2008 Woodie Awards
Lecture showcases important women in SEK history
Sara Wade
Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: Front Page
While few people attended the lecture by Randy Roberts on Women in the History of Southeast Kansas on Monday, March 24, Roberts said there is no shortage of strong women in the area's history.
"There are so many women in Southeastern Kansas who are waiting to be discovered and to have their stories told," Roberts said.
Roberts held the lecture at 6:30 p.m. at the Special Collections Room in the Axe Library as part of Women's History Month, which is March.
Roberts told about a number of prominent women who had ties to the area. Several of them were PSU graduates.
One such woman is Margaret Haughawout, who was on the PSU faculty, taught English and creative writing from 1923-1934. Haughawout was a Nebraska native; she was well-educated, outspoken, unmarried and wore men's clothes.
She headed the Monday Nighters, a group of students who met at her house to read manuscripts out loud to have them criticized and was accused of being improper for having the students at her house. A number of those students eventually published books of poems.
"She took no prisoners on the work the students would give her," Roberts said.
Sarah Addams Haldeman became the first or second female president of a U.S. bank, the bank being the State Bank of Girard. She was the sister of Jane Addams, the Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Haldeman's daughter Anna Marcet Haldeman was a traveling actress. She took over the bank when her mother died in 1915.
"(She was) probably the richest woman in Kansas history during the time," Robert said.
She married Emmanuel Julius in 1916, becoming one of the first women to hyphenate her name. He worked for Appeal to Reason, a national newspaper based in Girard, with over 500,000 readers. The Haldeman-Juliuses bought the newspaper when it died out and printed the Little Blue Books, becoming one of the first places where foreign titles were translated and published. The couple were one of the few major employers of women during the time.
"There are so many women in Southeastern Kansas who are waiting to be discovered and to have their stories told," Roberts said.
Roberts held the lecture at 6:30 p.m. at the Special Collections Room in the Axe Library as part of Women's History Month, which is March.
Roberts told about a number of prominent women who had ties to the area. Several of them were PSU graduates.
One such woman is Margaret Haughawout, who was on the PSU faculty, taught English and creative writing from 1923-1934. Haughawout was a Nebraska native; she was well-educated, outspoken, unmarried and wore men's clothes.
She headed the Monday Nighters, a group of students who met at her house to read manuscripts out loud to have them criticized and was accused of being improper for having the students at her house. A number of those students eventually published books of poems.
"She took no prisoners on the work the students would give her," Roberts said.
Sarah Addams Haldeman became the first or second female president of a U.S. bank, the bank being the State Bank of Girard. She was the sister of Jane Addams, the Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Haldeman's daughter Anna Marcet Haldeman was a traveling actress. She took over the bank when her mother died in 1915.
"(She was) probably the richest woman in Kansas history during the time," Robert said.
She married Emmanuel Julius in 1916, becoming one of the first women to hyphenate her name. He worked for Appeal to Reason, a national newspaper based in Girard, with over 500,000 readers. The Haldeman-Juliuses bought the newspaper when it died out and printed the Little Blue Books, becoming one of the first places where foreign titles were translated and published. The couple were one of the few major employers of women during the time.
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