1840s
Arabella Babb Mansfield (23 may 1846 – 01 aug 1911 | Burlington IA – Aurora IL) lawyer, suffragist, educator, administrator, first female attorney in United States
1850s
Mary Alice Bird Babb (08 may 1850 – 21 nov 1926 | Mount Pleasant IA – Aurora IL) women’s education activist, founding member Philanthropic Educational Organization [PEO]
Gertrude Käsebier (18 may 1852 – 13 oct 1934 | Des Moines IA – New York NY) women’s photography advocate, pioneering artistic / portrait / pictorial / photographer
Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore (14 oct 1856 – 03 nov 1928 | Clinton IA – Geneva, Switzerland) writer, geographer, photographer, Washington DC cherry-tree-planting advocate, first female board member of National Geographic Society
Ida Henrietta Hyde (08 sep 1857 – 22 aug 1945 | Davenport IA – Berkeley CA) author, world traveler, experimental physiologist, developed first microelectrode
Margaret Warner Morley (17 feb 1858 – 12 dec 1923 | Montrose IA – Washington DC) novelist, educator, biologist
Cora Bussey Hillis (08 aug 1858 – 12 aug 1924 | Bloomfield IA – St Cloud MN) educator, clubwoman, child welfare advocate
1860s
Grace Raymond Hebard (02 jul 1861 – 11 oct 1936 | Clinton IA – Laramie WY) author, historian, suffragist, pioneering scholar, political economist
Lillian Russell (04 dec 1861 – 06 jun 1922 | Clinton IA – Pittsburgh PA) singer, actress, columnist, suffragist, née Helen Louise Leonard
Cynthia Westover Alden (31 may 1862 – 08 jan 1931 | Afton IA – Brooklyn NY) poet, author, editor, teacher, journalist, civil servant, philanthropist, pen name: Kate Kensington, invented NYC street-cleaners’ cart, founder / president-general of the International Sunshine Society to house / educate blind babies / children / elderly
Dich [Dixie] Cornell Gebhardt (18 nov 1866 – 16 oct 1955 | Knoxville IA – Knoxville IA) folk figure, Iowa State flag designer, WWI leader Iowa Daughters of the Revolution
Eugenia [Genie] Clark Pomeroy (27 apr 1867 – unknown | Iowa City IA – unknown) poet, author, journalist, founding member Pacific Coast Women’s Press Association
Ellen Bliss Talbot (22 nov 1867 – 02 jan 1968 | Iowa City IA – Spartanburg SC) author, psychologist, philosopher
Marian Elizabeth Hubbard (31 aug 1868 – 24 feb 1956 | McGregor IA – Sacramento CA) author, professor, zoologist
Martha [Mamah] Bouton Borthwick (19 jun 1869 – 15 aug 1914 | Boone IA – Spring Green WI) librarian, murder victim, literary figure, Swedish / English translator
1870s
Marion G. Crandall (25 apr 1872 – 27 mar 1918 | Cedar Rapids IA – Saint-Menehould, France) French teacher, volunteer canteen worker, first American female casualty in WWI France
Margaret Mann (09 apr 1873 – 22 aug 1960 | Cedar Rapids IA – Cedar Rapids IA) author, librarian, archivist, professor, pioneer in library cataloging and library science education
Agnes Weinrich (16 jul 1873 – 17 apr 1946 | Des Moines IA – Provincetown MA) artist, pioneer cubist / modernist painter and printmaker
Lou Henry Hoover (29 mar 1874 – 07 jan 1944 | Waterloo IA – New York NY) linguist, scholar, translator, public speaker, US Presidential First Lady, first First Lady to speak Chinese, first First Lady to offer regular national radio broadcasts
Nellie Verne Walker (08 dec 1874 – 10 jul 1973 | Red Oak IA – Colorado Springs CO) sculptor
Dulah Marie Evans Krehbiel (17 feb 1875 – 24 jul 1951 | Oskaloosa IA – Evanston IL) etcher, painter, illustrator, printmaker, photographer
Alice Cooper (08 apr 1875 – 1937 | Glenwood IA – Denver CO) sculptor, feminist, created bronze Sacajawea statue
