Emmeline B. Wells

    An Author's Dilemma

    Emmeline B. Wells portrait collection [1879-ca. 1920]

    Emmeline B. Wells, an advocate for women’s rights, focused her energy on helping women improve their lives. She once wrote, “I believe in women, especially thinking women.” She represented Utah women for nearly 30 years in several national women’s associations. She worked in the Relief Society organization for over three decades, and in 1876, Brigham Young asked her to head a grain-saving program. This became so successful that during World War I, wheat from the program was sold to the U.S. government, with Emmeline receiving a commendation in 1919 from President Woodrow Wilson. Utah women of all faiths and political persuasions recognized her achievements posthumously by placing a bust of her in the rotunda of the state capitol building, the only woman so honored.


    7:00 PM, 14 April 2011

    Carol Cornwall Madsen discusses the various ways Emmeline B. Wells served women throughout her life.