Minnie Craig (''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Davenport, November 4, 1883 – July 2, 1966) was an American

legislator A legislator, or lawmaker, is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people, but they can be appointed, or hereditary. Legislatures may be supra-nat ...

, notable as the first female speaker of a state House of Representatives in the United States.''The Almanac of Women and Minorities in American Politics 2002'', Mart Martin, Westview Press, 2001, Born in

Phillips, Maine Phillips is a town in Franklin County, Maine, United States. The population was 898 at the 2020 census. It is home to the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad, a heritage railroad. History The plantation was part of a large tract granted b ...

on November 4, 1883 to Marshall and Aura (Prescott) Davenport, Minnie Davenport was a bright student. After graduating from the Farmington State Normal School she attended the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

and became a school teacher. She married Edward Craig in July, 1908, and they moved from Maine to

Esmond, North Dakota Esmond is a city in Benson County, North Dakota, United States. There is a large granary at Esmond, a bank, a post office, a bar, a museum, a school with gymnasium, a co-op, and two churches. The population was 91 at the 2020 census. Esmond was ...

where Edward was president of a bank. Both Craig and her husband became involved in the

Nonpartisan League The Nonpartisan League (NPL) was a left-wing political party founded in 1915 in North Dakota by Arthur C. Townley, a former organizer for the Socialist Party of America. On behalf of small farmers and merchants, the Nonpartisan League advocated ...

, and in 1923, just three years after women won the right to vote, she was elected to the

North Dakota House of Representatives The North Dakota House of Representatives is the lower house of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly and is larger than the North Dakota Senate. North Dakota is divided into between 40 and 54 legislative districts apportioned by population as ...

. She became known by the affectionate nickname, "Min", but also had a reputation as a serious and meticulous legislator. A 1927 report noted, 1 Craig served six consecutive sessions in the State legislature. During this time she also held the position of state president of the Non-Partisan League, and was a

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...

woman from 1928 to 1932.Minnie D. Craig Papers, 1904–1955. Biography.
North Dakota State University In addition to forging her own political career, Craig encouraged other women to become politically active: On January 3, 1933, she made history when she was elected Speaker of the House, the first time a woman had led a legislative body in the USA (in a permanent capacity). However, the session proved challenging for Craig. The House assembled in a temporary auditorium as the

State Capitol A capitol, or seat of government, is the building or complex of buildings from which a government such as that of a U.S. state, the District of Columbia, or the organized territories of the United States, exercises its authority. Although m ...

had been consumed by fire. In addition, North Dakota was suffering from an agricultural depression caused by

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

. Her tenure as an elected member of the legislature ended with that session, when she left to become a state worker for the

Federal Emergency Relief Administration The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was a program established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, building on the Hoover administration's Emergency Relief and Construction Act. It was replaced in 1935 by the Works Progre ...

. The following year she returned to the House in an administrative role, as assistant to the chief

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

. In the 1937 and 1939 sessions she fulfilled the role of chief clerk. On her retirement, Craig and her husband moved to California. She began writing an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

but, at 99 pages, left it unfinished around the time of the death of her husband in 1947. Craig moved back to Phillips, Maine, in 1959 and died in Farmington on July 2, 1966. Minnie D. Craig's collected papers, consisting of her handwritten autobiography, correspondence, pamphlets and

scrapbook Scrapbook may refer to: * Scrapbooking, the process of making a scrapbook Software * Scrapbook, an early (1970s) information storage and retrieval system developed at the National Physical Laboratory in the United Kingdom * Scrapbook (Mac OS), ...

s detailing her political and family life, are held at the

North Dakota State University North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was ...

Institute for Regional Studies.Minnie D. Craig Papers, 1904–1955. Inventory.
North Dakota State University The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

declared 1975 "

International Women's Year International Women's Year (IWY) was the name given to 1975 by the United Nations. Since that year March 8 has been celebrated as International Women's Day, and the United Nations Decade for Women, from 1976 to 1985, was also established. History ...

" and North Dakota chose the occasion to honor Craig for her pioneering work.

References

External links

Portrait
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Minnie D. 1883 births 1966 deaths People from Phillips, Maine Speakers of the North Dakota House of Representatives Republican Party members of the North Dakota House of Representatives Women state legislators in North Dakota Nonpartisan League politicians New England Conservatory alumni People from Benson County, North Dakota University of Maine at Farmington alumni 20th-century American women politicians First women legislative speakers 20th-century members of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly

See also

Further reading

References

External links