The Ruth Suckow Memorial

Association (RSMA)

Cherie Dargan

Associate Professor, Communications

Hawkeye Community College

Waterloo, Iowa 50704

Overview of the presentation

• We will look at the origins of our

organization, including some of the

early leaders.

• We will highlight some of the

accomplishments of the past 40

years, such as the centennial

celebration in 1992.

• We will also note the more recent

developments, as we’ve used the

internet to create a website & use

social media.

Who was Ruth Suckow?

• A writer from Iowa who lived from

August 6, 1892-January 23, 1960.

• She wrote about the ordinary

people living in small towns and on

the farm.

• She published her short stories,

poetry, essays, and novels in the

decades between 1924 and 1959.

Ruth Suckow, 1892-1960

Overview of Ruth Suckow’s life

• Ruth was a famous Iowa author who wrote during the 1920s-1950s

• She lived in a number of cities in Iowa: her father was a minister and

they moved several times to take on a new church

• She also traveled extensively around the country, living in New

York, New Mexico, Iowa, Massachusetts, Colorado, Arizona and

California first as a single woman and then after marrying Ferner

Nuhn

• They settled in Cedar Falls for almost a decade, where Ferner

helped his father with the family business

• She wrote richly descriptive stories about the lives of people in the

small towns and farms of Iowa during the early 1900s

Overview of her life, cont.

• She taught at the local university in Cedar Falls (Iowa Teachers'

College, which later became the University of Northern Iowa).

• She wrote a dozen books, and after her death, two were reprinted

by the University of Iowa press. An additional book was published,

collecting 11 of her short stories.

• In addition, she wrote numerous articles, reviews, and essays.

• She was published in a number of popular magazines.

Suckow's husband: Ferner Nuhn

• Literary critic, artist and author

• He was younger than Ruth but

they soon found they had a lot

in common, and enjoyed

spending time together.

• After they met, she wrote to a

friend that Ferner likes cats

too!

They met in Earlville

• Ruth learned about the apiary

(beekeeping) business in

Denver while attending

college; she kept bees in

Earlville for 6 years or more,

spending her winters in New

York city, writing.

• Ferner had read her work, and

wrote to ask if he could meet

her.

• After exchanging letters, he

drove his Model T to Earlville

to meet Ruth in 1926.

Ferner and Ruth marry

• They married in 1929: he was in his mid 20s and she was in her mid

30s.

• They traveled extensively, going to a number of writers’ workshops

and retreats, living out west in New Mexico and out East in New

England. • They were friends with Robert and Frances Frost, and other poets,

artists, & writers.

Work in Washington, D. C.

• They lived in Washington for two years in the mid 1930s, while

Ferner worked for the Dept. of Agriculture, under fellow Iowan Henry

Wallace.

• He wrote and edited articles, brochures, and other material.

• He also helped Wallace write a book.

• Ruth served on the Farm Tenancy Commission for President

Roosevelt.

World War II

• Ruth had not supported the first World War and it created tension

between her and her father.

• She reached out to the conscientious objectors in 1943 and visited

several work camps where they were gathered on the West Coast.

• http://www.powys-lannion.net/Powys/America/Suckow.htm

• A Brief description of their activities and friendships

Their life together

• When his father became ill,

Ruth and Ferner returned to

Cedar Falls, Iowa—his

hometown. • They made friends, got

involved in the community,

and enjoyed their life together

for almost a decade there.

Ferner's portrait of Ruth

• This portrait shows Ruth

holding a cat.

• It is part of a series of

portraits done while at a

retreat for writers and

artists.

Health Problems

• Ruth developed arthritis and Ferner had allergies, so in the late

1940s they moved west, hoping a milder climate would help both of

them.

• They first settled in Arizona and later moved to Claremont,

California.

• Ruth continued to write.

• Ferner taught at the local college.

Retirement to California

• They both became active in

the Friends (Quakers) and

Ferner began writing

pamphlets for the national

organization

• She published her memoir & a

collection of short stories in

1952, Some Others and

Myself.

• In 1959 Viking Press brought

out The John Wood Case, her

last novel, which concerned

an embezzlement case in a

church.

