Deborah Ruth (Walters) Fink is an anthropologist with an interest in the U.S. meatpacking industry and the livelihood of rural farm women. She received her B.A. (1965) in mathematics from Doane College and an M.S. (1967) in mathematics from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. She continued her education at Iowa State University where she received a second M.S. (1974) and her Ph.D. (1979) both in anthropology.

Throughout her career, Fink has been an active researcher and teacher. She has conducted field research in Ghana, Iowa, Nebraska, Denmark, and Mexico. She has had numerous teaching appointments at colleges and universities across the Midwest including appointments at University of Nebraska, University of Minnesota, Grinnell College, and University of Iowa. She also held appointments at Iowa State as Assistant Professor (1980-1981) in anthropology and Adjunct Instructor (1983) in women's studies.

Fink has written and spoken extensively about the U.S. meatpacking industry and rural Midwestern women. She has contributed chapters to nearly a dozen books, written numerous articles, and authored or coauthored three books: Open Country, Iowa: Rural Women, Tradition and Change (call no. HQ1438.I7 F56 1986), Agrarian Women: Wives and Mothers in Rural Nebraska, 1880-1940 (HQ1438.N2 F56 1992), and Cutting Into the Meatpacking Line: Workers and Change in the Rural Midwest (call no. HD8039.P152 U535 1998). Fink has also offered her services as a consultant and speaker on these topics for the past three decades.

Deborah Fink is married to A. M. (Arlington Michael) Fink and currently (2010) resides in Ames, Iowa.

This collection (1986-2010) includes biographical information, writings by Fink, and a review of one of her books. The biographical information includes a copy of her vita, news clippings, and library catalog records of her books. Copies of some of her published papers are included in the collection. They reveal her interests in the meatpacking industry and in rural women, specifically those living in the Midwestern United States.

The collection is organized alphabetically.