{{short description|American physician}} {{Infobox person | name = Minerva Goodman | image = MinervaGoodman1909.png | alt = A young white woman with dark hair piled in a bouffant updo, wearing a white blouse with a high collar | caption = Minerva Goodman, from a 1909 newspaper | birth_name = | birth_date = January 2, 1876 | birth_place = Olmsted County, Minnesota, U.S. | death_date = July 1, 1967 (age 91) | death_place = Stockton, California, U.S. | other_names = | alma_mater = College of the Pacific | occupation = Physician, suffragist, clubwoman | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse(s) = | relatives = }}
'''Minerva Goodman''' (January 2, 1876 – July 1, 1967) was an American physician, suffragist, and clubwoman, based in Stockton, California.
==Early life and education== Goodman was born in Orion Township, Olmsted County, Minnesota, the daughter of Harvey Adelbert Goodman and Jane Ayer Robinson Goodman. She earned her medical degree at the University of Minnesota in 1902.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=1909-05-13 |title=A Woman Physician for School Trustee |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-a-wom/145142740/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |work=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> ==Career== Goodman was a physician in Stockton, California from 1904 until 1962. As city health officer,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1919-01-10 |title=A Letter of Appreciation to Dr. Minerva Goodman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-a-let/145148965/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |work=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> she organized "better baby contests"<ref>{{Cite news |date=1915-05-17 |title=Have You Entered Your Baby in the Big Show Yet? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-have/145148774/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |work=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and instituted mask mandates during the 1918 flu pandemic.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Ludwig |first=Ariel |date=2021-04-20 |title=Right All the Way Through: Dr. Minerva Goodman and the Stockton Mask Debate during the 1918-1919 Influenza Epidemic |url=https://nursingclio.org/2021/04/20/right-all-the-way-through-dr-minerva-goodman-and-the-stockton-mask-debate-during-the-1918-1919-influenza-epidemic/ |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=Nursing Clio |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1918-11-16 |title='Flu' Report Shows New Cases; But the General Situation Shows Improvement, Says Dr. Minerva Goodman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-flu/145149641/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |work=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record |pages=5 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She was also the school medical inspector<ref>{{Cite news |date=1913-06-05 |title=Inspector Makes Complete Report; Dr. Minerva GOodman Tells of Work Done in Public Schools |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-mail-inspector-makes-complet/145148049/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |work=The Evening Mail |pages=10 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and secretary of the local American Red Cross chapter. She spoke to community groups on a wide range of public health matters, including meat inspection and safety in childbirth.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1916-05-13 |title=Safety First in Public Health; Women Discuss it from Many Angles |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-safet/145165543/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |work=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She helped to create Stockton's sanatorium for tuberculosis patients.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Flower |first=Elsie E. |date=1912-02-17 |title=Children's Ward Now a Necessity at the Red Cross Tuberculosis Camp |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-child/145150386/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |work=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> "Dr. Goodman is not a woman of beautiful theories and cobwebbed plans, but of practical ideas cast in the mould of common sense," explained a 1909 newspaper profile.<ref name=":0" />
From 1924 to 1962, Goodman was the physician for women students at the College of the Pacific. She was president of the Stockton Political Equality Club. She supported the work of the Wage Earners' Equal Suffrage League of San Francisco, and the Political Equality League of Los Angeles.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Hoyt|first=Hailey |title=Biographical Sketch of Minerva Goodman |url=https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1010111703 |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=Alexander Street Documents}}</ref> After the vote was won, she was active in the local League of Women Voters.<ref name=":2" />
Beyond her medicine and suffrage activities, Stockton was president of Stockton's Business and Professional Women's Club, and president of the San Jose chapter of the American Association of University Women (AAUW).<ref>{{Cite news |date=1930-06-07 |title=Dr. Minerva Goodman Installed Head University Women at Breakfast Session |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-dr-m/145142389/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |work=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record |pages=22 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She hiked with the Sierra Club,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1920-07-31 |title=Stocktonians Camping in Cloud Land with the Famous Sierra Club |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-stock/145148277/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |work=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record |pages=15, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-stock/145148538/ 20] |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and was a leader of the Stockton Camp Fire Girls.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1933-02-13 |title=Camp Fire Girls Plan Hobby Tea, Other Events |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-camp/145142613/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |work=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record |pages=4 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Idamae |date=1932-04-19 |title=Dr. Goodman is Again Head of Camp Fire Unit |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-dr-g/145151505/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |work=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record |pages=11 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She traveled in Europe during the summer of 1927, and wrote travel descriptions for the Stockton newspaper.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Idamae |date=1927-05-09 |title=Dr. Minerva Goodman Gives Charming Picture of Countryside of Devon and Cornwall |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-dr-m/145150622/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |work=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record |pages=8 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She served on the board of directors of Goodwill Industries of Stockton in the late 1930s.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Irving Jr. |date=1939-11-18 |title=Goodwill Industries Gaining |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-goodw/145150834/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |work=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record |pages=20 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In 1954, she attended a Stockton city council meeting to protest a change in policy pertaining to sidewalk repairs.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1954-02-18 |title=Local Woman Hits at City Walk Policy; Plans to Appear at Council Session |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-local/145150996/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |work=Stockton Evening and Sunday Record |pages=13 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
==Personal life== Goodman adopted and raised a daughter, Elizabeth, who was born in 1915. Goodman died in 1967, at the age of 91. There is a collection of her papers, mostly concerning her suffrage work, in the collection of the University of the Pacific.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Register of the Goodman (Minerva) Papers, 1914-1962 |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf02900444/ |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=Online Archive of California}}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Goodman, Minerva}} Category:1876 births Category:1967 deaths Category:University of Minnesota alumni Category:American medical doctors Category:American suffragists Category:Activists from Stockton, California