 S. Campbell, Abilene, KS 67410

Diary/Calendar of Hall F. Greef, September 10 [1918?] to March 10 [1919?] Goings-on at Grinnell College. Transferred to Special Collections at Grinnell College

Fifty Years a Minister: A Tribute to Rev. William E. Grassie. Transferred to Erie County (PA) Historical Society

Colonel Hinman Rhodes pocket diary 1866. Typewritten transcription. MsC906

More information on these items can be found in the Suckow administrative file. Inquire at Special Collections.

Photographs: Series I: Subseries IV

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Related Materials

The Ruth Suckow Newsletter xPS3537 U255 S4586

The Ruth Suckow Memorial Association ( http://www.ruthsuckow.org/) has obtained the permission of Suckow's executor, Barbara Camamo, to present three of her stories on the web so they are readily available to teachers for nonprofit, educational (classroom) purposes. The stories, linked here, are "A Start In Life," "A Rural Community," and "The Crick."

Clyde Kluckhohn: MsC 640

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Acquisition and Processing Information

The bulk of this collection was donated to the University of Iowa Libraries by Ferner Nuhn over a period of years. Several other sources have contributed Suckow material to this collection, including John T. Frederick, Leedice Kissane, and Knopf Publishing Co mpany. In 2003 the Earlville Public Library donated their exhibit materials to the University of Iowa Libraries. The Ruth Suckow Memorial Association donates records to the libraries on an ongoing basis. The Bernice Suckow Wailes scrapbooks CD was donated in 2007 by Virginia Gentry.

Guide posted to Internet: November 199 8.

Addenda: 2003, 2004

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Box Contents List

Series I: Ruth Suckow General Subject Files and Correspondence

Series I: Subseries I: Artwork

Series I: Box 1

Childhood drawings. In oversized Box #1

Christmas and Valentines cards to Georgia. In oversized Box #2

Embroidery

Paper dolls

Sketchbook

Sketches

Stencils

Series I: Subseries II: Clippings

Clippings (5 folders)

Clippings from the Earlville Library in oversized Box #2. (2 folders)

Clippings from Mrs. Ferner Nuhn (Georgeanna). In oversized Box #2

Newspaper page from 1934, announcing Suckow as Iowa's Woman of the Year. From the collection of the Earlville Library. In map case

Series I: Subseries III: Correspondence

Series I: Subseries IV: Miscellaneous

Series I: Box 8

Algona, Iowa

Bemis, Dorothy. "The Popularity of Edna St. Vincent Millay." Typescript

The Birds of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. Claremont, California, 1964

Civilian Conservation Core. Poetry, fiction, and non-fiction written by CPS men, including works by William Everson, 1943 -- 1945

Clark, Lou MacClure. "Early Reminiscences of Hawarden." Newspaper clippings pasted into a notebook. Also includes a photocopy of the book.

The Con Song. [Performed at one of the theater events involving Ruth?]. In oversized Box 2

Earlville Centennial, 1852 -- 1952

Earlville Reminder, 1971 -- 1977. In Oversized Box 1

Eyeglasses. In oversized Box 1

First Congregational Church, Cedar Falls, Iowa

Garner, Iowa

Guest book (for the Memorial Cottage?)

The Horned Moon. Poetry by Glen Coffield. In manuscript and printed version

Obituaries

"Piano Compositions of Berenice Benson Bentley." Signed by Ms. Bentley and dated April 1958

Poetry (Not by Ruth Suckow, but copied out by her) In oversized Box 1

Royalties statement from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. for County People and Odyssey of a Nice Girl, along with a deposit slip for the same amount from the State Bank of Earlville

W.P.A. Federal Writer's Project, American Guide Series

Clipping, 1972

Supplementary to 1938 Catalog of Major Books Issued by Federal Writers Project, 1939

Bentonsport, Iowa, 1940

Guide to McGregor, Iowa, 1938

Van Buren County, Iowa, 1940

Series I: Subseries V: Personal and biographical

Series I: Box 9

Apiary notes, 1920, and honey label

Announcement for the opening of Suckow's Studio for the Study of Expression, Manchester, Iowa, 1915

Bank book, 1934 -- 1945

Biographical material

Miscellaneous materials

Photocopies of materials in the Hawarden Library

Photocopies from the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association

Bookplate

Books given to Grinnell College Library. 3 x 5 cards (2 folders)

Certificate placing the Ruth Suckow house on the National Register of Historic Places. (It doesn't say whether it's the Hawarden house or the Earlville.) Undated. In oversized Box #2.

