A longstanding feature of the South Dakota State Capitol is the “First Lady Gown Collection.” The collection, which was created by the South Dakota Federation of Republican Women in 1959, features a doll-sized replica of each first lady’s inaugural gown. The display was last refreshed for the state’s 125th anniversary in 2014 and, in 2019, added a doll wearing a tuxedo to honor Bryon Noem, the state’s first “First Gentleman.”
Yesterday, the Federation of Republican Women met at the State Capitol, and used the opportunity to unveil a doll honoring First Lady Sandy Rhoden.
Below is a gallery of all 34 entries in the collection:
Margaret Mellette 1889-93Martha Sheldon 1893-97Annie Lee 1897-1901Eunice Herreid 1901-05Mary Ellen Elrod 1905-07Lavinia Crawford 1907-09Florence Vessey 1909-13Emilie Byrne 1913-17Lydia Norbeck 1917-21Harriet McMaster 1921-25Gertrude Gunderson 1925-27Sarah Bulow 1927-31Elizabeth Jane Green 1931-33Lorena Berry 1933-37Elizabeth Jensen 1937-39Vera Bushfield 1939-43Emily Sharpe 1943-47Madge Mickelson 1947-51Vivan Anderson 1951-55June Foss 1955-59Lorna Herseth 1959-61Florence Gubbrud 1961-65Borghild Boe 1965-69 (Gov. Nils Boe, a bachelor, is represented in the display by his sister.)Patricia Farrar 1969-71Nancy Kneip 1971-78Anne Wollman 1978-79 (Wollman, who succeeded to office upon Kneip’s resignation, did not hold an inaugural ball. Mrs. Wollman is represented by the dress she wore to Wollman’s swearing-in ceremony.)Mary Dean Janklow 1979-87Linda Mickelson 1987-93Patricia Miler 1993-95 (Gov. Miller was a widower at the time that he succeeded following Gov. Mickelson’s death. Later that year, he married Patricia Caldwell, and she is represented in the display with her wedding dress.)Mary Dean Janklow 1995-2003Jean Rounds 2003-11Linda Daugaard 2011-19Bryon Noem 2019-25Sandy Rhoden 2025-
SoDak Governors 