Susan Keating Glaspell (01 jul 1876 – 27 jul 1948 Davenport IA – Provincetown MA) poet, novelist, actress, director, biographer, Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright
Grace Pearl Ingalls Dow (23 may 1877 – 10 nov 1941 | Burr Oak IA – Manchester SD) schoolteacher, folk / literary figure
Grace Noll Crowell (31 oct 1877 – 31 mar 1969 | Inland IA – Dallas TX) poet, devotional author, children’s book writer, Poet Laureate of Texas
Abastenia St. Leger Eberle (06 apr 1878 – 26 feb 1942 | Webster City IA – New York NY) sculptor, social commentator
1880s
Bess Streeter Aldrich (17 feb 1881 – 03 aug 1954 | Cedar Falls IA – Lincoln NE) author, novelist, short story writer
Margaret Wilhelmina Wilson (16 jan 1882 – 06 oct 1973 | Traer IA – Droitwich UK) novelist, aka G.D. Turner
Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler (05 may 1883 – 26 mar 1966 | Hawarden IA – Bryn Mawr PA) professor, mathematician, focus on linear algebra of infinite dimension
Elsa Maxwell (24 may 1883 – 01 nov 1963 | Keokuk IA – New York NY) author, columnist, songwriter, scriptwriter, professional hostess, treasure hunt / scavenger hunt innovator
May Hill Arbuthnot (27 aug 1884 – 02 oct 1969 | Mason City IA – Cleveland OH) critic, editor, writer, educator, children’s literacy and literature advocate
Winifred Louise Ward (29 oct 1884 – 16 aug 1975 | Eldora IA – Evanston IL) author, professor, focus on children’s theatre, creative dramatics innovator, aka The Mother of Creative Drama, organized first US national Children’s Theatre Conference
Nellie May Naylor (20 mar 1885 – 05 oct 1992 | Clear Lake IA – Ames IA) author, chemistry professor, women’s educational advocate
Grace Medes (09 nov 1886 – 31 dec 1967 | Keokuk IA – Keokuk IA) biochemist, co-author, researcher
Libbie Henrietta Hyman (06 dec 1888 – 03 aug 1969 | Des Moines IA – New York NY) author, illustrator, zoologist
Elizabeth Stewart Magee (29 jun 1889 – 14 may 1972 | Des Moines IA – Cleveland OH) social activist, women’s rights advocate
1890s
Lucile Paterson Marsh (21 oct 1890 – 07 1978 | Rapid City IA – New York NY) artist, teacher at Art Students League of New York, illustrator for posters / billboards / magazine covers / advertisements
Josephine Herbst (05 mar 1892 – 28 jan 1969 | Sioux City IA – New York NY) journalist, proletarian novelist, radical Marxist with Communist leanings
Ruth Suckow (06 aug 1892 – 23 jan 1960 | Hawarden IA – Claremont CA) author, novelist, memoirist
Loleta Dawson Fyan (14 may 1894 – 15 mar 1990 | Clinton IA – Lansing MI) first professional librarian for State of Michigan, instrumental in passing federal support legislation for US public libraries
Freida Brehm Geiken (20 feb 1895 – 06 dec 1998 | Newhall IA – Vinton IA) oral historian, autobiographical author
Pauline Pfeiffer Hemingway (22 jul 1895 – 01 oct 1951 | Parkersburg IA – Key West FL) journalist, literary folk figure, Hemingway’s second wife
Grace Adelbert Sandhouse (01 jun 1896 – 09 nov 1940 | Monticello IA – Monticello IA) author, essayist, entomologist, focus on apiology research
Vivien Kellems (07 jun 1896 – 25 jan 1975 | Des Moines IA – Brentwood CA) memoirist, tax resister, industrialist, social / political activist
Velma Wallace Rayness (31 oct 1896 – 01 apr 1977 | Davenport IA – Ames City IA) artist, author, teacher, diarist
Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower (14 nov 1896 – 01 nov 1979 | Boone IA – Washington DC) US Presidential First Lady
Anna Arnold Hedgeman (05 jul 1899 – 17 jan 1990 | Marshalltown IA – Harlem NY) African-American author, educator, politician, civil rights leader