Her death

• Ruth died in 1960. She was at work on a new novel at the point of

her death.

• She is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Cedar Falls, Iowa, next to

her father, William Suckow.

• Source: Wikipedia article on Ruth Suckow

Suckow graves in Greenwood Cemetery

How did the RSMA get established?

• Ferner worked to ensure that

Ruth’s stories would not be

forgotten.

• The Earlville Library was renamed

the Earlville-Ruth Suckow

Memorial library in 1964, in the

little town where they had met.

Ferner marries Georgia

• After Ruth's death in

1960, Ferner remarried a

wonderful woman named

Georgeanna, (or

Georgia) who was also

Ruth's cousin.

• Her husband had died a

few years earlier.

Ferner & Georgia’s work

• In 1966, he and Georgia worked with a

group of people to form the Ruth Suckow

Memorial Association (RSMA).

• At first, it was focused only on the group

in Earlville.

• They worked together to preserve Ruth's

legacy, collecting and organizing her

papers for the Special Collections at the

University of Iowa library.

Special Collections, Iowa City

The Ruth Suckow Memorial Association

• Ferner and Georgia met with a group of people in

Earlville: they discussed Suckow’s characters and

stories and formed the Ruth Suckow Memorial

Association (RSMA) in 1966.

• The RSMA still gathers each June: members come from

all over the Midwest.

Memorials to Ruth Suckow

• Ferner and Georgia worked with the Ruth Suckow

Memorial Association to establish several memorials to

Ruth:

• The Park in Earlville, Iowa (on the grounds where Ruth’s

cottage & apiary once stood)

• The Library in Earlville, Iowa

• The birthplace in Hawarden, Iowa

Georgia & Ferner die

• Georgeanna Dafoe Nuhn, a founding member of the RSMA, died on

May 28, 1984 in Claremont, California. She was 79 years old. She

is buried in Tecumseh Cemetery, Tecumseh, Johnson County,

Nebraska.

• Ferner moved into a retirement home in Claremont. He died at age

85 in 1989.

• After a funeral in California, his body was returned to Iowa where he

was buried beside his beloved Ruth in Greenwood cemetery in

Cedar Falls.

• However, it wasn’t until 2009 that a headstone matching Ruth’s was

put in place.

Suckow’s grave—between Ferner and her

father

Hawarden: the Suckow birthplace

Earlville: the Ruth Suckow Park

Earlville: Ruth Suckow Memorial Library

Dedicating the Ruth Suckow Park

• Ferner and Georgia were

there for the dedication of the

Suckow park in Earlville, Iowa

in 1982.

• Here they are with Barbara,

Ferner's niece, who has many

wonderful memories and

stories about her famous Aunt

and Uncle.

Highlights of the RSMA’s achievements

• Our group has been blessed with many talented, hard working

people.

• Some have been literature professors or writers, and others have

ordinary people who liked reading Suckow’s stories.

• Members have written about her life and work.

• The group has advocated for several books to be reprinted.

• They also began meeting annually to discuss her work and to –plan

their projects.

• They sponsored a play, “Just Suppose,” in 1992, on the Centennial

of Suckow’s birth.

• They got Suckow’s papers donated to the Special Collections at the

University of Iowa, Iowa City.

“Just Suppose: the story of Iowa Novelist Ruth

Suckow”

• Rebecca Christian wrote a

play in 1992, in honor of the

Centennial of Suckow’s birth.

• It was sponsored by the

RSMA & the Hawarden Ruth

Suckow Centennial

Committee, as well as the

Iowa Humanities Board.

• It was a one woman play

performed by Lenore Howard,

and spans 1928 to 1959.

• It was performed on August 6,

1992.

Early leaders & scholars in RSMA

Pictured on the previous slide

• Clarence Andrews is the gentleman in the light blue jacket on the

front row; he wrote a book about the literary history of Iowa that

included a chapter on Ruth Suckow.

