User:Penny Richards

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This user received the Editor of the Week award.

1st place winner: Women in Asia: WiR Women in Asia contest, 2020

October winner: Women in Asia: WiR Women in Asia contest, 2020

November third place: Women in Asia: WiR Women in Asia contest, 2020

Participant: Women in Red August 2018 achievements

Participant: Women in Red September 2018 achievements

20 new biographies: Women in Red August 2018 achievements

10 new biographies: Women in Red September 2018 achievements

This user participated in the #100wikidays challenge. (contribution)

This user is a participant in
WikiProject Women's History.

This user participates in
WikiProject Disability.

NEWSThis user has access to Newspapers.com through The Wikipedia Library.

This user is a participant in
WikiProject Women artists.

This user is a participant in WikiProject Women writers.

This user participates in the
Los Angeles area task force.

This user is a member of
WikiProject Women scientists.

This user is a member of WikiProject Women in Red.

This user has a Doctor of Philosophy degree.

This user contributes to Wikipedia Asian Month.

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Penny L. Richards, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Center for Disability Studies at the University at Buffalo (2015–2024); review board, Disability Studies Quarterly (beginning 2015); research scholar, UCLA Center for the Study of Women (1999–2015); president, Disability History Association (2009–2014); one of the founding editors of H-Education (1999–2017) and H-Disability (2001–2017) on H-Net. My degrees are in Geography (BS, 1988, Penn State, and MS, 1990, Wisconsin) and Social Foundations of Education (PhD, 1996, UNC-Chapel Hill). I also earned a North Carolina teaching certificate, now long expired.

At Wikipedia I was an account coordinator for The Wikipedia Library (WP:TWL), 2015 to 2018, and I take care of the Pinterest boards for WikiProject Women in Red. I've worked on two traditional encyclopedias, most recently on the editorial board of the Encyclopedia of American Disability History (Facts-on-File 2009).

If you invite me to be part of an editathon, I'll probably participate virtually, if the subject is even slightly interesting to me. I can't attend too many in-person events, but (when we're not in the middle of a global pandemic) I do try to show up at editathons and other Wikipedia events in Los Angeles, especially if they're on weekend afternoons, and especially if I can take the Metro.

Thanks to Shane Landrum for the push to get a real account.

Note: I am not the romance writer.

100WikiDays

I completed the #100wikidays challenge between 10 August and 17 November 2016. Click through for the details. It was fun, I'd recommend it, and I'll probably do it again someday.

Alphabet Runs 2017–2023

In May-June 2017, I wrote 26 consecutive articles, one for each letter of the alphabet, all of them biographies of women. Click through here for the list. It was fun!

In November 2017, I did it again. Because it was so much fun the first time.

In January 2018, I did it again, this time as part of an art activity for Fun-a-Day LA.

In March 2018, I did it again. I know I'll run out of notables with Q and X names eventually, but it's fun when I do find them!

In June 2018, I completed my fifth alphabet run. From Anna to Zelma.

In September 2018, I completed my sixth alphabet run. From Alice to Zorka. I might need to be stopped.

In March 2019, I completed my seventh alphabet run. From Alice to Zona Maie. Some emphasis on Francophone women this round.

In December 2019, I completed my eighth alphabet run. From Alma to Zhay, mostly classical musicians.

In September 2020, I completed my ninth alphabet run. From Adele to Zabetta, this time.

In September 2021, I completed my tenth alphabet run. Mostly US writers this time, from Ada to Zula.

In March 2022, I completed my eleventh alphabet run. Mostly US educators this time, Anna to Zephine.

In January 2023, I completed a twelfth alphabet run, this time doing destubs, many but not all of them related to California, from Annette to Zanzye.

Black History Months

In February 2017, I started 28 articles on African American women for Black History Month. Click through here for details. Some of them were translated for Armenian Wikipedia, and most of them had new images, too.

In February 2018, 20 more: Here's that list.

In February 2019, 24 more: Here's that list.

In February 2020, 19 more: Here's that list.

In February 2021, 30 more: Here's that list.

In February 2022, 25 more: Here's that list.

In February 2023, 22 more: Here's that list.

In February 2024, 25 more: Here's that list.

In February 2025, 22 more: Here's that list.

Awaken the Dragon

In Spring 2016, I joined "Awaken the Dragon", an editathon focused on Welsh topics. Click through here for a list of the 36 articles I started during that event (I also destubbed a bunch of others).

Britain and Ireland Destubathon

Table of contributions here.

California Library Hall of Fame, etc.

Planning to work on the list of women inducted into the California Library Hall of Fame by the California Library Association. And here's a list of Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship recipients. And here's the list of inductees into the Adaptive Sports USA Hall of Fame. And here's a list of Olga Jonasson Distinguished Member Award recipients, from the Association of Women Surgeons.