Diary and address book, 1925

Diplomas -- See oversized Box #1

Estate and funeral papers, 1960 -- 1962 -- See oversized Box #1

Foreman's fiction catalog, No. 1050. Includes Suckow titles, 1964

Genealogical information

Listing of items sold by the Nuhns, 1948 -- See oversized Box #1

Living In Iowa. Video cassette tape

Medical records, 1948 -- 1949

Series I: Box 10

Miscellaneous personal items (recipes, a dress cuff, a handkerchief, etc.)

Mock-up for a proposed book about Ruth Suckow

National Council of Teachers of English, 35th Annual Meeting, 1945 (Suckow was a dinner speaker)

Norwegian Broadcasting Service . English release Ruth Suckow -- See oversized Box #1

Program, 1935 meeting of the Iowa Library Association. Suckow was presented with the first Johnson Brigham Plaque at this conference.

Radio script sent to Suckow as a sample when she was asked to consider writing scripts. "Oxydals' Own Ma Perkins"

Root, A. I. and E. R. The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture. Medina, Ohio: The A. I. Root Company, 1919. Book owned by W. J. Suckow and passed down to his daughter Ruth. His holographic name appears on the flyleaf.

Series I: Subseries VI : Photographs and slides

Series I: Subseries VII: The Ruth Suckow Memorial Association

Series I: Box 21

Articles of Incorporation

Bookmarks

Bley, Gloria. Ending of a speech on the History of the Ruth Suckow Memorial Society

Brochures

Clippings

Correspondence

Earlville Ruth Suckow Memorial Association, 1961 -- 1982. In oversized Box #1

Financial reports

1965 -- 1976, 1981 -- 1983, contributions 1986, 1992 -- 1996, 1998, 2000 -- 2002, 2004

Founding of the RSMA

Information on the Kluckhohn and Washburn families. Photocopies. Includes photocopies of photographs

Inventory of collection of the museum?

Inventories and other information on Suckow collections

Iowa Student as Critic Competition and Conference

Map. Hand drawn map of Earlville

McCown, Bob. Presidential correspondence (4 folders)

Series I: Box 22

Meetings -- agendae, minutes, etc.

Membership, mailing lists

Miscellaneous

National Register of Historic Places

Newsletter (2 folders)

Nuhn, Ferner

Bequest to the Society

Letters from Nuhn, 1964 -- 1984

Photographs

Scrapbook. See oversized Box #1

Ruth Suckow

Award

Birthplace

Centenary (2 folders)

Series I: Box 23

Cottage

Abstract

Clippings, etc.

Memorial Park

Dedication

Miscellaneous, including photographs

T shirt. In Oversized Box 2

Series II: Suckow Manuscripts

Writings by Suckow

Series III: Other Writers and Family Members

Series III: Subseries I: Ferner Nuhn

Series III: Subseries II: Georgeanna Washburn Dafoe Nuhn

Series III: Box 14

Articles and essays, primarily written for the Drake University News Bureau (5 folders)

Birth certificate, drivers license, social security card, financial records, etc.,1904 -- 1984

Class notes on various subjects

Clippings, 1901 -- 1967

Datebook, 1980

Series III: Box 15

Correspondence

1914 -- 1927

1928 -- 1929. In oversized Box #1

1930 -- 1977. In oversized Box #1

Undated

Deeds, contracts, mortgages, stock, etc., 1891 -- 1955. See oversized Box #1

Elements of literature. Notes

Estate documents

General botany notebook and notes

Hearing tests, 1933

"History of Ventura"

Johnson County [Nebraska] Centennial, 1856 -- 1956

Johnson County [Nebraska] Fair and State Centennial, August 1 - 21, 1967

Marriage certificate of Georgeanna Washburn and Frank Dafoe, 1936

"Praying Hands." [Booklet given by Georgeanna and Ferner for Christmas cards, 1968?]

