Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Dorothy P. Word Papers
Date(s)
- 1996 - 2009 (Creation)
Extent
0.7 linear feet; 1 archives box and 1 half archives box
Name of creator
Biographical history
Dorothy P. Word was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on February 12, 1938. She attended Fort Wayne Community Schools and graduated from Central High School in 1956. She then attended Goshen College before completing a BA degree in education from Indiana Wesleyan University (formerly Marion College) in 1962. She went on to complete a Master's degree in education from Indiana University Bloomington in 1967.
Over the course of her 30 year career, Dorothy taught elementary school in Fort Wayne, New Castle, and Evansville, Indiana, and in Nashville, Tennessee. She also taught in the broader community, including Head Start, special and adult education, and migrant education programs. In the 1950s she was a founding member of Fairhaven Mennonite Church in Fort Wayne and later became a member of Parkview Mennonite Church in Kokomo, Indiana. She was an active member of the broader community, serving with United Methodist Women and volunteering at the hospital and women's shelter.
After retirement she became a freelance newspaper columnist for Our Times (Evansville, Ind.), the Kokomo Tribune, and Frost Illustrated (Fort Wayne, Ind.). In 2004, she moved from Kokomo to Fort Wayne to be closer to family and, in 2013, she relocated to Elkhart County. She died on November 1, 2020, in Goshen, Indiana.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Contains a collection of newspaper articles that Word published between 1995 and 2009. Most articles include typed drafts and clippings of the published version. Also includes an obituary, an informal index of publications, and notes from an address delivered for an Alumni Scholar Forum at Goshen College in 1999.
The newspaper articles cover a variety of topics , including commentaries on current events, annual holidays (especially Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Kwanzaa), activities of local organizations, and important people and events in Black history. They provide a valuable window into Word's worldview, the issues she cared about, her interest in history, and her experiences of racism as a Black Mennonite woman.
System of arrangement
Flat
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
These materials are open to public research.
Physical access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. Copyright not owned by the Mennonite Church USA Archives.
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
Jacob Elias and Duane Yoder, Acc. #2020-029
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Jacob Elias, Acc. #2021-004, Aug. 4, 2021
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)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Word, Dorothy P., 1938-2020 (Subject)
- Parkview Mennonite Church ( Kokomo, Ind.) (Subject)
- Fairhaven Mennonite Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.) (Subject)