1860s
Gratia Alta Countryman (26 nov 1866 – 26 jul 1953 | Hastings MN – Duluth MN) author, pioneering US public librarian, instituted mobile library, civic / social / cultural / outreach activist
Frances Theresa Densmore (21 may 1867 – 05 jun 1957 | Red Wing MN – Red Wing MN) ethnographer, ethnomusicologist
Maud Slye (08 feb 1869 – 17 sep 1954 | Minneapolis MN – Chicago IL) poet, musician, pathologist, cancer researcher
Jennie Amelia Vennerström Cannon (31 aug 1869 – 12 dec 1952 | Albert Lea MN – Tucson AZ) artist, etcher, painter, author, art critic, professor, co-founded Carmel Art Association and California League of Fine Arts
Anne Richmond French Warner (14 oct 1869 – 01 feb 1913 | St Paul MN – Dorset UK) author
1870s
Amy Eliza Tanner (21 mar 1870 – 01 feb 1956 | Owatonna MN – Worcester MA) author, psychologist, doctor of philosophy, spiritual medium researcher, theater owner / manager, girls / women’s club activist
Anna Agnes Maley (16 jan 1872 – 24 nov 1918 | Faxon MN – Minneapolis MN) teacher, journalist, political activist, newspaper editor
Mary Hamilton O’Connor (01 sep 1872 – 03 sep 1959 | St Paul MN – Los Angeles CA) author, silent film screenwriter
Eleanor Gates (26 sep 1874 – 07 mar 1951 | Shakopee MN – Los Angeles CA) novelist, playwright, scriptwriter
Idabelle Smith Firestone (10 nov 1874 – 07 jul 1954 | Minnesota City MN – Akron OH) musician, composer, songwriter
Ada Louise Comstock (11 dec 1876 – 12 dec 1973 | Moorehead MN – New Haven CT) author, scholar, women’s education pioneer, first dean of women at University of Minnesota, first full-time president of Radcliffe College
Clara Gardner Mairs (05 jan 1878 – 24 may 1963 | Hastings MN – Ramsey MN) artist, etcher, printmaker
1880s
Blanche Yurka (19 jun 1887 – 06 jun 1974 | St Paul MN – New York NY) author, actress, memoirist
1890s
Marjory Stoneman Douglas (07 apr 1890 – 14 may 1998 | Minneapolis MN – Coconut Grove FL) writer, feminist, journalist, environmentalist [portrait credit: 5th grader, Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary, Miami FL]
Della Gould Emmons (12 aug 1890 – 06 nov 1983 | Glencoe MN – Tacoma WA) playwright, biographer, historical novelist
Florence Mary MacBeth (12 jan 1891 – 05 may 1966 Mankato MN – Hyattsville MD) operatic soprano, Los Angeles Opera Guild organizer
Margaret Frances Culkin Banning (18 mar 1891 – 04 jan 1982 | Buffalo MN – Tryon NC) novelist, women’s rights advocate
Lillie Hayward (12 sep 1891 – 29 jun 1977 | St Paul MN – Hollywood CA) actress, script editor, screenwriter
Maud Hart Lovelace (25 apr 1892 – 11 mar 1980 | Mankato MN – Claremont CA) adult historical / serial children’s novelist
Wanda Hazel Gág (11 mar 1893 – 27 jun 1946 | New Ulm MN – New York NY) artist, author, translator, illustrator, printmaker, children’s book author-illustrator
Teckla Marie Broberg Carlson Tuveson (07 apr 1893 – 14 aug 1964| Saint Paul MN – Spokane WA) travel agent, civic activist, owner / manager of Werner-Broberg Travel Agency, vice-president of American Society of Travel Agents, Pacific Northwest
Lucile Lundquist Blanch (31 dec 1895 – 31 oct 1981 | Hawley MN – Kingston NY) painter, Guggenheim Fellow
Nora Burglon (28 apr 1896 – 01 jan 1976 | Minnesota US – Everett WA) author, artist, teacher, world traveler
Gale Sondergaard (15 feb 1899 – 14 aug 1985 | Litchfield MN – Woodland Hills CA) actress, blacklisted, one of The Hollywood Ten, born Edith Holm Sondergaard
