Welcome to the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association (RSMA) Website 

2025 Annual Meeting, RSMA at the Hearst Center for the Arts, Saturday, September 13th.

 24d2c3606f29f975a6c9952cd8cb4009.pdf   Odyssey of a Nice Girl (1925)

Download the book here at The Iowa Digital Heritage website.

Description: Character study of a sensitive, ambitious girl in a small Iowa town. She is the only girl in a small, fairly well-to-do family and has always been expected "to do something" - what that something is isn't clear, and she gropingly tries to find out. Very realistic, uneventful as to incident, typical of small-town life. --Wisconsin Library Bulletin, Volume 22, 1926. 

182 pages. Published by Alfred Knopf.

Our annual Business Meeting will be held in the morning of Saturday, Sept. 13, as usual. 

Here is the afternoon free public Centennial Celebration Program the Planning Committee has put together:

1:00 - 1:10:  Welcome, thank yous, and quick preview of afternoon events

1:10 - 1:30:  Panel: "What did 'a nice girl' mean when you were growing up?"

4 women from 4 generations:  the 1950s, 1970s, 1990s, & now--5 minutes each to say what "a nice girl' meant when they were a teenager or young woman in those decades: Lorna Easton, Cherie Dargan, Jonna Higgins-Freese, and Veronica Ruse.                   

1:30 - 2:05  Keynote address on the novel -- 30 minutes -- Lyz Lenz

2:05 - 2:20  Break  (Centennial dessert; coffee/apple cider; restrooms; new people coming in; perhaps some leaving)

2:20 - 2:40:  Radio Play: The Conclusion of Odyssey of a Nice Girl  

2:40 - 3:10:  Panel Discussion on "The Conclusion of Odyssey of a Nice Girl"

Scholars offering short reflections on how Suckow chooses to end Odyssey of a Nice Girl 

3:10 - 3:25:  Q & A from Audience

3:25 -- Close:  Thanks and invitation to join the RSMA; buy Centennial editions of Country People and Suckow tote bags and notepads.

This website is dedicated to the work of noted Iowa author Ruth Suckow and her husband Ferner Nuhn. She was a famous writer with Iowa roots; this website was created by the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association (RSMA) to celebrate her literary legacy, and to help readers find information about her life and work--as well as provide access to some of her short stories. 

To read more about their remarkable relationship, go to the page Ruth and Ferner.

he Suckow Traveling Exhibit

The Ruth Suckow Memorial Association, with the support of Humanities Iowa, is pleased to announce the creation of a Traveling Exhibit celebrating the life and work of Iowa novelist and short story writer Ruth Suckow who lived from 1892 to 1960. 

We launched the Traveling Exhibit on January 1, 2024, as part of the Centennial Celebration of Suckow’s first novel, Country People. Host sites are now being scheduled for 2026 and 2026.

         2025

July 6 – August 3, 2025:  West Point Public Library – Exhibit Program by Dr. Barbara

Lounsberry, Emerita Professor of English, University of Northern Iowa.

August 10 – September 7, 2025:  Burlington Public Library -- Exhibit Program by Dr. Barbara Lounsberry, Emerita Professor of English, University of Northern Iowa.

September 14 – October 12, 2025:  Marion Public Library – Exhibit Program by Dr. Barbara Lounsberry, Emerita Professor of English, University of Northern Iowa.

October 19 – November 16, 2025:  Loras College, Dubuque

November 23, 2025 – December 21 – Upham Public Library, Fredericksburg

2026

December 28, 2025 – January 25, 2026 – Livermore Public Library

February 1 – March 1, 2026 – Lied Public Library, Clarinda

March 8 – April 5 – Shenandoah Public Library

April 12 – May 17 (five weeks) – Gibson Public Library

Libraries that have expressed interest in hosting and received an Application Form

Albia Public Library * 

Knoxville Public Library * Montezuma Public Library *

Ruthven Public Library

Visit the new Suckow Traveling Exhibit page

Officers for 2024-2025

President:  Barbara Lounsberry

Vice President:  Jim Schaap              

Secretary:         Sue Hummel

Treasurer:  Karen Leonard 

Webmaster: Cherie Dargan

Read Suckow Short Stories and Novels On Iowa Digital Heritage

RSMA President Barbara Lounsberry worked hard to get Ruth Suckow's stories on the Iowa Digital Heritage website. The first set of stories is about Iowa women's lives. There are now nineteen short stories plus her novelette, "A Part of the Institution" in all, thanks to the hard work of one of our members, Roy Kenagy. Thanks, Roy!   

Read Barbara's essay introducing the stories, putting them into context, with a brief summary.

Follow the link below to go to the website.

http://www.iowaheritage.org/

Then click on "People and Biographies."  

The Ruth Suckow Short Story Collection is on page 7--if you want to take a look or to direct others to these stories.  Once you see the story, scroll down and you can read the description and other information.  If you then click on the red box, by the page at the top, the story will come up and there is a "pop up" button in the right-hand corner.  If you click on that, it makes the story even bigger and easier to read and to print out.

RSMA Founder Ferner Nuhn is on Wikipedia.  

We have posted pictures of some of his artwork: Figures of the 30s.

 Please check out the page on Ferner (Resources on Ferner Nuhn) as well as Mentions to discover what other websites are saying about Suckow & RSMA (Links to Posts on Blogs), Writing about Suckow (for another chance to read Marsha's poem on Suckow), and RSMA News (for updates about projects and events).  

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

We have replicated the Wikipedia entry on our site--on the page about Ferner. Written by webmaster Cherie Dargan, it draws from the hard work of several writers and historians in our group from the past, including Dorothy Grant.

In addition, the Ruth Suckow website may look the same, but we were approved for Google Apps for Non-Profits in 2013, which gives us a larger web space.

Ferner's Art is now here! Check out his sketches of fellow participants at some of the Writer's Workshops he and Ruth attended at Yaddo and MacDowell Colony, retreats established to give writers and artists a place to spend time creating their work. He called this collection of paintings "Figures of the 30s."

Find a reference to Suckow, a new photo, or have information about one of Ruth or Ferner's relatives?

Please contact Cherie, webmaster, at cheriedargan@gmail.com. 

Want to contact us? Want to become a member?  Click here for information!

Some people find us through the Wikipedia article on Ruth Suckow; however, if you haven't seen it yet, here it is. The article was written by Michael Dargan, the original webmaster for the first Suckow website.

You can LIKE us on Facebook!  Search for the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/136792936397032/

Ruth Suckow loved cats, and there are numerous photographs with her holding a cat. This one was sent to The Iowan magazine.