Women | US-KS | Kansas

1860s

Abby Lillian Marlatt (07 mar 1869 – 23 jun 1943 | Manhattan KS – Madison WI) home economist, textbook / curriculum author, WWI Wisconsin State food preservation consultant, first director of University of Wisconsin Department of Home Economics


1870s

Caroline [Carrie] Celestia Ingalls Swanzey (03 aug 1870 – 02 jun 1946 | Montgomery KS – Pennington SD) typesetter, folk / literary / pioneer figure

Sharlot Mabridth Hall (27 oct 1870 – 09 apr 1943 | Lincoln KS – Prescott AZ) poet, author, historian, journalist, photographer, Arizona artifacts collector, local history / folklore lecturer, first woman to hold office in Arizona Territorial government, founded Old Governor’s Mansion Museum [now Sharlot Hall Museum], namesake for Sharlot Hall Historical Society [in Prescott AZ]

Bertha Mellen Kirk (11 jan 1873 – 14 sep 1951 | Greeley  KS – Garnett KS) folk figure, teacher for the deaf, original resident of The Kirk House [now designated historical home]

Alice Stebbins Wells (13 jun 1873 – 17 aug 1957 | Manhattan KS – Los Angeles CA) Pentecostal minister, first US female police officer,  LAPD  historian, international policewoman’s organization founder / president

Alice Rohe (15 jan 1876 – 07 apr 1957 | Lawrence KS – New York NY) author, journalist, Etruscan art objects collector, joined first US women’s journalism association, WWI first female overseas bureau chief (in Rome) for United Press

Esther Mary Clark Hill (03 dec 1876 – 21 mar 1932 | Shaw KS – Topeka KS) poet, journalist

Kate Richards O’Hare (26 mar 1877 – 10 jan 1948 | Ottawa County KS – Benicia CA) editor, orator, activist, teacher, Socialist, machinist

Mary Rockwell Hook (08 sep 1877 – 08 sep 1978 | Junction City KS – Siesta Key FL) architect, autbiographical author, sole female architect student at Art Institute of Chicago, involved with designing / building Pine Mountain Settlement School in Kentucky Appalachian Mountains

Dorothy Frances Canfield Fisher (17 feb 1879 – 09 nov 1958 | Lawrence KS – Arlington VT) author, social activist, educational reformer


1880s

Zoe Agnes Stratton Tilghman (15 nov 1880 – 1964 | Greenwood KS – Payne OK) author, biographer

Helen Barten Brewster Owens (02 apr 1881 – 06 jun 1968 | Pleasanton KS – Martinsburg WV) suffragist, mathematician, women’s activist, professor of mathematics at Cornell University

Grace Legler Benbough (08 dec 1881 – 12 oct 1961 | Valley Falls KS – San Diego CA) philanthropist, civic / social activist

Ida Moore (01 mar 1882 – 26 sep 1964 | Altoona KS – Los Angeles CA) actress, children’s book author

Belle Jennings Benchley (08 aug 1882 – 17 dec 1972 | Larned KS – San Diego CA) author, zoo director, aka The Zoo Lady

Ruth Imogen Stout (14 jun 1884 – 22 aug 1980 | Topeka KS – Redding CT) memoirist, nonfiction author, no-work gardening expert / innovator

Elizabeth Faulkner Baker (10 dec 1885 – 30 jan 1973 | Abilene KS – Seattle WA) author, academic, economist, WWII hearing officer for National War Labor Board, specialist in scientific management / roles of women / relationship between employment and technological change

Margaret Newell H’Doubler (26 apr 1889 – 26 mar 1982 | Beloit KS – Springfield MO) author, dancer, dance school founder / teacher

Mabel Walker Willebrandt (23 may 1889 – 06 apr 1963 | Woodsdale KS – Riverside CA)  first female public defender, aka First Lady of Law, second female US Assistant Attorney General

Bertha Pitts Campbell (30 jun 1889 – 02 apr 1990 | Winfield KS – Seattle WA) educator, civil rights activist, founding member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority

Henrietta Eleanor Goodnough Deuell (30 dec 1889 – 19 jun 1967 | Bennington KS – Carmel Valley CA) journalist, pen name: Peggy Hull, American female WWI / WWII war correspondent, first female war correspondent accredited by US War Department


1890s

Angie Debo (30 jan 1890 – 21 feb 1988 | Beattie KS – Marshall OK) author, historian, visionary, aka Historical Heroine, specialist in Oklahoma / Native American histories