Katharine [Kit] Ordway (03 apr 1899 – 27 jun 1979 | St Paul MN – Weston CT) botanist, heiress, philanthropist, conservationist
1900s
Mary Annella Zervas (07 apr 1900 – 14 aug 1926 | Moorhead MN – Moorhead MN) US Benedictine nun, aka The Apostle of Suffering, healing apparitions attributed to her after her death
Robyna Neilson Ketchum (02 jan 1901 – 09 nov 1972 | Winona MN – Cos Cob CT) stage actress, radio broadcaster, antique bell / chime collector, musical instruments patron
Esther Elvina Rose Holbeck (01 apr 1901 – 16 jul 1990 | Two Harbors MN – La Mesa CA) painter, calligrapher
Carlotta Corpron (09 dec 1901 – 17 apr 1988 | Blue Earth MN – Denton TX) abstract / Bauhaus fine art photographer
Kay Boyle (19 feb 1902 – 27 dec 1992 | St Paul MN – Mill Valley CA) writer, educator, political activist
Jessie Ravitch Bernard (08 jun 1903 – 06 oct 1996 | Minneapolis MN – Washington DC) author, feminist, theorist, sociologist, researcher
Florence Gunderson Klingensmith (03 sep 1904 – 04 sep 1933 | Oakport MN – Northfield IL) aviator during Golden Age of Air Racing, founding member of women’s pilot group the Ninety-Nines
Mary Welsh Hemingway (05 apr 1908 – 26 nov 1986 | Walker MN – New York NY) journalist, literary figure, autobiographical author
1910s
Beatrice Joy Chute (03 jan 1913 – 06 sep 1987 | Minneapolis MN – New York NY) author, professor, short fiction writer
Marion Downs (26 jan 1914 – 13 nov 2014 | New Ulm MN – Dana Point CA) audiologist, memoirist, pioneered infant hearing testing
Jane Elizabeth Hodgson (23 jan 1915 – 23 oct 2006 | Crookston MN – Rochester MN) author, feminist, obstetrician / gynecologist
Adrien Stoutenburg (01 dec 1916 – 14 apr 1982 | Darfur MN – Santa Barbara CA) poet, librarian, non-fiction author, children’s / young adult fiction writer
Elizabeth Florence Colson (15 jun 1917 – 03 aug 2016 | Hewitt MN – Monze, Zambia) author, social anthropologist, professor emerita
Ruth Leone Robinson Duccini (23 jul 1918 – 16 jan 2014 | Rush City MN – Las Vegas NV) riveter, actress, penultimate surviving Munchkin from 1939 film Wizard of Oz
Kathleen Winsor (16 oct 1919 – 26 may 2003 | Olivia MN – New York NY) historical romance novelist
1920s
Marion Anderson Carpenter (06 mar 1920 – 29 oct 2002 | St Paul MN – St Paul MN) photojournalist, first female US national press photographer to cover Washington DC and the White House
Kathryn Elizabeth Hohn Adams Doty (15 jul 1920 – 14 oct 2016 | New Ulm MN – Mankato MN) actress, novelist, memoirist
Maura McNiel (11 apr 1921 – 18 jul 2020 | Minneapolis MN – Dallas TX) feminist, social activist, women’s rights advocate
Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell (21 jun 1921 – 28 feb 2011 | Bemidji MN – Santa Maria CA) singer, model, actress, pro-life advocate, founded Hollywood Christian Group, founded first international adoption program called Waif
Dora Jean Dougherty Strother McKeown (27 nov 1921 – 19 nov 2013 | St. Paul MN – Fort Worth TX) pilot, author, memoirist, instructor, oral historian, human factors engineer, demonstration pilot, helicopter test pilot, member Woman Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), PhD in Aviation Education (NYU, 1955), sixth US woman to earn airline transport pilot license
Judy Garland (10 jun 1922 – 22 jun 1969 | Grand Rapids MN – London UK) singer, actress, vaudevillian, née Ethel Frances Gumm
