1810s
Sarah Knox [Knoxie] Davis (06 mar 1814 – 15 sep 1835 | Vincennes IN – Saint Francisville LA) Confederate folk / political family figure
1820s
Catharine [Kate] Merrill (24 jan 1824 – 30 may 1900 | Corydon IN – Indianapolis IN) author, educator, Civil War nurse, second female US university professor
1830s
Constance Faunt Le Roy Runcie (15 jan 1836 – 17 may 1911 | Indianapolis IN – Winnetka MO) poet, artist, author, pianist, composer, short story writer
Mary Jane Whitely Coggeshall (17 jan 1836 – 22 dec 1911 | Milton IN – Des Moines IA) writer, speaker, suffragist, first editor Woman’s Standard, aka the Mother of Woman Suffrage in Iowa, first woman west of Mississippi to join the National American Woman Suffrage Association [NAWSA]
Mary Eleanor Brackenridge (07 mar 1837 – 14 feb 1924 | Warrick County IN – San Antonio TX) clubwoman, women’s rights activist, clubwoman philanthropist, co-founded Woman’s Club of San Antonio, first female to sit on any Texas university governing board, one of three women on first board of regents at Texas Woman’s University [photos © Texas Woman’s University]
1840s
Elisabeth Conwell Smith Willson (26 apr 1842 – 13 oct 1864 | Laurel IN – Cambridge MA) poet, two volumes of poetry published posthumously by husband
Charlotte Hill (15 feb 1849 – 1930 | Indiana US – California US) homesteader, fossil collector / salesperson, fossil bed preservationist, namesake for Rosa hilliae fossil rose, established the Florissant Fossil Beds in Colorado City
1850s
Ida Husted Harper (18 feb 1851 – 14 mar 1931 | Franklin County IN – Washington DC) author, editor, teacher, columnist, journalist, suffragist
Mary Wright Plummer (08 mar 1856 – 21 sep 1916 | Richmond IN – Dixon IL) author, essayist, librarian, library activist
Ida May De Puy Davis (22 feb 1857 – unknown | Lafayette IN – unknown) poet, writer, artist, painter, teacher, litterateur, member of Western Association of Women Writers, first female School Board member in Terre Haute, Indiana
Mary Scott [Mamie] Harrison McKee (03 apr 1858 – 28 oct 1930 | Indianapolis IN – Indianapolis IN) political family member, de facto White House Hostess / First Lady for father US President Benjamin Harrison, later estranged from her father
1860s
Margaret Hill McCarter (02 may 1860 – 31 aug 1938 | Carthage IN – Topeka KS) teacher, novelist, founded Western Sorosis women’s club
Annie Fellows Johnston (15 may 1863 – 05 oct 1931 | Evansville IN – Pewee Valley KY) children’s serial novelist
Susan Louise Cotton Marsh (23 apr 1867 – 21 sep 1946 | Troy IN – St Louis MO) author, activist, biographer, children’s advocate, Poet Laureate of Missouri, children’s guardianship legislative proponent
1870s
1880s
Bertha M. Foster (03 may 1881 – 29 feb 1968 | Marshfield IN – Broward County FL) organist, musician, professor of music, first dean of music / founding regent / board member of University of Miami at Coral Gables
Myra Reynolds Richards (31 jan 1882 – 28 dec 1934 | Indianapolis IN – Indianapolis IN) American sculptor, teacher
Hazel Lucile Harrison (12 may 1883 – 29 apr 1969 | La Porte IN – Washington DC) concert pianist, piano teacher / professor
Mary Hamilton Swindler (02 jan 1884 – 16 jan 1967 | Bloomington IN – Haverford PA) author, archaeologist, art historian, classical art scholar, first female Editor-in-Chief American Journal of Archaeology
May Frances Aufderheide Kaufman (21 may 1888 – 01 sep 1972 | Indianapolis IN – Pasadena CA) female ragtime music composer / publisher, regarded as most influential / important female ragtime composer
1890s
Marjorie Hill Allee (02 jun 1890 – 30 apr 1945 | Carthage IN – Indiana US) fiction / nonfiction writer, young adult novelist, children’s book author
Mabel Leigh Hunt (05 jan 1892 – 03 sep 1971 | Coatesville IN – Indianapolis IN) librarian, children’s book author