Printing and engraving. Notes

Report cards and graduation announcements, 1911 -- 1929

Scrapbook from college days at Drake University, 1926 -- 1928

Scrapbook of literary figures. There are no identifying marks to denote who created this scrapbook, but it is included with Georgeanna Washburn Dafoe Nuhn's papers because it includes items from after 1960, the year Ruth Suckow died. It also contains many items about Nebraska, where Mrs. Nuhn lived during her marriage to Frank Dafoe. This scrapbook contains newspaper articles, almost always with photographs, of literary figures of the day. These include, but are not limited to, Ruth Suckow, Ferner Nuhn, Booth Tarkington, Louis Adamic, Sinclair Lewis, Robert Frost, Stephen Vincent and Rosemary Benet, Ogden Nash, Robert Nathan, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Howard Fast, Willa Cather, Black Elk, John Towner Frederick, Grant Wood, and Gertrude Stein. In oversized Box #2.

The Tecumseh Music Club, 1964 -- 1965

Series III: Subseries III: Frank Dafoe

Series III: Box 16

Antique post card collection (3 folders)

Selective service cards and government identification cards, 1942 -- 1944

Series III: Subseries IV: Kluckhohn family

Series III: Box 17

Kluckhohn Estate. Land Title, Hancock County, Iowa, 1906. In oversized Box #1

Kluckhohn family Bible

Kluckhohn family history

Kluckhohn, Harvey N. A Child Went Forth: Recollections of an Iowa Farm Boyhood. LeMars, 1971. Self-published booklet

Kluckhohn, Harvey N. Sonnets From a Schoolmaster, 1957 -- 1961. 1961. Self-published mimeographs

Kluckhohn, Harvey N. Sonnets in Praise of Teaching and Learning. A collection of 15 sonnets produced by the creative writing classes of Westmar College during the spring and summer of 1961 under the direction of Dr. Harvey N. Kluckhohn, Associate Professor of English. 1961

Kluckhohn, Robert. Charles Louis Kluckhohn of St. Paul Minnesota and His Descendents. 1994. Self-published. Inscribed to the Ruth Suckow Memorial Library in 1996. Gift of the Ruth Suckow Memorial Library

Series III: Subseries V: Washburn family

Certificates. In oversized Box 2

Correspondence of the Kluckhohn family

Marriage certificate, G.G. Washburn and Emma Kluckhohn, June 27, 1893

Washburn, E.L. "Stores of Sales Covering Fifty Years." Holograph document

Washburn, Emma L. Kluckhohn. Teaching certificate, 1891 -- 1898

Washburn, George G. Teaching certificates and contracts,1875-- 1921

Series III: Subseries VI: William Suckow

Series III: Box 18

Answers. Wentworth-Smith Essentials of Arithmetic, 1915

The Associated Churches: Congregational-Presbyterian, Hawarden. Centennial Observance, September 12, 1982

Bible Studies

1931 -- 1932

1933 -- 1938

1934 -- 1935

1937 -- 1938

Christmas cards send by Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Suckow

Congregational Church, 1908 -- 1959

Estate papers. In oversized Box #1

Financial papers

Obituary for John Suckow (William's father and Ruth's grandfather?)

Occasional Verses

Poems. Partially printed by William Suckow himself, completed by his wife after his death. Completed May, 1939. Inscribed "Gift to Georgia Washburn from Mrs. Suckow."

"The Pioneer Scene"

Typescript

Typescript edited by Ferner Nuhn

The Processional of the Months. Inscribed "To My Friends Mr. and Mrs. Searles Bisgrove With Best Wishes, W.J. Suckow

Realistic Religion

Series III: Box 19

Record book of the First Congregational Church of Hawarden, Iowa, 1883 -- 1897. (Now the Associated Church). William Suckow was pastor during this time.

Scrapbook

Seventy Years in Retrospect: An Autobiography. 1933

2 bound typescript copies

Photocopy of typescript

Terse Talks on Timely Topics. First Series. Forest City, Iowa, 1924

2 copies

"The Townsend Plan"

"What Immortality Involves"

Series III: Subseries VII: Emma Suckow Hunting

Series III: Box 20

"Almost Unique" [short story]. Typescript

"The Answer" [short story]. Typescript

Autograph book

"Blessed Among Women" [short story]. Typescript

"A Christmas Dream." The School Journal, vol. 79, no. 2 (December 1911) pp. 54 -- 56

Certificate. Lifetime Membership, Children's Home Society. In oversized Box 2

Commencement address. (The authorship of this is unclear. It is not by Ruth because it isn't in her handwriting)

