William A. Richards was Wyoming’s fourth governor and the first governor to serve a full term in the state. Elected in 1894, he made the somewhat unconventional decision to employ his teenaged daughter, Alice, as his personal secretary.
Alice joined her father in Cheyenne and was soon busy organizing her father’s correspondence and accompanying him to meetings and evening affairs. She rode her bicycle to work through the streets of Cheyenne, dressed in a long black skirt and a sailor’s hat.
When her father was called away to attend a governor’s meeting in Kentucky, he left her in charge of the office. The press had a field day, calling her the “acting governor”. She was just eighteen years old.
As the years passed, her father delegated more responsibilities to her. Alice was sent to represent Wyoming’s interests at a meeting of governors in Salt Lake City.
Read the William A. Richards Family papers at UW’s American Heritage Center to learn more about the role Alice played in the Richards’ administration.
For more information, visit the American Heritage Center site.