Shirley Ardell Mason (25 jan 1923 – 26 feb 1998 | Dodge Center MN – Lexington KY) folk figure, visual artist, sixteen separate personalities, aka Sybil Isabel Dorsett, aka The Most Famous Psychiatric Patient in History
Joanna Aalfs (29 mar 1923 – 03 feb 2021 | St Paul MN – Northampton MA) political organizer, Presbyterian minister, LGBT / women’s rights activist, domestic violence survivor, anti-domestic violence advocate
Margot Siegel (02 apr 1923 – 24 feb 2015 | St Paul MN – Palm Spring FL) editor, reporter, journalist, public relations director, founded Palm Spring Fashion Group, namesake for Margot Siegel Design Award for emerging designers
Gloria Tew (10 may 1923 – Duluth MN) abstract sculptor
Geraldine [Geri] Mack Joseph (19 jun 1923 – Saint Paul MN) journalist, academic / political figure, former US Ambassador to the Netherlands
Margaret Ellen Traxler (11 mar 1924 – 12 feb 2002 | Henderson MN – Mankato MN) aka Sister Mary Peter, social / women’s activist leader, member School Sisters of Notre Dame, founded Institute for Women Today, opened Sister House half-way house for women
Bebe Baron (16 jun 1925 – 20 apr 2008 | Minneapolis MN – Beverly Hills CA) composer, electronic music pioneer, born Charlotte May Wind
Arlene Carol Dahl (11 aug 1925 – Minneapolis MN) actress, columnist, businesswoman
Arvonne Fraser (01 sep 1925 – 07 aug 2018 | Lamberton MN – Hudson WI) author, academic, feminist, women’s rights activist, senior fellow emerita, former US Ambassador to UN Commission on Status of Women
Joyce Chapman Lebra (21 dec 1925 – Minneapolis MN) nonfiction author, historical novelist, historian of India and Japan, first female US PhD in Japanese History
Midge Rosenthal Decter (25 jul 1927 – St Paul MN) author, essayist, journalist
Joan Beverly Mansfield Kroc (27 aug 1928 – 12 oct 2003 | West St Paul MN – Rancho Santa Fe CA) social activist, philanthropist, world peace promoter, peace studies program funder / founder
Barbara Remington (23 jun 1929 – 23 jan 2020 | MN – Thompson PA) artist, illustrator, Tolkienist
1930s
Nathalie Kay [Tippi] Hedren (19 jan 1930 – New Ulm MN) actress, former fashion model, worldwide relief worker, animal rights activist, focus on lions and tigers, founded Roar Foundation to support The Shambala Preserve in Acton CA, instrumental in development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the US
Cynthia Furber Cooley (17 jul 1931 – Minneapolis MN) artist, painter, lifelong traveler, specializes in Pittsburgh PA industrial mills / valleys / neighborhoods
Kay Nolte Smith (04 jul 1932 – 25 sep 1993 | Eveleth MN – Tinton Falls NJ) novelist, essayist, translator
Katherine Murray [Kate] Millet (14 sep 1934 – 06 sep 2017 | St Paul MN – Paris, France) artist, writer, activist, feminist, educator, first American woman awarded a degree with first-class honors at St Hilda’s College, Oxford UK
Alessandra Comini (24 nov 1934 – Winona MN) author, curator, biographer, art historian, professor emerita, interdisciplinary approach
Joan M. Jensen (09 dec 1934 – St Paul MN) author, historian, women’s history researcher
Rozanne Lejeanne Ridgway (22 aug 1935 – Saint Paul MN) author, US foreign policy leader, former US Ambassador, former member US State Department, Chair Baltic-American Freedom Foundation
Sarah Blacher Cohen (11 jun 1936 – 10 nov 2008 | Appleton MN – Albany NY) writer, scholar, playwright, professor
