Project Launch: Hortense Butler Heywood Collection

Drawing of wing of Braconid-Helcon:
MS 194, Box 5, Folder 1

In July of 2017, the Core Digital Team created an online collection containing 272 objects from the Hortense Butler Heywood Papers. The Core Digital Team is comprised of individuals from the Digital Initiatives unit, Special Collections, the Preservation Department and the Catalog and Metadata Department at Iowa State University.

Hortense Butler Heywood, was born in Cherokee, Iowa on March 27, 1884. In 1903 she graduated from Lake Forest College with a B.A. in Entomology and Paleontology. She completed post-graduate work at the University of Chicago (1904-1905), Berlin University (1906-1907), and Cornell University (1912-1914).

Heywood was the author of numerous articles about Iowa and American events, as well as scientific articles. She co-authored the book Handbook of the Dragonflies of North America, with James G. Needham of Cornell University. She was active in several scientific and community organizations, including the cause of women’s suffrage, Sigma Xi, the Farm Bureau, the Red Cross, Civil Defense, the Iowa Federation of Women’s Club, and the Webster City Women’s Club.

Microscope slide of frontal sect. of ext. gill, MS 194, Box 6, Folder 1

The digital collection (1894-1970, undated) contains biographical information, college papers, course notes, photographs, specimen drawings, correspondence, reports, articles, book reports, scientific correspondence and articles, and glass specimen slides. Items for the digital collection were selected as representative of Heywood’s development as a scientific illustrator and her education in science, her relationships with other scientists (both men and women), her civic engagement, and her contributions to entomology.

Below is a selection of materials from the Heywood Digital Collection:

Program of the Travel Club (Webster City, Iowa), 1920-1921:
MS 194, Box 2, Folder 11

Drawing of wing of Idioplasta – Tipulid Crane Fly:
MS 194, Box 5, Folder 1

Drawing of anatomical parts of the dragonfly:
MS 194, Box 5, Folder 2

Drawing of wings of Anosia Plexippus:
MS 194 Box 5, Folder 1

The complete collection is available at the Iowa State University Library Special Collections and Archives Department, collection MS 194. The Digital Collections can be found here.