• He titled her chapter, “The Poetry of Place”

• Andrews calls her “close to being the best Iowa writer of fiction…”

• (A Literary History of Iowa, University of Iowa Press, Iowa City,

1972)

Leedice Kissane, biographer

• Next to Andrews is Leedice Kissane, seated in the middle of the

front row.

• She wrote the definitive biography of Ruth Suckow, one of the

Twayne’s United States Authors series (1969, New York, Twayne

Publishers)

• Kissane describes Suckow’s writing style as “quiet and restrained, it

was characterized by detachment and almost stark simplicity.”

• She is sometimes called a regional writer and other times as a

realistic writer.

• All of her stories have Iowa settings for the most part.

Others in the picture

• Ferner is in the back row, at the far end. The other two men are

Joseph Wall, historian at Grinnell College, and Dale Bentz, from the

University of Iowa Library.

• Clarence and Leedice were both involved with the RSMA and their

efforts as scholars helped to establish her literary legacy.

• Margaret Kiesel, a teacher at Grinnell College, wrote articles about

Suckow, edited its newsletter and served on the RSMA Board. She

is seated on the end of the front row.

Why read Ruth Suckow today?

• Today her writing has value for readers who enjoy good storytelling

as well as for social historians looking for details about life in the

early 20th century, particularly in the small towns of Iowa.

• For those of us whose families have lived in Iowa for several

generations, it is also a way to understand the daily lives of our

parents, grand parents, and great grandparents.

Her place in American literature

• Suckow is often called a regional writer, but she did not like the

label.

• She said that she wrote about "people, situations, and their

meaning."

• Her stories take place in the small towns and farms of Iowa, but her

characters and storylines are universal.

.

Iowa Women's Hall of Fame

1978

• Day, Jacqueline Jacqueline Day

• Houghton, Dorothy Dorothy Houghton

• Pendray, Carolyn Carolyn Pendray

• Suckow, Ruth Ruth Suckow

She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1978

Her books

Country People. New York: Knopf, 1924.

The Odyssey of a Nice Girl. New York: Knopf, 1925.

Iowa Interiors. New York: Knopf, 1926.

The Bonney Family. New York: Knopf, 1928.

Cora. New York: Knopf, 1929.

The Kramer Girls. New York: Knopf, 1930.

Children and Older People. New York: Knopf, 1931.

Her books, cont.

The Folks. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1934.

Carry-Over. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1936.

New Hope. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1936.

Some Others and Myself. New York: Rinehart, 1952. [short stories and

"A Memoir"]

The John Wood Case. New York: Viking, 1959.

Her Other Work

• She wrote 40 short stories and critical essays

• She also wrote Three novelettes

• She wrote numerous short articles for a variety of

publications

Recent accomplishments of RSMA

• Mike Dargan created the first Suckow website in the early 2000s;

Cherie Dargan took it over, and recreated it. (www.ruthsuckow.org)

• We started a blog and later a Facebook page.

• We began posting some of Suckow’s stories for download on the

website, and hope to expand those offerings.

• Mike wrote the Wikipedia article about Ruth Suckow.

• Cherie wrote the Wikipedia article about Ferner.

• We began scanning in old documents and archiving them.

www.ruthsuckow.org

RSMA Annual Meetings

Rural Lit Rally

Rural Lit RALLY, an organization devoted to promoting

the literature of yesterday, found our website the

summer of 2012 and contacted us. http://rurallitrally.org/

Rural Lit Rally Project, Fall 2012

• Rural Lit Rally wanted to feature Suckow on their website in August

and September.

• In addition, they wanted to find a way to interact with some readers

about Suckow’s writing.

• Cherie Dargan’s Intro to Literature class at Hawkeye Community

College read one of Ruth Suckow’s stories, “A Rural Community” as

part of their Fiction unit.

• They discussed the story on a special Facebook page with members

of the Rural Lit Rally organization.

Rural Lit Rally Project, cont.

• Students were intrigued to find that there

were adults out there who liked to read,

and enjoyed interacting with the Rural Lit

Rally members.

• A few of our RSMA members were also

involved in discussing the story online.

• At the end of the semester, students were

surveyed about the experience, and the

additional discussion resulted in them

remembering more details about the

story.

