Rice, Emily S.

Emily S. Rice was elected Harper County ( Kansas) clerk in 1884 and served until 1888. Although Kansas was often progressive in matters of women's rights, since 1874 dissenters had challenged women's right to hold elective office. The question of whether Kansas women were legally entitled to run for, and hold, public office was not resolved until 1886 when the state attorney general issued an opinion supporting that right.