Artist & Scholar Emma Edwards Green

Idaho icon Emma Edwards Green remains the first and only woman to design a state seal for the United States of America.

It was March 14, 1891, nine months after Idaho had joined the Union, when the Idaho State Legislature adopted Emma Edward Green's design for state's Great Seal. The unanimous winner of the state seal design contest held by Idaho's first legislative body, the talented woman bested artists from around the nation.

Brimming with symbolism and color, Green sought to create a seal as vibrant as Idaho's history and sense of patriotism. From Women's Suffrage, to the plight of Idaho's working man and more, Green's design encompassed a level of symbolism rarely seen in state seals of the time period.
This is why, more than 130 years later, Green remains a distinguished and beloved Idaho icon. To this day, Green remains the only woman to have designed a state seal.

📱 Return to 1890 & see Idaho through the eyes of Emma Edwards Green!

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