Nan Wood Graham (26 jul 1899 – 14 dec 1990 | Anamosa IA – Menlo Park CA) memoirist, folk figure, artist’s model, art historian, American Gothic icon
Elizabeth [Bess] Flynn (18 aug 1899 – Unknown | Tama IA – Unknown) author, radio script writer
1900s
Meridel Wharton Le Sueur (22 feb 1900 – 14 nov 1996 | Murray IA – Hudson WI) poet, writer, journalist, children’s biographical author
Elswyth Thane Ricker Beebee (16 apr 1900 – 31 jul 1984 | Burlington IA – Wilmington VT) journalist, screenwriter, scarf collector, historical romance novelist
Fanchon Royer (21 jan 1902 – 13 dec 1981 | Des Moines IA – Teziutlan, Mexico) journalist, publicist, film producer, screenwriter, playwright, theatre director
Ellen Church Marshall (22 sep 1904 – 22 aug 1965 | Cresco IA – Terre haute IN) pilot, nurse, nursing / hospital director, WWII Army Nurse Corps flight nurse, first US female commercial flight attendant
Mildred Wirt Benson (10 jul 1905 – 28 may 2002 | Ladora IA – Toledo OH) author, journalist, columnist, Nancy Drew Mystery series creator, children’s / young adult novelist, first female awarded Masters of Journalism (1927) University of Iowa, pennames: Carolyn Keene, Dorothy West, Frances Judd, Helen Louise Thorndyke
Era Bell Thompson (10 aug 1905 – 30 dec 1986 | Des Moines IA – Chicago IL) author, editor or Ebony magazine, autobiographical author, gender / civil rights activist
Dorothy Marie Johnson (19 dec 1905 – 11 nov 1984 | McGregor IA – Missoula MT) poet, author, essayist, short fiction writer, magazine writer, focus on American Old West
Lucile M. Morsch (21 jan 1906 – 03 jul 1972 | Sioux City IA – Washington DC) librarian, president of ALA, Deputy Chief Assistant Librarian of Congress
Clara Estelle Breed (19 mar 1906 – 08 sep 1994 | Fort Dodge IA – Spring Valley CA) author, librarian, essayist, aka Miss Breed, San Diego CA library historian, WWII internment opponent, Japanese-American children’s supporter / correspondent
Harriet Oettinger Parsons (23 aug 1906 – 02 jan 1983 | Burlington IA – Los Angeles CA) screenwriter, film producer
Irene Ottillia Galloway (01 sep 1908 – 06 jan 1963 | Templeton IA – Washington DC) US Army Colonel, Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps leader
Gladys Bowery Black (04 jan 1909 – 19 jul 1998 | Pleasantville IA – Pleasantville IA) writer, ornithologist, conservationist, amateur woodcarver, public health nurse, aka Iowa’s Bird Lady, birding newspaper columnist
Karen Morley (12 dec 1909 – 08 mar 2003 | Ottumwa IA – Woodland Hills CA) actress, political activist, blacklisted by House Un-American Activities [1947]
1910s
Edith Kiertzner Heath (24 may 1911 – 27 dec 2005 | Ida Grove IA – Tiburon CA) ceramic artist, studio potter, architectural tile maker, Heathware founder / innovator
Dorothy Marie Hennessey (24 mar 1913 – 24 jan 2008 | Manchester IA – Dubuque IA) Roman Catholic religious sister, peace / social activist
Ruth Martin Jefford (16 jul 1914 – 09 jan 2007 | Des Moines IA – Anchorage AK) violinist, air taxi pilot, Anchorage Symphony Orchestra co-founder / concertmaster, first female licensed flight instructor at Merrill Field AK
Mary Louise Epperson Smith (06 oct 1914 – 22 aug 1997 | Eddyville IA – Des Moines IA) political organizer, women’s rights activist, second female appointed national political party chairperson
Helen L. Griggs Seaborg (02 mar 1917 – 29 aug 2006 | Sioux City IA – Berkeley CA) diplomat, child welfare advocate, Manhattan Project administrative assistant
Margaret E. [Peg] Mullen (11 jun 1917 – 02 oct 2009 | Pocahontas IA – La Porte City IA) memoirist, anti-war activist
Esther Pauline [Eppie] Lederer (04 jul 1918 – 22 jun 2002 | Sioux City IA – Chicago IL) author, advice columnist, radio show host, aka Ann Landers
