Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
LAWTHER, Anna
LAWTHER, Anna. (Dubuque, IA, Sept. 8, 1872--Dubuque, IA, Oct. 21, 1957). Feminist, first woman to serve on the Iowa State Board of Education. Lawther, who in her later years referred to herself as "The Old Lady of Dubuque," was a pioneer in the women's suffrage movement in Iowa. Appointed chairperson of the Dubuque County Chapter of the Equal Suffrage League in 1916, she organized the effort to win the referendum. The same year, as a delegate to the American Women's Suffrage Convention she was asked to lead the Iowa organization.
Lawther served three terms as president of the Iowa Equal Suffrage Association and was later Iowa's first woman delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1920 and 1924. In 1921 she was appointed a member of the State Board of Education and held the presidency of the Association of Governing Boards of State Universities and Allied Institutions in the late 1920s. Lawther became the Democratic nominee for State Auditor in 1928. Although she lost the election, Lawther drew more votes than many of the men who ran on the Democratic tickets in 1926 or 1928. This indicated the growing strength of women in Iowa politics.
Lawther was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame and received an honorary Doctor of Law degree from the UNIVERSITY OF DUBUQUE. In 1940 she became the first woman to deliver the convocation address at the State University of Iowa. A women's residence hall at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls is named in her memory.