The Women of Southwest Minnesota and the Great War
November 10, 2022 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Edgerton Library
Anita Talsma Gaul will present “The Women of Southwest Minnesota and the Great War”, which explores how the women of this region contributed to the war effort in expected and unexpected ways. Women living in Southwest Minnesota overwhelmingly supported World War I by joining the Red Cross, participating in the US Food Administration’s food conservation campaign, or by serving as nurses. Some women used the opportunity to challenge traditional gender roles and take jobs usually held by men, such as working as field hands, as railroad depot agents, or forming Minnesota’s only all-female Home Guard unit. Winning the “great war for democracy” was due, in no small part, to the efforts of America’s women and this includes the efforts of women living in Southwest Minnesota.
Anita Talsma Gaul holds a PhD in History from the University of Iowa and is a History Instructor at Minnesota West Community and Technical College in Worthington, Minnesota. She is the author The Women of Southwest Minnesota and the Great War, published by the Society for the Study of Local and Regional History (2018), as well as Homely Girls and Pretty Babies: A History of the Murray County Fair, published by the Murray County Agricultural Society (2013). She has also authored a number of articles for MNopedia, the online Minnesota encyclopedia published by the Minnesota Historical Society.
This program made possible with funding from American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.