Donated by Moll Wullstein Van Austen in 2015.
Born on May 18, 1878 in Nora Springs, Iowa, Nora Mae Tatum Zeigler spent most of her life in Idaho and Utah. A poet and author, she was also employed for over twenty years as a newspaper writer for the Idaho Free Press and Idaho Daily Statesman. In October 1900, she married Carl Zeigler, though they later divorced. They had one daughter, Maud Zeigler Wullstein.
Politically active, Zeigler joined the Socialist Party of Idaho in 1917 in Nampa. She wrote frequently about social and political issues, including labor issues and child labor laws. She was also active in the Unitarian Church, the American Humanist Association, and the Russian War Relief, and volunteered at the Office of Price Administration.
She was friends with Earl Wayland Bowman, a fellow Idaho author. In later life, she joined the Church of Latter-Day Saints and also lost her eyesight. She died in Salt Lake City, Utah, on August 17, 1963.
[item description], Nona Tatum Zeigler Papers, Box [number] Folder [number], Boise State University Special Collections and Archives.
Collection is available for research.
The Nona Tatum Zeigler Papers contains letters from Earl Wayland Bowman to Zeigler, letters from Idaho Governors C. Ben Ross and Barzilla W. Clark, as well as unpublished letters-to-the-editors written by Zeigler. Also present are clippings of her published writings as well as some unpublished manuscripts and poems.
Additionally, the collection contains her membership card to the Social Party of Idaho as well as other awards and recognitions.
There are four photographs of Zeigler. There is also a photograph of Earl Wayland Bowman.
The collection also contains a published short story by Maud Zeigler Wullstein in the University of Kansas City Review (October 1962) as well as a published poem and her obituary.
Catalogued separately from the collection are several books containing verse written by Zeigler as well as some of Bowman's books inscribed to Zeigler by Bowman.