Jeannette Rankin Illustrations

Reproduction of Terry Mimnaugh drawing of Jeanette Rankin, 1979. Signed by the artist, print edition of 200. Gift of the artist to The History Museum/Cascade County Historical Society. [1980.023]

Mary Theresa (Terry) Mimnaugh, from Great Falls, Montana, gifted a print edition of six Jeannette Rankin illustrations to The History Museum's colleciton in 1980. Mimnaugh received a BA in fine arts from Montana State University.

At the age of 23 Mimnaugh was commissioned by the Montana Arts Council to create a statue of Jeannette Rankin for the Montana State Capitol in Helena, Montana, which was completed in 1980. The state of Montana gifted a duplicate statue by Mimnaugh in 1985 for the United States Capitol Visitor Center's Emancipation Hall in Washington, D.C., part of the National Statuary Hall Collection.

Three reproductions of Terry Mimnaugh drawings of Jeanette Rankin, 1978-1979. Signed by the artist, print edition of 200. Gift of the artist to The History Museum/Cascade County Historical Society. [1980.023]

Two reproductions of Terry Mimnaugh drawings of Jeanette Rankin, 1978-1979. Signed by the artist, print edition of 200. Gift of the artist to The History Museum/Cascade County Historical Society. [1980.023]

The illustrations, dated 1978 to 1979, are studies in charcoal and pen which depict the Montana-born American politician and women's rights advocate. Rankin was the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Montana in 1916, and again in 1940. Rankin is most famously known for her suffragist accomplishments and her pacifism. Rankin was one of 50 House members who opposed the declaration of war on Germany in 1917. In 1941, she was the only member of Congress to vote against the declaration of war on Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

A suffragist during the Progressive Era, Rankin organized and lobbied for legislation enfranchising women in several states including Montana, New York, and North Dakota. While in Congress she introduced legislation that eventually became the 19th Constitutional Amendment, granting unrestricted voting rights to women nationwide. She championed a multitude of diverse women's rights and civil rights causes throughout a career that spanned more than six decades.

Great Falls Tribune, September 2, 1984. Article by Peter Johnson and photograph of Mimnaugh with Rankin sculpture by Stuart S. White.