Mary Briggs: A Common Life

Iowa History 1010 Webinar Series On June 12, 2025 at noon CDT, I will be conducting a webinar on the life and diary of Mary Ann Mosher Briggs, my great-great-grandmother and the subject of my book "A Common Life: A Voice from the Progressive Era". If you've already read my book, this webinar will have additional history about her life before she started the diary.   The webinar is part of the Iowa State Historical Society's "Iowa History 101" series. The page for upcoming webinars as well as recordings of past webinars is here:  https://history.iowa.gov/learn/adult-lifelong-learning/iowa-history-101-program

 Calvin Community Presentation On May 30, I did a book talk at Calvin Community, a faith-based, not-for-profit retirement community in Des Moines, Iowa. About half of the presentation attendees grew up in Iowa and most of those grew up in rural areas so they could really relate to the story of Mary's life, even though they were a couple generations removed from Mary's time. We had an engaging conversation about how their memories compared to Mary's story. It was great for me, because I got to hear about a "summer kitchen" from someone who actually had one on the farm where she grew up. Research is great but nothing beats first-person experience!

Book News: A new podcast episode has dropped! I had a lovely conversation with Jill C McClennen on her 𝑆𝑒𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝐶𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 podcast. We talked about my book and what it has to say about death and grief in the early 20th Century. We also shared family stories about farm life, the process of writing the book, and diaries in general. "Preserving Family History with Sue Burns" April 28, 2024 with Jill McClennen, Episode 62   https://www.buzzsprout.com/2092749/14965942-preserving-family-history-with-sue-burns