The Viola Rose Holbrook collection contains 2 audiocassette tapes, CD duplicates of the audiocassettes, and a transcript of an interview conducted between Josephine Carpenter and Holbrook in 1979. In the interview, Holbrook discussed her recollections of growing up in Rapidan, Minnesota and the educational conditions of students and teachers in the years after World War II and her experience teaching at Mankato State University. When discussing education, Holbrook recalled being a student teacher, her methods of discipline, and the demands to teaching physical education.
Viola Rose Funfsinn was born on 18 May 1920 near Remsen, Iowa to John Funfsinn and Rose (Feassler) Funfsinn. After moving to Minnesota in 1925, she attended public school in Rapidan, Minnesota before spending her senior year at St. Peter High School in St. Peter, Minnesota. After high school, she attended Mankato Teachers College and began her teaching career in Lamberton, Minnesota in 1945. While teaching in Lamberton, Funfsinn married Donald Holbrook in 1947. She taught for five years in the Blue Earth County school system before taking a position in Mankato in 1951. Besides a change in employers, the Holbrook family had a son named Donald Jr. on 8 April 1951.
In 1958, Holbrook joined the faculty at Mankato State College and worked in the physical education department. Holbrook continued to upgrade her education while working at the institution and completed her master's degree with a thesis entitled "Selected Factors that may Influence the Performance of Junior High School Girls in the Running High Jump" in 1959. She later earned her Ph. D. from New Mexico State University and continued teaching at Mankato State University.
More information about this collection is available on the Collection Guide.