Osa Helen Leighty Johnson (14 mar 1894 – 07 jan 1953 | Chanute KS – New York NY) explorer, lecturer, filmmaker, photographer,  travel writer / memoirist

Eva Jessye (20 jan 1895 – 21 feb 1992 | Coffeyville KS – Ann Arbor MI) professor, choral conductor, civil rights activist, first African-American woman to achieve international recognition as choral conductor

Amelia Earhart (24 jul 1897 – disappeared 02 jul 1927 | Atchison KS – near Howland Island, Pacific Ocean) author, aviator, social worker, memoirist, letter correspondent

Ruth Seufert (05 jul 1897 – 25 jan 1975 | Bonner Springs KS – Kansas City KS) Swedish-American classical pianist, concert management company founder / owner / executive

Frances Clarke Sayers (04 sep 1897 – 24 jun 1989 | Topeka KS – Ojai CA) children’s librarian, children’s book author, lecturer on children’s literature

Georgia Neese Clark Gray (27 jan 1898 – 26 oct 1995 | Richland KS – Topeka KS) stage actress, bank owner, first female Treasurer of the United States

Clementine Paddleford (27 sep 1898 – 13 nov 1967 | Stockdale KS – New York NY) author, editor, journalist, food columnist


1900s

Doris Fleeson Kimball (20 may 1901 – 01 aug 1970 | Sterling KS – Washington DC) journalist, political columnist / reporter

Olive Ann Beech (25 sep 1904 – 06 jul 1993 | Waverly KS – Wichita KS) aviation pioneer, businesswoman, cofounder / president / chairwoman of Beech Aircraft Company

Mary Louise Brooks (14 nov 1906 – 08 aug 1985 | Cherryvale KS – Rochester NY) dancer, actress, popularized bob haircut, autobiographical author

Ruth Myrtle Patrick (26 nov 1907 – 23 sep 2013 | Topeka KS – Lafayette Hill PA) author, botanist, limnologist, researcher, specialist in diatoms and freshwater ecology, founder / first chair of Academy of Natural Sciences Department of Limnology


1910s

Kathleen Wilson Pilkington (15 jan 1911 – 20 jul 2005 | Girard KS – Falmouth ME) American-British radio script writer

Nola Hill Ochs (22 nov 1911 – 09 dec 2016 | Jetmore KS – Dodge City KS) storyteller, cruise ship lecturer, world’s oldest Master’s degree recipient (at age 95 in 2007)

Mildred Nixon Gordon (24 jun 1912 – 03 feb 1979 | Eureka KS – Tucson AZ) teacher, magazine editor, crime fiction author

Elizabeth [Liz] Walbert Crandall (18 jan 1914 – 09 nov 2005 | Columbus KS – Brunswick ME) author, feminist, essayist, home economist, environmentalist, women’s rights activist

Dorothy DeLay (31 mar 1917 – 24 mar 2002 | Medicine Lodge KS – Upper Nyack NY) violinist, professor, master violin teacher, founded the Stuyvesant Trio

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (07 jun 1917 – 03 dec 2000 | Topeka KS – Chicago IL) poet, Pulitzer Prize laureate

Elizabeth Paschel Hoisington (03 nov 1918 – 21 aug 2007 | Newton KS – Springfield VA) author, biographer, women’s advocate, one of first female US Army brigadier generals, founded Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC)

Verna M. Linzey (17 may 1919 – 11 nov 2016 | Coffeyville KS – San Diego CA) author, chief editor, Biblical scholar, evangelical theologian


1920s

Edith Riley [Edie] McKee Harper (29 mar 1922 – 10 jan 2010 | Kansas City KS – Lebanon OH) artist, potter, painter, sculptor, lithographer, photographer, textile artist, jewelry maker, aka The Most Underappreciated Photographer in Cincinnati

Mary Fuller McChesney (20 oct 1922 – Wichita KS) author, sculptor, biographer, art historian

Mary Francis Shura (23 feb 1923 – 12 jan 1991 | Pratt KS – Maywood IL) children’s adventure / young adult historical novelist / biographer

Denise McCluggage (20 jan 1927 – 06 may 2015 | El Dorado KS – Santa Fe NM) journalist, sportswriter, pioneering female auto racer

Betty Dodson (24 aug 1929 – Wichita KS) artist, author, sex educator, sex positive feminist


1930s

Marilyn Ailene Hickey (01 jul 1931 – Overland Park KS) author, Christian minister / televangelist

