BETTY KANE:

Elizabeth P. (Betty) Kane was born June 20, 1907 in Glencoe, Minnesota to Herman and Edith Ebeling. Kane earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in English literature at the University of Minnesota and taught in Copenhagen, Denmark for two years before returning to Minnesota, where she worked as an associate editor for the University of Minnesota Press. She is perhaps best known for her lobbying efforts on legislative reapportionment in Minnesota.

Kane joined the Golden Valley (Minnesota) chapter of the League of Women Voters (LWV) in 1946. She was asked to research reapportionment in 1953 and began lobbying in the state legislature for reapportionment changes in 1955, and continued to do so through the early 1960s. Her efforts contributed toward the passage of a 1959 reapportionment bill in Minnesota, the first in fifty years.

Kane ran for a seat in the Minnesota legislature against Republican William Frenzel, but was defeated in the 1962 general election. She was the chairwoman of the DFL from 1963-1968, where she continued to lobby for reapportionment as new census data was made available. She served as co-chair of the Governor's Bipartisan Commission on Reapportionment (1964-1966), on the Metropolitan Council (1976-1979), and remained an active participant in Minnesota politics.

Betty married Stanley Daniel Kane and they resided in Golden Valley, Minnesota through the 1970s, and eventually settled in Minneapolis. Stanley Kane was a Hennepin County District Judge. They had two children, Daniel and Kathleen. Stanley died in 1991, and Betty died May 1, 2005.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Betty Kane Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 17,270

Processing Information:

Catalog ID number: 9989751439404294

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Apportionment (Election law) -- Minnesota.

Lobbying -- Minnesota.

Political campaigns -- Minnesota.

Organizations:

Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, author.

League of Women Voters of Minnesota, author.

Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities Area, author.

Minnesota. Legislature.

Minnesota. Bipartisan Reapportionment Commission, author.

Places:

Minnesota -- Politics and government -- 1945-1980.

Document Types:

Photographs.

Speeches (documents).

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