Margaret Thomas “Mardy” Murie was one of the first women to take a leading role in America’s conservation movement. Known as the “Grandmother of the Conservation Movement,” Murie was also the first woman to graduate from the University of Alaska in 1924. That same year, she married husband Olaus and began a lifetime of travel, research, … Continue reading Mardy Murie →

Historians and students alike owe a debt of gratitude to Agnes Wright Spring (far right), a Wyoming writer and historian who wrote 20 books focusing on Wyoming and Western history. She was the first woman to undertake many endeavors in Wyoming, including becoming the first female student to graduate with a civil engineering degree in … Continue reading Agnes Wright Spring →

Republican Thyra Thomson was the first woman elected to serve as Wyoming’s Secretary of State. The widow of a popular Wyoming politician, U.S. Rep. Keith Thomson, she first ran for office in 1963 and was not only able to transfer her late husband’s popularity into an electoral victory for herself, but also held the position for … Continue reading Thyra Thomson →

Harriet Elizabeth “Liz” Byrd was the first African-American woman to serve in the Wyoming State Legislature. She served in the House of Representatives from 1980 to 1988 and in the Senate from 1988 to 1992. Born and reared in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Byrd earned a bachelor’s degree in education in 1949 from West Virginia State College. … Continue reading Harriett Elizabeth Byrd →

Emma Howell was a young woman attending the University of Nebraska when she fell in love with Wilbur Knight, a mining engineer working in the Medicine Bow Range of Wyoming. They married on October 16, 1889. In time, they moved to Laramie where Wilbur taught mining engineering and metallurgy at the University of Wyoming while … Continue reading Emma Howell Knight →

Verda James was the first woman to serve a full term as Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives during the 1969-1970 sessions. James was a Wyoming educator who worked for the Wyoming Department of Education and Casper College before becoming the assistant superintendent for elementary education for Natrona County School District 1. She was elected … Continue reading Verda James →

Annie Proulx is an award-winning journalist and writer who made her home in Saratoga, Wyoming for many years. Proulx has written numerous books and short stories including the Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Shipping News” in 1984, which was later made into a movie starring Kevin Spacey. She is probably most famous for a short story titled … Continue reading Annie Proulx →