Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Papers
Title
Ruth Ann Alexander Papers
Date(s)
- 1947-2006 (Creation)
Extent
2.0 linear feet (2 records center boxes)
Name of creator
Biographical history
Ruth Ann Alexander February, 13 1924 – February 1, 2010
Born in Lansing, MI on February 13, 1924 to Harry and Anne (Green) Musselman, Ms. Alexander graduated from East Lansing High School and Michigan State University with a BA in English in 1945. She completed her masters in American studies at the University of Minnesota and her PhD in American intellectual history at Michigan State. She married William Alexander in 1955 and had three children.
Ms. Alexander taught English at South Dakota State University for 34 years, becoming full professor and the first woman to head the English Department (1981-1989). She developed the university's first courses focusing on women writers and African American and Native American literature. She chaired the committee that created the Women's Studies major. Ms. Alexander received numerous grants and fellowships, including a Bunting Fellowship at Harvard in 1987. She received SDSU's Outstanding Educator Award" in 1971, 1972, and 1974. Upon retirement in 1989, she was named Professor Emeritus and continued to research South Dakota women writers and women in the Episcopal Church. From 1994 to 2002 she wrote a column about women in the Episcopal Church called All Sorts and Conditions of Women" for South Dakota Church News. In 2003, she published the collected columns in Patches in a History Quilt: Episcopal Women in the Diocese of South Dakota, 1868-2000. She wrote numerous scholarly articles on such South Dakota writers as Elaine Goodale Eastman and Kate Boyles Bingham. She was a touring member of the Great Plains Chautauqua series, portraying Elizabeth Cady Stanton from 1989-91 and acting as series moderator from 1998-2001.
A life-long advocate of equal opportunities for women and girls, Ms. Alexander was the first woman on the Brookings School Board (1970-1975) and worked for equal funding for activities for girls and boys and higher academic standards. In 1972 Governor Kneip appointed her to the first statewide Commission on the Status of Women where she served until 1979. She also served on the Board of Directors for the South Dakota Historical Association from 1988-2000; the Episcopal Church History Association from 1992-1997 and for the Episcopal Women's Church History Project from 1991-1997. She helped found the Brookings Food Pantry and was chair of the Emergency Services Commission from 1983-1999.
Ruth Ann Alexander died of lymphoma on February 1 in Brookings, South Dakota. She was preceded in death by her husband, William Alexander in 1979; her sister, Jane (Musselman) Addams of Houston, Texas in 2008; and her late life sweetheart, Wes Kelley of Brookings in October 2009. She is survived by her three children: Jane Alexander (Mark Johnson) of New Orleans; Andrew Alexander ( Linda Kruckenberg) of Wayne, NE; and Sarah Alexander of Sioux Falls; and by her siblings: George Musselman of Grand Haven, MI; Sarah (Musselman) Phelps of Madison, WI; and Mary (Musselman) Fischer of Hastings, MN .
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
This collection is composed of material related to activities of Dr. Alexander. The bulk of the material is composed of files related to her writing and speeches. Folders consist of correspondence, research, agreements with publishers, grant material, and manuscripts. Researchers will also find records related to her term on the Brookings School Board including material related to her campaign, papers related to her involvement in Chautauqua, and records dealing with her term as head of the English Department at South Dakota State University, with a small amount of material related to courses she taught. Also included is material related to various other activities conducted by Alexander, such as her involvement with the Episcopal Church, and research dealing with women, women's rights, pioneer women, feminism and sexism. Also included are files related to Alexander’s term serving on the South Dakota Commission on the Status of Women.
System of arrangement
This collection is arranged into series:
- Series 1. Personal material
- Series 2. Brookings School Board
- Series 3. Chautauqua
- Series 4. English Department
- Series 5. Other activities
- Series 6. Writings and speeches
- Series 7. South Dakota Commission on the Status of Women
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
This collection is open to researchers without restrictions. The materials in the Archives do not circulate and may be used in-house only.
Researchers conducting extensive research are asked to make an advance appointment to access archival material. Please call or e-mail prior to visiting the collection and indicate as much detail as possible about a particular topic and intended use.
Physical access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
South Dakota State University supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted as a result of their fragile condition or by contractual agreements with donors.
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Notes element
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
ID
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Alexander, Ruth Ann (Subject)
- South Dakota State University. Department of English (Subject)
- Wilder, Laura Ingalls (Subject)
- South Dakota. Commission on the Status of Women (Subject)