Join Bricker-Price Block for the Speakers Bureau program “Beyond the Parlor Walls: Iowa Women Who Shaped Their Communities” by author Ann Hanigan Kotz.

They were not governors, lawmakers, or business leaders; but Iowa women changed their communities in powerful ways. Through women’s clubs, educational organizations, and reform movements, they worked behind the scenes to solve problems, expand opportunities, and create institutions that continue to serve Iowans today.

This program explores the women who championed education, built public libraries, improved civic life, and transformed their towns. From club meetings held in parlors to statewide movements for progress, these women demonstrated the power of cooperation and the belief that every community could be made stronger.

Their stories reveal a forgotten chapter of Iowa history: how determined women, often without formal power, helped build the foundation of the communities we know today.