Louise Noun

Louise Frankel Rosenfield Noun (March 7, 1908 – August 23, 2002) was a feminist, social activist, philanthropist, and civil libertarian.

An Iowa native, Noun wrote extensively on the history of feminism in Iowa and the United States, writing four books on the subject and an autobiography. As president of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union from 1964 to 1972, she was actively involved and helped fund the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case. In 1992, she accomplished a long-term goal and co-founded the Iowa Women's Archives at the University of Iowa with activist Mary Louise Smith. In failing health, Noun died by suicide on August 23, 2002. Both parents were children of German-Jewish immigrants. Louise Rosenfield had two siblings, Ruth and Joseph. Noun briefly attended Drake University Law School in 1967 for one semester. Louise Noun never remarried.

Art collection Noun began her art collection at age thirteen when she was given an oil painting by Harry Lachman on her birthday, a story that was published in the Des Moines Register. While taking graduate courses in art history at Radcliffe College, Noun's interest in art grew; she later professed that she collected, without focus, works by Arthur Dove, Lyonel Feininger, and Henry Moore. Noun first collected art by women in 1963, purchasing art by Isabel Bishop. Finding the work without a signature, Noun contacted the artist and developed a friendship. Other works by female artists collected by Noun include Natalia Goncharova, Hannah Höch, Frida Kahlo, Käthe Kollwitz, Gabriele Münter, Agnes Pelton, and Marguerite Zorach. Some female artists protested the idea of women's only art collections, citing that segregating art collections implied that a women's only art collection was of a lesser value. One artist Noun collected, Dorothea Tanning, refused to show her work in women's only art shows.

Activism In 1944, Louise Noun joined the Des Moines chapter of the League of Women Voters and served as president in 1948–1949, igniting her long career of activism and philanthropy. Noun served as the president of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union (now the ACLU of Iowa) for 8 years from 1964 to 1972. In the late 1960s, Noun helped finance the landmark U.S. Supreme Court students' rights case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, with her brother Joseph Rosenfield. Noun was a founding member of the Iowa Women's Political Caucus (1973) and the National Organization for Women (NOW) Des Moines chapter, serving as coordinator from 1972 and president from 1972 to 1974. Noun served on several committees including the Bernie Lorenz Recovery House (1988), of the Young Women's Resource Center (1975–1982), and the American Friends Service Committee. Noun founded the Chrysalis Foundation in 1989, serving as president until her death in 2002. The University of Iowa Foundation undertook fundraising to contribute half a million dollars for the archives, which opened in 1992. The Louise Noun-Mary Louise Smith Iowa Women's Archives is open to the public and currently contains over 1100 manuscript collections of personal papers and records which record women's history in Iowa and other communities.

Louise Noun Library The Louise Noun Library opened in March 2017 at Des Moines' Young Women's Resource Center.

Death Noun died on August 23, 2002, in Des Moines, Iowa.

"It has kicked off a debate about the importance of people being able to control their own lives, something that was always important to her," said Gil Cranberg, who served with Ms. Noun on the national board of the American Civil Liberties Union in the 1970s. Among the many honors and awards Noun received after induction were:

Arts/Humanities/Aging Honor for outstanding service awarded by the Iowa Arts Council, Iowa Humanities Board member; Iowa Women's Hall of Fame, 1981 Doctor of Humane Letters, honorary degree awarded by Cornell College, 1985 Doctor of Humane Letters, an honorary degree, awarded by Drake University, 1991 Outstanding Achievement Award in the Arts, given by the Iowa Arts Council on its 25th anniversary, 1992 Peterson-Harlan Award, which recognizes an individual, group or organization that has made significant long-term or continuing contributions to Iowa history, 1993 The Cristine Wilson Medal for Equality and Justice, 1993 The Des Moines Roosevelt High School Hall of Fame, 1993 The University of Iowa Alumni Award, 1994; the Philanthropic Vision Award from the Ms. Foundation, 1995 The Award for Lifetime Services to the Public Humanities from the Iowa Humanities Board, 1996.