Rosemary Radford Ruether (02 nov 1936 – St Paul MN) author, feminist scholar, Catholic theologian, advocate for women’s ordination
Sylvia Belle Chase (23 feb 1938 – 03 jan 2019 | Northfield MN – Marin County CA) pioneering female broadcast journalist, original member of 20/20
1940s
Dorothy Hinshaw Patent (30 apr 1940 – Rochester MN) teacher, children’s nonfiction author
Geri Evans (06 sep 1940 – 30 mar 2018 | Blue Earth MN – MN) educator, politician
Joan Elaine Argetsinger Steitz (26 jan 1941 – Minneapolis MN) professor, biochemist, molecular biologist, innovative RNA researcher
Judith Lodge (25 jul 1941 – St. Paul MN) artist, painter, photographer, American-Canadian, inter-media abstract expressionist
Anne Phyllis Tyler (25 oct 1941 – Minneapolis MN) novelist, short story writer
Tammy Faye LaValley Bakker Messner (07 mar 1942 – 20 jul 2007 | International Falls MN – Loch Lloyd MO) author, Christian singer, evangelist, entrepreneur, television personality, talk show host
LaVyrle Spencer (17 jul 1943 – Browerville MN) historical romance novelist, creative writing teacher
Beverly Scalze (27 oct 1943 – Baudette MN) artist, state politician, businesswoman
Jeanne Murray Walker (27 may 1944 – Parkers Prairie MN) poet, playwright
Freya Manfred (28 nov 1944 – Minneapolis MN) poet
Joyce Marie Horman (03 dec 1944 – Owatonna MN) public speaker, human rights activist, husband killed in Chile, founded Horman Truth Foundation
Susan Jane Berman (18 may 1945 – 23 dec 2000 | Minneapolis MN – Los Angeles CA) author, journalist, memoirist, murder victim
Joan Plaisted (29 aug 1945 – St. Peter MN) diplomat, US Ambassador
Patricia Hampl (12 mar 1946 – St Paul MN) author, memoirist, lecturer, educator, Loft Literary Center founding member
Catharine Alice MacKinnon (07 oct 1946 – Minneapolis MN) author, scholar, activist, feminist, lawyer, professor
Judith Bruce (23 oct 1946 – Minneapolis MN) author, policy analyst, senior associate Population Council Poverty, Gender, and Youth Program
Andrea Een (22 jan 1947 – Mankato MN) Norwegian-American author, musician, composer, professor emerita
Dorothy Lyman (18 apr 1947 – Minneapolis MN) tv actress, director, producer
Cheryl Tiegs (25 sep 1947 – Breckenridge MN) model, actress, designer, explorer, businesswoman, non-fiction author
Janet Perry (27 dec 1947 – Minneapolis MN) operatic soprano
Joan Mankin (16 may 1948 – 26 sep 2015 | Minneapolis MN – San Francisco CA) actor, clown, feminist, performance artist
Susan Maria Blupka (12 jul 1948 – St Paul MN) aka Sue Blu, tv / film voice actress, voice director, casting director
Elizabeth Berg (02 dec 1948 – Saint Paul MN) nurse, novelist, essayist
Deborah Hertz (09 feb 1949 – Saint Paul MN) author, professor, modern German / Jewish / women’s historian, history of radical Jewish women research expert, co-founder / co-director Holocaust Living History Workshop
Mary Alice Williams (12 mar 1949 – Minneapolis MN) former tv news anchor, associate professor of journalism, investigative broadcast journalist, former Vice President of CNN news division
Ellen Hart (10 aug 1949 – Minneapolis MN) former chef, mystery novelist
Joyce Sutphen (10 aug 1949 – St Joseph MN) poet, Minnesota Poet Laureate
1950s
Nancy Jane Steen (31 jan 1950 – Shoreview MN) tv writer, actress, producer
Meredith Sue Schulz Hodges (05 feb 1950 – Minneapolis MN) author, educator, television personality, equine trainer / competitor