Correspondence, 1923

"Dissipation" [short story]. Typescript

"The Girl He Might Have Had" [short story]. Typescript

"The Happy Couple" [play] .Typescript

"He Wondered Why" [short story]. Typescript

"Her Superior Intelligence" [play]. Typescript

"His Colors" [poem]. Typescript

"The Homecoming" [short story]. Typescript

"In Choosing a Wife, Remember" [poem]. Holograph

Inventory of Writings

"A Joke on Jack Frost" [poem]. Typescript

"Just to be Home Again." Sheet music with lyrics by Ema Suckow Hunting. In oversized Box 2

"The Lady of Dreams" [short story]. Typescript

"The Last Poem" [poem]. Typescript

"Love Songs to a Baby" [poem]. Typescripts

"Man to Man" [play]. Typescripts

"Monologue of an Attic Philosopher" [short story]. Typescript

"The Other Glove" [play]. Typescript carbon

Poetry published in Bright Ideas, vol. 3, no. 3 (January 1919)

"A Portrait" [poem]. Typescript

"Something" [short story]. Typescript carbon

"The Soul that Sinneth" [short story]. Typescript

"Stolen Apples" [short story]. Typescript

Story fragment. Untitled typescript with corrections

"Three letters" [play]. Typescript

"Tod's Part in the Deal (According to Tod)." Apparently a reading given by Ema Suckow in Algona, Iowa

"True Love." The Midland, vol. 8, no. 6 (June 1922) pp. 204 -- 214

"The World Does Move" [short story]. Typescript

"You" [poem]. Typescript

"A Youthful Day" [poem]. Typescript carbon

Series III: Subseries VIII: Leedice Kissane

Research materials for Ruth Suckow. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1969.

In 1968, Leedice Kissane published a biocritical study of Ruth Suckow for the Twayne Authors Series. In 1994, she donated her research photocopies to the Ruth Suckow Memorial Society. In 2003, the Ruth Suckow Memorial Society donated these materials to the University of Iowa's Special Collections Department. These are photocopies of essays about Suckow and items written by Suckow. Kissane's own research notes and manuscript are not a part of this collection.

Most of the contents of Kissane's research files were integrated with the Ruth Suckow main collection. However, it was thought valuable for researchers interested in how she conducted her research to keep a list of the items in this series.

In almost every instance, the item is a photocopy or photographic reproduction.

Clippings

Ingham, Harvey. "New Volume for Iowa Author Book Display"

"'Magazine of Cleverness' Lived Brightly, Died Young." Review of The Smart Set: A History and Anthology by Carl R. Dolmetsch

Obituaries for Suckow

Correspondence

Kissane's correspondence about research for the book

Correspondence between Suckow/Nuhn and John Cowper Powys and Phyllis Playter. Some holographic annotations, presumably by Kissane.

File of miscellaneous letters to and form various people, some annotated, presumably by Kissane

Letters from H. L. Mencken to Ruth Suckow

Essays

"Comments and Addenda ." With holographic annotations [by Kissane?]

McCurry, R. Blayne. Ruth Suckow. Tanager, Vol.4:No.4 (March 1929), pp. 99 -- 102

Mid west: A Literary Review . Ruth Suckow Memorial Issue. Spring 1960. With annotations by Kissane

Nevins, Allan. "A Painter of Iowa." Review of The Bonney Family by Suckow. The Saturday Review of Literature, March 10, 1928

Nuhn, Ferner. The Ice Wagon and Others Vanished Wonders. Self-published? Inscribed from Nuhn to Kissane

Paluka, Frank. Ruth Suckow: "A Calendar of Letters, Parts I and II." Books at Iowa, Nos. 1 and 2

Somers, Grace. "Ruth Suckow, Iowa Analyst" Tanager, Vol.1:No.3 (April 1926), pp. 17 - 19.

Stewart, Margaret O'Brien. A Critical Study of Ruth Suckow's Fiction. Dissertation, University of Illinois, 1960. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms, Inc. Mic #60-4001.

Suckow, Ruth (Photocopied from unidentified periodicals, unless otherwise noted)

"Before the Tryout"

"The Best of the Lot."