Iowa Public Radio--Talk of Iowa

Several of the participants were interviewed on Iowa Public Radio

about the project: Cherie Dargan, RSMA webmaster, and Dr. Paul

Theobald, Project Director, and his wife Maureen.

It was a great opportunity to discuss Suckow’s life and career, and

promote both organizations and websites.

Follow up activity

• Later, Rural Lit Rally put together a

display about Writers with an Iowa

Connection, and sent it to the

Hawkeye Community of College

Library, where it was on display

during the late Spring and summer

of 2013.

Rural Lit Rally exhibit at Hawkeye Community

College Library

Rural Lit Rally Website

In addition, Cherie was featured on the Rural Lit Rally

website, in an interview about her work with the Ruth

Suckow Memorial Association this Spring; she is the

webmaster for the Ruth Suckow website.

Annual meeting 2013

• We have met in several communities for our annual

meeting, including Earlville, Grinnell and most frequently

in Cedar Falls.

• This year we went to the birthplace in Hawarden, Iowa,

which is in Northwestern Iowa.

Earlville: Suckow Park & Library

Park in Earlville

Birthplace now part of Calliope Village

Birthplace in Hawarden

Front room and office

Annual meeting 2013

• Here is Barbara Lounsberry,

retired UNI Professor, writer,

Suckow scholar, and the

President of the Ruth Suckow

Memorial Association.

• She is standing on the porch

of the birthplace in Hawarden,

Iowa.

The Birthplace in Hawarden

Here is Cherie, visiting

the birthplace for the

Ruth Suckow Memorial

Association's annual

meeting in June.

Our partners in Hawarden

• Mary is a long time Board

member and has worked hard

to help restore the house.

• Here she poses with our

guide, Jamie Strong, the

President of the big Sioux

River Valley Historical

Association, the group that

cares for Calliope Village.

• The Birthplace is open for

tours on selected days in the

Summer.

On display in the House

The kitchen

Dining area and sewing room

Front room and display case

Bedroom and office

Kitchen and sewing room

Front rooms

Want to know more about us?

Want to join?

• http://www.ruthsuckow.org

/home/how-to-contact-us

• Membership costs $15 a

year

• Go the link on the website

for more details

Sources

• The Ruth Suckow website,

http://www.ruthsuckow.org

• Back issues of the annual Ruth Suckow

newsletter

• “Ruth Suckow,” Wikipedia entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Sucko

w

Sources on Ruth Suckow

• Christian, Rebecca. Just suppose, the story of Iowa novelist Ruth Suckow : a one-woman show in two acts. 1992.

• Christian, Rebecca. "She wrote of Iowa and of Life.“ The

Iowan, September 30, 1992.

• Grant, Dorothy. “Ferner Nuhn: His Art and Writings.” The Ruth Suckow Newsletter, Summer 1998. Martin Mohr, editor.

Published at Luther College, September 1998. Decorah, Iowa.

• Grant, Dorothy. Self-published booklet, "History of The Cedar Falls Supper Club." June 1993.

Sources on Ruth Suckow, cont.

• Grant, Dorothy. “Ruth and Ferner: Their Years Together in Cedar Falls.” The Ruth Suckow Newsletter, Summer 1998.

Martin Mohr, editor. Published at Luther College, September

1998. Decorah, Iowa.

• Nuhn, Ferner. Biographical note on the book jacket of The Wind Blew From the East. Harper & Brothers, 1940. New York &

London.

• Nuhn, Ferner. Biographical notes at the conclusion of a

brochure written by Ferner, The Ice Wagon and Other Vanished Wonders, a booklet written for the Cedar Falls

Historical Society, May 8, 1981.

Sources on Ruth Suckow, cont.

• "Ruth Suckow." Wikipedia entry. Michael Dargan, editor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Suckow

• The Ruth Suckow Memorial Association Website. Cherie

Dargan, Webmaster. http://www.ruthsuckow.org/

• White, Lee. Biography of Ruth Suckow Nuhn. http://www.uni.edu/historyofblackhawkcounty/peopbiograph

y/Nuhn/Nuhn.htm