The women pioneers of the Northern Great Plains served as the cornerstones
of the rural farm families. They took care of family and hearth, plowed
the land, raised poultry, milked cows, and sold garden produce to
supplement an often limited farm income. Other women, with the passage
of the Homestead Act, laid claim to and cultivated their own land.
Still others established and ran successful businesses. Strong and
caring, resolute and determined, these are the images of the women
in the Fred Hultstrand History in Pictures Collection.
Photographs within the collection include the duties of domestic
life, such as sewing and spinning, darning and mending, and washing
clothes. They also provide a glimpse of women wearing the fashions
of the day, interacting with their peers in various social settings,
and operating their own businesses.