"By Hill and Dale," "Beauty," "The Odd Ones," and "Grampa Schuler." Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, Vol. XVIII (June 1921), pp. 142 -- 143

"A Cycle of the Sea sons in Iowa: The Unpublished Diary of Ruth Suckow." Parts II-IV. The Iowan, December 1960 -- May 1961

"The Folk Idea in American Life"

"How to Write Fiction" (Lecture)

"Iowa"

"The Joke." The Unit, New Series Vol.XVI:No.6 (January 1911), unpaged

"Middle Western Literature." The English Journal, Vol.XXI:no. 3 (March 1932), pp.175 -- 182

"Miss Warrington's Burglar." (One act play) The Unit, April 1912, pp. 269 -- 275

"An Old Fashioned Church Supper." Photocopy of a handwritten manuscript

"An Old Woman in a Garden: A Poem: By Ruth Suckow"

"Other People's Ambitions"

Review of The Buck in the Snow by Edna St. Vincent Millay. The Tanager, [no date], pp. 150 -- 152

"The Surprising Anthony Trollope"

"The Unknown Soldier"

Items retained in this subseries because they are annotated by Kissane or pertain to her book.

"Comments and Addenda." Carry-Over . With Kissane's annotations

Correspondence

Midwest: A Literary Review. Ruth Suckow Memorial Edition. Spring 1960

Suckow, Ruth. "Middlewestern Literature." English Journal, Vol XXI:No.3 (March 1932), pp. 175 -- 182. Photocopy with Kissane's holographic notations. In oversized Box 1

Twayne Publishers, Inc. Advertisement in Library Journal, October 1, 1968. Includes Kissane's Ruth Suckow

Writings. See also Other Writers writing about Suckow

Series III: Subseries IX: Other writers writing about Suckow

Series III: Box 21

Andrews, Clarence. "Iowa Authors – Opportunities for Research"

Andrews, Clarence." Ruth Suckow"

Buchanan, Aimee. "A Walk in the Mountains"

Christian, Rebecca. "She Wrote of Iowa -- and Life"

Cady, Evelyn. "Reminiscence of Ruth Suckow"

"Chronicle and Comment." The Bookman, Vol.70:No.3 (November 1929), p. 298 contains a photograph of Ferner Nuhn and Ruth Suckow after the "recent marriage."

Christian, Rebecca. Just Suppose

DeMar, Mary Jean. "An Iowa Woman’s Life: Ruth Suckow’s Cora"

Desing suggestion for an article about Suckow

Dictionary of Literary Biography entry

Etulian, Richard W. Western American Literature entry

Gallo, Marilyn L. [no title]

Gebhard, Caroline. "Recorder of American Life"

Gebhard, Caroline. "Ruth Suckow Centenary"

Grant, Dorothy. "Ruth Suckow and Ferner Nuhn"

Gunzenhauser, Kathy. "Exploring the Role of Regionalism in the Writings of Ruth Suckow"

Hamblen, Abigail Ann. "The Poetry of Place"

Hamblen, Abigail Ann. "Protestantism in Three American Novels"

Hamblen, Abigail Ann. "Ruth Suckow"

Hamblen, Abigail Ann. "Ruth Suckow and Thomas Wolfe: A Study in Similarity"

Hamblen, Abigail Ann. "Where the Twain Meet: East and West in the Fiction of Ruth Suckow"

Harelty, Lois T. "The Midland"

Hess, Harvey. "An Annotated Bibliography Relative to Setting and Place in the Writing of Ruth Suckow"

Hess, Harvey. "Art as Region: A New Look at Ruth Suckow in Light of Willa Cather"

Holtz, William. "Sinclair Lewis, Rose Wilder Lane, and the Midwestern Short Novel"

Jaeger, Kathleen. "A 'French Connection": Reading Ruth Sukow in Light of Isabelle Charriere."

Kiesel, Margaret. "Ruth Suckow"

Kiesel, Margaret. "Ruth Suckow in the Twenties"

Kiesel, Margaret. "Ruth Suckow’s Grinnell"

Kissane, Leedice. "D. H. Lawrence, Ruth Suckow, and 'Modern Marriage'”

Kissand, Leedice. "Ruth Suckow: Interpreter of the Mind of Mid-America (1900 - 1933)." Reprint from Dissertation Abstracts, Vol.XXVIII:No.9, 1968.

