Minerva Goodman (January 2, 1876 – July 1, 1967) was an American physician, suffragist, and clubwoman, based in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

Early life and education

Goodman was born in Orion Township,

Olmsted County, Minnesota Olmsted County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population is 162,847. Its county seat and most populous city is Rochester. Olmsted County is part of the Rochester Metropolitan Statistical Area. Histor ...

, the daughter of Harvey Adelbert Goodman and Jane Ayer Robinson Goodman. She earned her medical degree at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in 1902.

Career

Goodman was a physician in Stockton, California from 1904 until 1962. As city health officer, she organized " better baby contests" and instituted mask mandates during the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the Influenza A virus subtype H1N1, H1N1 subtype of the influenz ...

. She was also the school medical inspector and secretary of the local

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

chapter. She spoke to community groups on a wide range of public health matters, including meat inspection and safety in childbirth. She helped to create Stockton's sanatorium for

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

patients. "Dr. Goodman is not a woman of beautiful theories and cobwebbed plans, but of practical ideas cast in the mould of common sense," explained a 1909 newspaper profile. From 1924 to 1962, Goodman was the physician for women students at the

College of the Pacific College of the Pacific (less formally Pacific College) is the liberal arts college of the University of the Pacific, a private Methodist-affiliated university with its main campus in Stockton, California. The college offers degrees in the natural ...

. She was president of the Stockton Political Equality Club. She supported the work of the Wage Earners' Equal Suffrage League of San Francisco, and the Political Equality League of Los Angeles. After the vote was won, she was active in the local

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV) is a nonpartisan American nonprofit political organization. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include Voter registration, registering voters, providing voter information, boosting voter turnout and adv ...

. Beyond her medicine and suffrage activities, Stockton was president of Stockton's Business and Professional Women's Club, and president of the San Jose chapter of the

American Association of University Women The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances Justice, equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide Social net ...

(AAUW). She hiked with the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

, and was a leader of the Stockton

Camp Fire Girls Camp Fire, formerly Camp Fire USA and originally Camp Fire Girls of America, is a co-ed youth development organization. Camp Fire was the first nonsectarian, multicultural organization for girls in America. It is now gender-inclusive, and its p ...

. She traveled in Europe during the summer of 1927, and wrote travel descriptions for the Stockton newspaper. She served on the board of directors of

Goodwill Industries Goodwill Industries International Inc., or simply Goodwill, is an American business that provides job training, employment placement services and other community-based programs for people who face barriers in their employment. Goodwill Indust ...

of Stockton in the late 1930s. In 1954, she attended a Stockton city council meeting to protest a change in policy pertaining to sidewalk repairs.

Personal life

Goodman adopted and raised a daughter, Elizabeth, who was born in 1915. Goodman died in 1967, at the age of 91. There is a collection of her papers, mostly concerning her suffrage work, in the collection of the University of the Pacific.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodman, Minerva 1876 births 1967 deaths People from Stockton, California University of Minnesota alumni American physicians American suffragists