Janet Flanner (13 mar 1892 – 07 nov 1978 | Indianapolis IN – New York NY) writer, journalist, singular novelist
Ruth Page (22 mar 1899 – 07 apr 1991 | Indianapolis IN – Chicago IL) ballerina, choreographer, autobiographical author
1900s
Daisie Adelle Davis (25 feb 1904 – 31 may 1974 | Lizton IN – Palos Verdes Estates CA) author, nutritionist, cookbook writer, aka Jane Dunlap, LSD experimenter, natural food activist / advocate
Mary Fendrich Hulman (13 mar 1905 – 10 apr 1998 | Evansville IN – Indianapolis IN) heiress, golfer, skeet shooter, philanthropist, arts patron, higher education supporter, Indianapolis Motor Speedway co-owner
1910s
Catherine Lucille [C. L.] Moore (24 jan 1911 – 04 apr 1987 | Indianapolis IN – Hollywood CA) science-fiction / fantasy writer, professor, co-author with husband Henry Kuttner pen-names: C. H. Liddell, Lewis Padgett, Lawrence O’Donnell
Ruth Marguerite McKenney (18 nov 1911 – 25 jul 1972 | Mishawaka IN – New York NY) author, journalist, known for memoir My Sister Eileen, wrote short fiction for The New Yorker
1920s
Madelyn Pugh Davis (15 mar 1921 – 20 apr 2011 | Indianapolis IN – Santa Monica CA) tv screenwriter, memoirist, aka Madelyn Pugh Davis, Madelyn Davis, Madelyn Martin
Ann Haymond Zwinger (12 mar 1925 – 30 aug 2014 | Muncie IN – Portland OR) college professor, natural history author
Joan Kent Dillon (30 apr 1925 – 18 jan 2009 | Lafayette IN – Chatham MA) author, teacher, nationally known historic preservation activist
Carolyn Haught Churchman (09 jun 1926 – 20 oct 1999 | Indianapolis IN – Indianapolis IN) tv host / broadcaster
1930s
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (04 jan 1933 – Anderson IN) children’s / young adult fiction author
Juanita Ruth Wellons Coulson (12 feb 1933 – Indiana US) fanzine editor, fantasy / science fiction writer, filk singer / songwriter
Virginia Murphy Blankenbaker (29 mar 1933 – Indianapolis IN) educator, state politician, home economist, investment broker
Elaine Katherine Kerr (20 apr 1937 – 01 jul 2019 | Indianapolis IN – Sarasota FL) author, actress, memoirist, playwright, acting teacher
Mary-Dell Chilton (02 feb 1939 – Indianapolis IN) World Food Prize laureate [2013], created first genetically modified plants, one of founders of modern plant biotechnology, elected to US National Inventors Hall of Fame [2015]
1940s
Margaret Read MacDonald (21 jan 1940 – Indiana US) folklorist, storyteller, librarian, children’s author, folklore / storytelling educator
Sandra Kegerreis (24 may 1941 – Elkhart IN) poet, short story writer, children’s book author
Mary Abigail Padgett (13 may 1942 – Vincennes IN) serial mystery novelist
Clarissa Pinkola Estés (27 jan 1945 – Indiana US) poet, author, Jungian analyst, post-trauma expert specialist
Suzanne Ciani (04 jun 1946 – Indianapolis IN) pianist, composer, electronic music innovator
Suzanne [Hollis] Sigler (02 mar 1948 – 21 mar 2001 | Gary IN – Lincolnshire IL) painter, printmaker, openly lesbian artist
1950s
Karen Joy Fowler (07 feb 1950 – Bloomington IN) editor, feminist, creative writing instructor, literary / fantasy / science fiction author
Susan Neville (04 jan 1951 – Indianapolis IN) short story writer, writing professor
Colleen Coble (19 jan 1952 – Wabash IN) Christian romance / historical fiction novelist
A’Lelia Bundles (07 jun 1952 – Indianapolis IN) African-American journalist, biographer, former ABS News producer / executive, Board President of National Archives Foundation
Deborah A. Kemp (07 mar 1957 – 08 feb 2015 | Highland IN – Noblesville IN) nurse, historical / Arthurian fantasy novelist
Felicia Middlebrooks (29 may 1957 – Gary IN) author, radio news broadcaster
Nicki R. Crick (06 feb 1958 – 28 Oct 2012 | West Lafayette IN – Woodbury MN) author, essayist, psychologist, professor of child development / family studies, international research expert on relational aggression / peer victimization