Pauline Esther [Popo] Phillips (04 jul 1918 – 16 jan 2013 | Sioux City IA – Minneapolis MN) author, advice columnist, radio show host, aka Abigail Van Buren
Frances Elizabeth [Corita] Kent (20 nov 1918 – 18 sep 1986 | Fort Dodge IA – Boston MA) nun, educator, silkscreen / serigraphy artist
1920s
Gertrude Walker (08 apr 1920 – 18 jun 1995 | Rockwell IA – Palm Springs CA) screenwriter, detective novelist, short fiction writer
Amy Clampitt (15 jun 1920 – 10 sep 1994 | New Providence IA – Lenox MA) poet, author
Mary Ellen Bottom Solt (08 jul 1920 – 21 jun 2007 | Gilmore City IA – Santa Clarita CA) poet, author, anthologist, innovative pioneer of concrete poetry
Donna Reed (27 jan 1921 – 14 jan 1986 | Denison IA – Beverly Hills CA) actress, social icon, peace / political / anti-nuclear activist, born Donna Belle Mullenger
Mona Van Duyn (09 may 1921 – 02 dec 2004 | Waterloo IA – University City MO) poet, Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to US Library of Congress
Marjorie Cameron Parsons Kimmel (23 apr 1922 – 24 jun 1995 | Belle Plaine IA – Los Angeles CA) poet, artist, actress, occultist, esotericist, member of Thelema group, known by mononym Cameron, founded multi-racial occult group The Children
Cloris Leachman (30 apr 1926 – Des Moines IA) actress, comedienne, autobiographical author
Darleane C. Hoffman (08 nov 1926 – Terril IA) author, nuclear chemist, graduate professor, faculty senior scientist, worked at Oak Ridge and Los Alamos
Lois Hattery Tiffany (08 mar 1928 – 09 sep 2009 | near Collins IA – Ames IA) author, botanist, mycologist, aka Iowa’s Mushroom Lady, specialist in Iowa’s prairie fungi
Joan Liffring-Zug Bourret (20 feb 1929 – Iowa City IA) book publisher, civil rights activist, documentary photographer, autobiographical author, Penfield Books founder / publisher, first woman to photograph herself giving birth [1951]
1930s
Gwen Hennessey (29 sep 1932 – Buchanan IA) religious sister, peace / social activist, Clare Guest House director
Jane Elliott (27 may 1933 – Riceville IA) author, former schoolteacher, feminist / LGBT activist, diversity trainer / social equality activist
Mary E. Kramer (14 jun 1935 – Burlington IA) teacher, politician, diplomat, US Ambassador to Barbados and Eastern Caribbean
Georgia Anne Jinkinson Bonesteel (21 jul 1936 – Sioux City IA) author, quilter, quilting teacher, lap-quilter innovator, public television quilting show host
Jo Ann McIntosh Zimmerman (24 dec 1936 – 22 oct 2019 | Van Buren County IA – Des Moines IA) nurse, farmer, politician, first female Lieutenant Governor in Iowa history, farming / healthcare / human rights advocate
Kay Halloran Chapman (19 jan 1937 – Estherville IA) politician, former state legislator, first female to enter law practice in Cedar Rapids, second female mayor of Cedar Rapids
Marlo Morgan (29 sep 1937 – Fort Madison IA) novelist, focus on Australian Aboriginal themes
Janet Guthrie (07 mar 1938 – Iowa City IA) retired professional race car driver, first woman to lead a lap in NASCAR Winston Cup Series, first woman to qualify and compete in both Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500
Bonnie Lou Hagedorn Jensen (11 oct 1938 – Royal IA) teacher, minister, former director of ELCA Global Mission, former Christian television program co-host
Jean Dorothy Seberg (13 nov 1938 – 30 aug 1979 | Marshalltown IA – Paris, France) actress, social/political activist, FBI harassment subject / landmark case
1940s
Mary Beth Peil (25 jun 1940 – Davenport IA) actress, opera / musical singer
Kay Griffel (26 dec 1940 – Eldora IA) operatic spinto soprano, voice masterclass teacher
