NSU hosts “The Miss Behind our Missiles”

(Tahlequah, Okla.)-- In celebration of Womens History Month and in conjunction with the 44th Annual American Indian Symposium, Northeastern State Universitys Archives and Special Collections will be hosting a presentation of the Mary Golda Ross collection from March 28 through April 16 on the second floor of the John Vaughan Library on NSUs Tahlequah campus.

The exhibition of The Miss Behind Our Missiles is the story of Cherokee engineer Mary Golda Ross, a Northeastern alumna who went on to become the first prominent female rocket technician in the early American space program.

Brenda Bradford, head of Special Collections and Archives, said the collection was donated to NSU by the Ross family, with one of their requests being that the material not be stored, but be used in a way that allowed more people to experience Marys incredible life.

This being Womans History Month and with the 44th Annual American Indian Symposium just ahead, it presented a wonderful opportunity to create an exhibition of the collection.

Ross was born in Park Hill, Oklahoma and was the great granddaughter of Chief John Ross of the Cherokee Nation. She attended Northeastern State Teachers College in 1924 and graduated in 1928 with a bachelors degree in Mathematics.

The Miss Behind Our Missiles exhibition is free and open to the public. For more information, contact archives@nsuok.edu.