Kleinschmidt, John R. "Brief Chronology"

McCurry, Blayne. "Ruth Suckow"

McAlpin, Sara, BVM. "Midwestern Mothers and Daughters in the Fiction of Willa Cather and Ruth Suckow"

McAlpin, Sara, BVM. "Ruth Suckow’s Older Iowans"

Meers, Geneva L. "The Status of Women in Suckow Land"

Series III: Box 22

 Midwest. Ruth Suckow Memorial Edition

Mix-Bobby, Janet. "Ruth Suckow: A Checklist"

Mix-Bobby, Janet. "Ruth Suckow: An InQuiry"

Mott, Frank Luther. "The Work of Ruth Suckow"

Omrcanin, Margaret Stewart. Ruth Suckow: A Critical Study of Her Fiction. Dust jacket

Paluka, Frank. "Calendar of Correspondence"

Paluka, Frank. "Ruth Suckow." From American Novelists, 1910-1945

Nuhn, Ferner. "The Old Orchard Apiary"

Reninger, H. Willard. "Ruth Suckow: The Woman and the Writer"

Roberts, Clara Siefert. "Iowa's Ruth Suckow: Reminiscences by a Friend"

Rural Lit RALLY. This is a joint project by Buffalo State College and Buena Vista College to highlight rural literature. One of their focuses is Suckow.

Sharp, Waitstill H. "The Mid-West Value System, 1900 -- 1930, As Reflected in Three Books." A paper given as the Annual Mid-Winter Conference, Iowa Unitarian Association 1960. In Oversized Box 1

Somers, Grace. "Ruth Suckow, Iowa Analyst"

Stewart, Margaret O’Brien. "A Critical Study of Ruth Suckow’s Fiction"

Underbrink, R. "Ruth Suckow: A Bibliography"

Undset, Sigrid. "Introduction. Ruth Suckow"

Unknown. "Ruth Suckow: Novelist and Bee Farmer"

Unknown. "Ruth Suckow, 1892 -- 1960"

Series III: Box 23

Van Duyn, Mona. "A Bibliography of Ruth Suckow's Work"

Vann, Joan A. "Women Characters in the Literature of Ruth Suckow"

Vasta, Matts. "The Still Sad Music of Humanity: A Study of Family Relationships in Ruth Suckow’s Fiction, 1924 -- 1934"

A partial form of this manuscript

Webb, Esther A., "Irony in the Novels of Ruth Suckow"

Woodhams, Caroline Doxsee. "Reminiscence of Ruth Suckow, 1964"

Series III: Subseries X: Other Suckow family members

Series IV: 2007 Addendum

Materials collected by Bernice Suckow Wailes. Scrapbooks containing clippings and photographs. CD of images. (The original scrapbooks are not here.) Given to the University of Iowa Libraries by Virginia Gentry.

Series V: 2011 Addendum

Series V: Box 1

In August 2011, the libraries received a gift of several letters and a photograph from the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association, which had received it from Bob Suckow, who in turn had received it from Barb and Scott DePenning. It is a series of twenty letters with fifteen envelopes, from Ruth to Laura Werkmeister, her partner in the Orchard Apiary in Earlville. These are chatty informal letters in which Ruth talks about local people and cats and discusses bee business with Laura. They are from a variety of places, including Alden, Iowa; Des Moines, Iowa; New York City; and San Diego, California.

The letters were separated from their envelopes, but the processor has matched them up using ink color, dates, postmarks, occurrences (such as Ruth's and Ferner's marriage), and addresses. There may be errors in this arrangement, but they are organized roughly chronologically based on this matching. There are two letters and a fragment that were not matched to an envelope, since there are more letters than envelopes.

Names mentioned are Orra, Emma, Edie Voigt, Mrs. Prentice, Mary Dickson, Jim and Helen Cowles LeCron, Mr Trewin, Mr. Martin, the Moormans, Mr. Irmscher, Marshall, Mrs. Weston, Aunt Dora, Bertha, Ferner Nuhn, Marion, Russell LeCron, Amy, the Laxsons, Opal, Mrs. Tompkinson, Mrs. White, Guggie, Mr. and Mrs. John Towner Frederick, and Helen Boardman.

The photograph is of beehives covered for the winter with the following caption on the back:  "The Orchard Apiary ready for cold northern winters. This is Ruth Suckow's original method of outdoor wintering of bees. Plenty of stores with good insulation of slew hay kept in place with poultry wire, tar paper, and binder twine. Gave good results when removed the following spring. . . Laura Werkmeister."

Also included is a CD with images of all the pieces in this addendum.

Series VI: Association Books

Series VI: Box 1

Association books. Gift of the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association.

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