Karen A. Holbrook (06 nov 1942 – Des Moines IA) former professor, academic administrator, 13th President of Ohio State University, non-profit board member
Kay Kurt (21 mar 1944 – Dubuque IA) American New Realist painter
Janet Anne Haradon Dailey (21 may 1944 – 14 dec 2013 | Storm Lake IA – Branson MO) romance novelist
Mary Pegau Ruthsdotter (14 oct 1944 – 08 jan 2010 | Fairfield IA – Sebastopol CA) feminist activist, women’s historian, founder National Women’s History Project
Joan Edelman Spero (02 oct 1944 – Davenport IA) author, academic, international political economist, Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, focus on international philanthropy
Trudy Huskamp Peterson (25 jan 1945 – Estherville IA) author, archivist, former US Acting Archivist
Arlene Blum (01 mar 1945 – Davenport IA) writer, mountaineer, environmental health scientist
Lucia Nevai (11 sep 1945 – Des Moines IA) novelist, short story writer
Bonnie Koloc (06 feb 1946 – Waterloo IA) artist, actress, folk singer-songwriter
Suzanne Stephens (28 jul 1946 – Waterloo IA) classical clarinetist, clarinet / basset horn promoter, American-born living in Germany
Linda Sue Evans (11 may 1947 – Fort Dodge IA) author, radical leftist, lesbian / women inmate activist, aka Rebecca Ann Morgan, Christine Johnson, and Louise Robinett
Sara Paretsky (08 jun 1947 – Ames IA) editor, novelist, mystery writer
Patricia T. O’Conner (19 feb 1949 – Des Moines IA) editor, author, columnist, language consultant, co-writer The Grammarphobia Blog
DeAnne Shirley Julius (14 apr 1949 – Ames IA) author, economist, British-American, former economic analyst for US Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
1950s
Rebecca Ann King Dreman (14 apr 1950 – Hancock IA) vocal feminist, female empowerment advocate, domestic-relations attorney specializing in divorce, known for expressing feminist political views at Miss America Pageant’s morning-after breakfast following her crowning in 1974
April Ulring Larson (22 apr 1950 – Decorah IA) pastor, first elected female Bishop of Evangelical Lutheran Church in American [ELCA]
Christie Vilsack (09 jul 1950 – Mount Pleasant IA) politician, cookbook author, literacy advocate, former First Lady of Iowa
Mary Swander (05 nov 1950 – Carroll IA) poet, author, memoirist, professor, former Poet Laureate of Iowa, founded website The Iowa Literary Community
Sally Peterson (13 jan 1951 – Ottumwa IA) magazine editor, former Lieutenant Governor of Iowa
Patricia Christine [P. C.] Hodgell (16 mar 1951 – Des Moines IA) artist, professor, fantasy novelist, short story writer
LeAnn Lemberger (27 jul 1954 – Iowa US) romance novelist, nonfiction author, pen name Leigh Michaels
Katharine G. Abraham (28 aug 1954 – Ames IA) author, economist, professor of economics and survey methodology, director of Maryland Center for Economics and Policy
Mary Jo Heath (11 dec 1954 – Iowa City IA) radio music host
Coleen Rowley (20 dec 1954 – New Hampton IA) author, blogger, speaker, essayist, peace and political activist, former FBI agent / whistleblower
Cathie Beck (03 aug 1955 – Fort Dodge IA) journalist, memoirist, short fiction writer
Terry Lynn Wahls (09 nov 1955 – McGregor IA) author, physician, assistant chief of staff at Iowa City Veterans Administration Health Care, clinical professor of medicine at University of Iowa
Lisa Hopp (21 oct 1956 – Sioux City IA) author, Dean and Professor of Nursing at Purdue, founder / director of Indiana Center for Evidence-Based Nursing Practice
Linnea Quigley (27 may 1958 – Davenport IA) model, singer, author, actress, film producer