Women | US-NE | Nebraska

1850s

Helena Stuart Dudley (31 aug 1852 – 29 sep 1932 | Florence NE – Geneva, Switzerland) pacifist, biologist, Christian Socialist, pioneer settlement worker


1860s

Susan La Flesche Picotte (17 jun 1865 – 18 sep 1915 | Omaha Reservation NE – Walthill NE) doctor, reformer, children’s health activist, first female Native American trained physician, founded first hospital on Omaha reservation

Rheta Childe Dorr (02 nov 1868 – 08 aug 1948 | Omaha NE – Bucks County PA) author, journalist, social worker, political activist, suffragist newspaper editor


1870s

Angel De Cora (03 may 1871 – 06 feb 1919 | Thurston NE – Northampton MA) Winnebago teacher, painter, illustrator, Native American rights activist, aka Hinook-Mahiwi-Kalinaka [Fleecy Cloud Floating in Place]

Louise Pound (30 jun 1872 – 27 jun 1958 | Lincoln NE – Lincoln NE) author, athlete, feminist, folklorist, professor

Elizabeth Tuttle Holsman (25 sep 1873 – 04 oct 1956 | Brownville NE – Evanston IL) sculptor, portrait painter

Kate Barnard (23 may 1875 – 23 feb 1930 | Geneva NE – Oklahoma City OK) folk figure, pioneer politician, prison reformer, first female elected by men before US suffrage

Edith Abbott (26 sep 1876 – 28 jul 1957 | Grand Island NE – Grand Island NE) author, educator, economist, social worker

Grace Abbott (17 nov 1878 – 19 jun 1939 | Grand Isle NE – Chicago IL) social worker, child welfare activist

Adeline Sarah Ames (06 oct 1879 – 11 feb 1976 | Henderson NE – Long Beach CA) author, botanist, mycologist


1880s

Gladys Rowena Henry Dick (18 dec 1881 – 21 aug 1963 | Pawnee City NE – Palo Alto CA) physician, scarlet fever co-discoverer, professional adoption organization founder

Viola Florence Barnes (28 aug 1885 – 01 jul 1979 | Albion NE – South Hadley MA) author, historian, prominent American studies history scholar

Anna Louise Strong (24 nov 1885 – 29 mar 1970 | Friend NE – Beijing, China) pacifist, journalist, political activist, children’s welfare activist

Leta Stetter Hollingworth (25 may 1886 – 27 nov 1939 | Dawes County NE – New York NY) author, psychological researcher

Josephine Aspinwall Roche (02 dec 1886 – 26 jul 1976 | Neligh NE – Bethesda MD) activist, politician, industrialist, humanitarian, New Deal administrator, first female Denver police officer, United Mine Workers administrator, Foreign Language Information Services director

Hazel Hempel Abel (10 jul 1888 – 30 jul 1966 | Plattsmouth NE – Lincoln NE) politician, high school teacher / principal, first female Senator elected from Nebraska


1890s

Carmelita Chase Hinton (20 apr 1890 – 16 jan 1983 | Omaha NE – Concord MA) farmer, gardener, visionary, adventurer, progressive educator, founding director of The Putney School in Putney, Vermont

Adeline De Sale Link (04 jan 1892 – 20 nov 1943 | Omaha NE – Chicago IL) author, chemist, chemistry professor

Margaret Fuller Boos (17 jun 1892 – 20 aug 1978 | Beatrice NE – Denver CO) hiker, geologist, science teacher, professor of geology, fieldwork focus on pegmatite geology, aka Petroluem’s First Lady, first female ranger-naturalist at Rocky Mountain National Park

Mabel Gudmundsen Gillespie (13 oct 1894 – 24 nov 1982 | Ord NE – Omaha NE) farmer, teacher, journalist, politician, first woman elected as Nebraska State legislator, first female reporter in Nebraska to work the general news beat

Bess Furman (02 dec 1894 – 12 may 1969 | Danbury NE – Woodacres MD) author, journalist, White House reporter

Regina Olson Hughes (01 feb 1895 – 12 aug 1993 | Herman NE – Washington DC) deaf artist, translator, scientific botanical illustrator

Mari Susette Sandoz (11 may 1896 – 10 mar 1966 | Hay Springs NE – New York NY) novelist, teacher, lecturer, biographer

Mignon Good Eberhart (06 jul 1899 – 08 oct 1996 | Lincoln NE – Greenwich CT) mystery novelist, short fiction author


1900s

Florence Maria Ahlberg  (11 jul 1902 – 01 feb 1987 | Homer NE – Hayward CA) painter

Barbara Inez Barnes Lucas(01 sep 1902 – 23 feb 1990 | Cody NE – Fort Worth TX) rodeo cowgirl [sic], aka Rodeo’s First Lady, established Tad Lucas Award for Western women