Barbara Stander Uehling Charlton (12 jun 1932 – 02 jan 2020 | Wichita KS – San Diego CA) author, educator, university chancellor and administrator, first woman in US to lead a land-grant university

June Esther Griffin Bacon-Bercey (23 oct 1932 – 03 jul 2019 | Wichita KS – Burlingame CA) international weather and aviation expert, first woman / first African-American awarded American Meteorological Society’s Seal of Approval for television weather forecasting

Sandra Diane Seacat (02 oct 1936 – Greensburg KS) actress, director, method acting coach, aka Sandra Kaufman

Judith Ann [Judy] Mayotte (25 jan 1937 – Wichita KS) author, ethicist, professor, producer, humanitarian, former Catholic religious sister

Helen Chenoweth-Hage (27 jan 1938 – 02 oct 2006 | Topeka KS – near Tonopah NV) politician, private property rights activist, only female Senator to date from Idaho State

Jean Ferris (24 jan 1939 – 30 oct 2015 | Fort Leavenworth KS – San Diego CA) young-adult novelist


1940s

Diane Joyce Bish (25 may 1941 – Wichita KS) composer, conductor, concert organist, host / executive producer The Joy of Music tv program

Mary Rogeness (18 may 1941 – Kansas City KS) writer, politician, MA State Representative

Stanley Ann Dunham (29 nov 1942 – 07 nov 1995 | Wichita KS – Honolulu HI) author, anthropologist, women’s rights activist, micro-credit / cottage industry advocate, single mother of US President Barack Obama

Linda Flower (03 mar 1944 – Wichita KS) essayist, collaborative author, composition theorist, professor of rhetoric, service learning specialist

Katherine Karen Dunn (24 oct 1945 – 11 may 2016 | Garden City KS – Portland OR) poet, novelist, journalist, voice artist, book reviewer, radio personality

Ellen Marie Barrett (10 feb 1946 – Lawrence KS) first openly lesbian ordained Episcopal priest, LGBT Integrity group co-founder / co-president

Priscilla Kay Alden (24 oct 1946 – Hutchinson KS) head television screenwriter

Carol Voisin (29 jan 1947 – Colby KS) political activist, university professor, academic administrator, ethics / writing / critical thinking specialist

Jacqueline [Jackie] Basham Vietti (24 jul 1948 – Eureka KS) lecturer, retired educator and college president

Janet Sawhill Peery (18 jul 1948 – Wichita KS) novelist, short story writer


1950s

Donita Kathleen Paul (20 nov 1950 – Lawrence KS) Christian fiction / fantasy novelist

Verna Cheryl Womack (31 dec 1950 – Kansas City KS) philanthropist, entrepreneur, founded National Association of Independent Truckers insurance company

Susan Page (12 feb 1951 – Wichita KS) journalist, current Washington Bureau Chief for USA Today, cable news analyst, NPR Diane Rehm Show co-host

Rebecca [Becky] Dixon (14 apr 1951 – Coffeyville KS) tv broadcaster, news / sports anchor, television host

Beverly Hoch (26 aug 1951 – Marion KS) music educator, chamber musician, operatic coloratura soprano

Geraldine Lee Richmond (17 jan 1953 – Salina KS) author, chemist, physical chemist, academic chair, Director and co-Founder of COACh international grassroots mentoring / advocacy group for women scientists

Sheri Linn Dew (21 nov 1953 – Ulysses KS) author, publisher, LDS leader, inspirational speaker, president / CEO of Deseret Book Company

Marvel Williamson (04 nov 1953 – Holton KS) author, academic, nurse educator

Gale Ann Norton (11 mar 1954 – Wichita KS) attorney, former Attorney General for Colorado, first female US Secretary of the Interior, advocate for oil / gas drilling

Sheila Colleen Bair (03 apr 1954 – Independence KS) author, politician, social activist, consumer advocate, financial administrator

Mary Jo Andres (21 may 1954 – 06 jan 2019 | Wichita KS – Brooklyn NY) artist, director, filmmaker, choreographer, performance artist, artist-in-residence, cyanotype photographer, dance consultant to Wooster Group

Karla Burns (24 dec 1954 – Wichita KS) African-American operatic mezzo-soprano, master teacher

Lorianne Crook (19 feb 1957 – Wichita KS) tv / radio host, writer, producer

Terri Treas (19 jul 1957 – Kansas City KS) actress, director, screenwriter

Sabina Magliocco (30 dec 1959 – Topeka KS) author, essayist, folklorist, anthropologist, Fulbright Scholar, professor of anthropology