Lyn Yvonne Abramson (07 feb 1950 – Benson MN) author, essayist, clinical psychologist, prejudice / depression expert researcher
Mary Pat Gleason (23 feb 1950 – 02 jun 2020 | Lake City MN – Burbank CA) screenwriter, film / television actress, bipolar disorder / mental health treatment advocate
Jenifer Neils (16 oct 1950 – Minneapolis MN) author, curator, professor, art historian, classical archaeologist, focus on art of ancient Greece, expert in iconography
Sharon Sayles Belton (13 may 1951 – Saint Paul MN) politician, social activist, community leader
Starhawk (17 jun 1951 – Saint Paul MN) author, teacher, activist, born Miriam Siros, ecofeminist / feminist Neopaganism theorist
Mona Lyn Reese (24 aug 1951 – Morris MN) opera / choral music composer
Marcia Kemper McNutt (19 feb 1952 – Minneapolis MN) geophysicist, editor-in-chief of Science journal, president of National Academy of Sciences [NAS], first female director of US Geological Survey [USGS]
Laura Moriarty (08 apr 1952 – St. Paul MN) poet, novelist
Paula Dahl Huston (25 apr 1952 – Minneapolis MN) novelist, essayist, short story writer, creative nonfiction writer
Jane Anne Gallop (04 may 1952 – Duluth MN) author, editor, essayist, professor, memoirist, biographer
Margaret Crosby [Peggy] Rathmann (04 mar 1953 – St Paul MN) children’s picture books author / illustrator
Patrice M. Regnier (03 may 1953 – Minneapolis MN) inventor, director, producer, choreographer
Dennie Gordon (09 may 1953 – Robbinsdale MN) film and television director
Barbara Elaine Peterson Burwell (25 nov 1953 – Edina MN) nationally recognized philanthropist, president of Burwell Family Foundation
Ann Reed (01 dec 1954 – Minneapolis MN) playwright, producer, twelve-string guitarist, singer-songwriter, women / children’s activist / philanthropist
Connie Brockway (16 dec 1954 – Minneapolis MN) historical romance novelist
Susan Smalley (18 feb 1955 – Minneapolis MN) author, behavioral geneticist, mindfulness researcher, international speaker
Chellie Pingree (02 apr 1955 – Minneapolis MN) knitter, politician, entrepreneur, Common Cause leader, North Island Designs founder / CEO, co-owner North Haven ME lodge / restaurant
Ann Bancroft (29 sep 1955 – St Paul MN) author, teacher, adventurer, first woman to successfully finish expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic
Pamela Jean Scheunemann Chenevert (25 oct 1955 – Minneapolis MN ) production manager, children’s picture book author, Minnesota Book Builders founding member
Debbie Lynn Rothstein (12 jun 1956 – Ramsey MN) voice actress, aka Debbie Papenbrook, creator / producer of A Faery Hunt youth theatre company
Claire Robling (22 oct 1956 – Chanhassen MN) journalist, freelance writer, state legislator
Katherine Ellison (19 aug 1957 – Minnesota US) editor, author, columnist, memoirist, speechwriter, motherhood / progressive education advocate, Pulitzer Prize co-laureate for International Reporting
Deb Vanasse (12 sep 1957 – St Paul MN) biographer, photograph editor, young adult novelist, travel guide writer, children’s picture book author
Janell Cannon (03 nov 1957 – St Paul MN) children’s book writer / illustrator
Lauren Susan Green (30 jun 1958 – Minneapolis MN) news anchor, chief religion correspondent
Sheree Julienne Wilson (12 dec 1958 -Rochester MN) model, actress, producer, businesswoman
Kate Roberts (03 apr 1959 – Moorhead MN) author, historical museum curator