Vera Blanche Thomas (19 mar 1903 – unknown | Omaha NE – Tucson AZ) registered nurse, public health nursing activist / educator

Marguerite Roberts (21 sep 1905 – 17 feb 1989 | Clarks NE – Santa Barbara CA) screenwriter, one of highest paid in 1930s, blacklisted for refusing to testify before House Un-American Activities Committee [HUAC]

Evelyn Gentry Hooker (02 sep 1907 – 18 nov 1996 | North Platte NE – Santa Monica CA) author, psychologist, male homosexuality researcher

Evelyn Maurine Norton Lincoln (25 jun 1909 – 11 may 1995 | Polk County NE – Washington DC) memoirist, secretary to Senator-then-President JFK


1910s

Verda Evelyn Ruby Bilger Bryant (28 jan 1910 – 30 aug 2011 | Norfolk NE – Independence MO) religious author

Tillie Lerner Olsen (14 jan 1912 – 01 jan 2007 | Wahoo NE – Oakland CA) biographer, political activist, unfinished novelist, nonfiction author, first wave American feminist, US Communist party member, award-winning short fiction writer

Virginia Faulkner (01 mar 1913 – 01 sep 1980 | Lincoln NE – Lincoln NE) editor, author

Edith Emerald Johns (19 jan 1915 – 10 jun 1999 | Winnebago Reservation NE – Chicago IL) nurse, community leader, Winnebago-Nez Perce, aka Patche-Ka-Danga and Edith Big Fire Johns, founding member Native American Educational Services College

Margaret Frances [Peg] Lynch (25 nov 1916 – 24 jul 2015 | Lincoln NE – Becket MA) memoirist, radio / tv scriptwriter / sitcom creator, one of first US women to single-handedly own, write, and star in her own comedy series

Doris Swenson Whithorn (18 dec 1916 – 19 jul 2013 | Davenport NE – Livingston MT) author, historian, focus on Livingston, Park County, and Yellowstone Park, helped start the Yellowstone Gateway Museum of Park County

Joyce Ballantyne Brand(04 apr 1918 – 15 may 2006 | Norfolk NE – Ocala FL) artist, portrait painter, commercial artist


1920s

Bertha Calloway (14 jul 1925 – 25 nov 2017 | North Omaha NE – North Omaha NE) author, historian, community activist, founded Negro History Society, founded / directed Great Plains Black History Museum

Doris Buffett (12 feb 1928 – 04 aug 2020 | Omaha NE – Rockport ME) retail philanthropist

Joyce Oldham Appleby (09 apr 1929 – 23 dec 2016 | Omaha NE – Taos NM) author, essayist, historian, professor emerita


1930s

Loree Rackstraw (27 jun 1931 –  08 mau 2018 | Omaha NE – Grinnell IA) memoirist, literary critic, born Lora Lee Pugh, known as Kurt Vonnegut friend / confidant

Beverly Deepe Keever (01 jun 1935 – Hebron NE) author, journalist, Vietnam War correspondent,  professor emerita of journalism and communications

Mary Lee Wheat Gray (08 apr 1939 – Nebraska US) author, mathematician, Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) founding member / president


1940s

Karen Arthur (24 aug 1941 – Omaha NE) actress, director, producer

Jonis Agee (31 may 1943 – Omaha NE) teacher, novelist, essayist, short story writer, screenwriter

Ree Troia Schonlau Kaneko (01 feb 1946 – Omaha NE) artist, arts consultant, arts administrator

Larissa [Lauri] Grunig (28 apr 1946 –  Lincoln NE) author, feminist, former newspaper editor / reporter, public relations theorist / scholar

Arlene Klasky (26 may 1949 – Omaha NE) animator, graphic designer, tv producer, animation activist

Patricia Lynn [Patty] Wetterling (02 nov 1949 – Omaha NE) political activist, community organizer, children’s safety advocate, co-founded Jacob Wetterling Foundation, International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children board member


1950s

Londa Schiebinger (13 may 1952 – Lincoln NE) author, science historian, gender and science expert

Kathryn Grant Ptacek (12 sep 1952 – Omaha NE) editor, novelist, short fiction writer, pen names: Les Simons, Kathryn Atwood, Anne Mayfield, Kathleen Maxwell, Kathryn Ptacek, Kathryn Grant

Susan Alice Buffett (30 jul 1953 – Omaha NE) heiress, philanthropist, children / family / education activist

Paula Zahn (24 feb 1956 – Omaha NE) journalist, newscaster, true crime documentary host / producer

Lisa Dale Norton (08 jul 1956 – Osceola NE) literary / creative non-fiction author

Virginia [Ginni] Lamp Thomas (23 feb 1957 – Omaha NE) attorney, lobbyist, columnist, Conservative, founded Liberty Consulting / Liberty Central, married to US Supreme Justice Clarence Thomas