Display Description: The contributions of 22 local early Kansas women are presented in this display. A list of the women, their roles, and links to their biographies are below the display overview.

• Display Location & Dates: May 21 – Dec. 31, 2026
• Baldwin City Public Library, 800 7th Street, Baldwin City, KS 66006
• Mon – Thurs. 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
• Fri. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
• Sat. 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
• Closed Sundays

Display Overview: Kansas pioneer men and women worked together diligently with strength, determination, and grit to form the territory into a great state.   In the mid-1800s, women’s roles revolved around their families.  They were wives and mothers, caring for their homes and the health, spiritual, and moral well-being of their family.

Early Kansas was an untamed, unsettled area.  The hard work needed to create farms and homes required that women labored along with men. Communities worked together and women expanded their roles to care for neighbors and friends. The settlers valued and promoted education and religion, which included and created new opportunities for women.

“The Spirit of Kansas Women” display presents information about local women who made major contributions to early Douglas County.  They include the first college graduate, the first dentist, early physicians, pioneer women, an early pharmacist, an early mayor, an ex-slave (later landowner and midwife), business owners, teachers, political advocates, and more. 

The Women:

Click on name to see story (available May 21, 2026)

• Kansas In the 1850s – a description of life in Kansas in the 1850s
• Bahnmaier, Carolyn Wezstein – Pioneer (1826–1899)
• Bell, Anna Maria – Business Owner/Manager (1827-1910)
• Brooks, Anna – Waitress, Maid, Ex-Slave (c. 1850–1934)
• Dillard, Mary Jane – Teacher (1874–1954)
• Fish, Eudora – Mother, Wife, Shawnee Tribe Member  (1848–1877)
• Gill, Martha Cutter Kelley – Library Founder, Teacher (1841–1925)
• Hall, Olive Willey – First College Graduate, Teacher (1843-1919)
• Harvey, Rebecca Brooks – Midwife, Ex-Slave, Landowner (1828–1918)
• Hitchcock, Florence Mann – Early Pharmacist (1877–1947)
• Leonard, Elizabeth Perkins – First Professor, Activist (1828-1905)
• Lister, Mary Graham – Pioneer (1842-1916)
• Lovejoy, Julia Hardy – Newspaper Correspondent, Political Advocate (1812-1864)
• Magoffin, Susan Shelby – Santa Fe Trail Traveler & Reporter (1827–1855)
• Miller, Dr. Mary McQuiston – Early Physician (1869–1943)
• Nottingham, Roberta – Teacher (1903–1989)
• Pendleton, Genevieve Lingard – Poet, Banker, Women’s Leader & Advocate (1878-1934)
• Prentiss, Annie Soule – Library Founder, Teacher, Free-State Advocate (1842-1931)
• Robinson, Sara – Political Activist (1827-1911)
• Simmons, Elmira Dodder – Pioneer, Business Operator/Manager (1840-1904)
• Sullivan, Lucy Sweet – Early Mayor (1831–1907)
• Taylor, Lucy Hobbs – First Dentist (1833–1910)
• Weldon, Angeline – Civil War Army Nurse (1811–1897)

“The Spirit of Women”  project would not have been possible without the profound assistance, contributions, and support of the following:

You have our sincere and deep appreciation!