Stearns County Women in Sports: Research

Short term, intermediate term, and long term impacts of the WIS project were met during the completion of the project. Short term outcomes include improved knowledge of the role of women in sports in Stearns County. Intermediate outcomes of this project were completing research and creating finished biographies. Two outcomes that were addressed in short and intermediate outcomes were addressing a collection gap, and collecting new material. Long term outcomes of defining the role of Title IX locally and continued understanding of the impacts on the next generation of women in sports.

To begin this project one hundred Stearns County women who played, coached, or promoted the role of women?s athletics were identified. The women were researched, and biographical files that highlighted accomplishments, news articles, biographical materials, and related information were created or expanded with the collected materials. From this list of women, twenty-five were identified as candidates for this writing project.

The identified women were local pioneers of women?s athletics. Two of them, Carol Agnes and Gladys Ziemer were the first women?s athletic directors at local institutions. One woman, Peggy Brenden, was involved in a supreme court case over her right to play competitive team sports in high school. Three of the women, Peps Neuman, Patti Decker, and Jean Havlish were part of early professional women?s sports leagues. Most of the women have been inducted into a hall of fame. As seen above, the project includes diverse coverage across sports, time periods, and women?s roles in athletics.

A contracted writer was hired to create succinct biographies of the twenty-five women. The biographies cover the women?s early lives, obstacles, challenges, contributions, affiliations, and accolades. The writer used the previously gathered research to start, and filled in gaps with her own research and by interviewing some of the women. The additional research will be added to the Museum?s Research Center files as well.

The twenty-five biographies highlight part of Stearns County?s history that had yet to be formally addressed, filling a gap in SHM?s collection. The Research Center previously had information on Title IX, biographical materials on some of the women, and supporting documentation for some of the events. However, SHM had not compiled and completed a formal project which highlighted accomplishments and recognized the history before the Women in Sports project.

Benefits of having twenty-five biographies written and ready for publication include use for exhibits, newsletter articles, and programming. The research can be preserved in the SHM archives, and the biographies can be used as a complete works or individually for Museum and publication purposes.

Another outcome of this research was building of relationships. Through outreach for sources, interviews, and presentations, the local women involved in sports became part of the conversation and the research. For example, Carol Howe-Veenstra served on a SHM committee, agreed to be interviewed for her biography, co-presented a program at SHM, and remains involved in the future of the women in sports research and its products. SHM?s investment in their contributions to local history translated into the women?s investment in the work that SHM does preserving history for the future.

The relationships were a gateway to enhancing SHM?s collections. As local women heard about the project they were compelled to donate materials to our collections. Photos from Jan Ettle, Carol Howe-Veenstra, and Jan Niehaus were donated to the SHM Archives. Articles and personal accounts were also donated. The donations have created some robust collections in the Archives.

In the end, the project allowed SHM to recognize contributions to local history. The creation of the biographies led to the collection of other resources, and in turn more complete documentation of history.