Century Challenge

In 2023, I completed a self-imposed "Century Challenge", by writing a new article for a woman born in each of 100 consecutive years (1849-1948). I filled the last blank in the chart on December 7. I might do this again next year, because it was fun.

Photos

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  Penny Richards & Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight at Wikipedia Day LA 2017
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  Unforgetting LA at MOCA, 2014--that's me in the hat
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  Me in 2018, with my WikiWomeninRed postcards
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  Me with my Wikipedia Asian Month 2017 certificate
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  Me with Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight and our barnstars, 2019 editathon in Irvine CA
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  Me, wearing my "Celebrated Wikimedian" t-shirt

Taking women's history to the streets, literally

Detail from a chalk art piece I created at Belmont Shore Chalk Art Contest in Long Beach, California, 14 October 2017. I asked passersby, "What's Your Grandmother's Name?" and those names were added to the Alphonse Mucha-inspired piece.

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Useful link: Wikipedia:List of online newspaper archives

Articles I started, 2025 (2701–)

Edna (4), Agnes (3), Eleanor (3), Ethel (3), Florence (3), Anna (2), Clara (2), Ella (2), Estelle (2), Jeanne (2), Lillian (2), Marion (2), Pauline (2), Adeline, Alice, Allison, Alma, Amy, Annette, Annice, Audrey, Augusta; Barbara, Bessie, Blanche; Camille, Caroline, Carrie, Constance; Delia, Doris; Easter, Edith, Elizabeth, Elsie, Elyse, Emmy, Evelyn; Farah, Flori, Frances, Frieda; Gertrude, Gladys, Gunda, Gwen; Hanna, Harriet, Hilda; Ida, Idelle, Ilza, Isabel; Jane, Jean, Jeanette, June; Katharine; Laura, Lillias, Lillie, Lois, Lorenza, Loretta, Lucy, Ludmilla, Lydia; Madalyn, Madeline, Maida, Margaree, Margarethe, Mary, Mildred, Myra; Nan, Rae, Rhoza, Rose, Rossa; Selma...

1. Agnes Leist Beebe
2. Rae Bernstein
3. Alma Mehus
4. Barbara Lull
5. Augusta Lenska
6. Anna Hamlin
7. Jeanne Boyd
8. Madalyn Akers Phillips
9. Edna Baxter Bruner
10. Edna Bruner Bulkley
11. Edna P. Bruner
12. Blanche Slocum
13. Lois Albright
14. Emmy Brady Rogers
15. Lillian Pringle Baldauf
16. Elsie West Baker
17. Bessie Bown Ricker
18. Anna Laura Force
19. Annette Persis Ward
20. Adeline Frances Fitz
21. Agnes Hope Pillsbury
22. Kristin Bervig Valentine
23. Nan Bagby Stephens
24. Gladys Athena Sperling
25. Allison V. Harding
26. Pauline Lowe Residence
27. Audrey Peart Dickman
28. Clara Burrill Bruce
29. Lillie Maie Hubbard
30. Ethel Caution-Davis
31. Lorenza Jordan Cole
32. Myra Colson Callis
33. Jean Coston Maloney
34. Frances Berry Coston
35. Carrie Barnes Ross
36. Annice Calland
37. Delia Silance
38. Pauline E. Dinkins
39. Camille Cohen Jones
40. Estelle Pinckney Clough
41. Loretta Carter Hanes
42. Margaree Seawright Crosby
43. Rose Leary Love
44. Florence Beatty-Brown
45. Hilda Grayson Finney
46. Rhoza A. Walker
47. Gertrude Rivers Robinson
48. Madeline Stratton Morris
49. Constance Ridley Heslip
50. Ella Payne Moran
51. Hanna Papanek
52. Selma Ekrem
53. Eleanor Bisbee
54. Florence Ljunggren
55. Clara Engle
56. Easter Walters
57. Caroline Frances Hamilton
58. Edith Haines Kuester
59. Constance Eberhart
60. Latifah Bee Ghows
61. Edna Gansel
62. Estelle Gray-Lhevinne
63. Flori Gough Shorr
64. Elyse Aehle
65. Farah Sprague
66. Eleanor La Mance
67. Agnes Addison Gilchrist
68. Alice Maynard Griggs
69. Evelyn Bargelt
70. Gunda Mordhorst
71. Harriet Cole Emmons
72. Modern Priscilla (magazine)
73. Marion Harris Neil
74. Margarethe Lyman Dwight
75. Jeanette Jena
76. Laura Johnson Wylie
77. Julia Cox Bryant
78. June Lyday Orton
79. Maida Herman Solomon
80. Ethel Frances Donaghue
81. Lydia B. Stokes
82. Ella McCaleb
83. Amy Louise Reed
84. Marion Bacon
85. Rossa Belle Cooley
86. Ida Branth
87. Idelle Patterson
88. Frieda Klink
89. Jane R. Cathcart
90. Mary Sumner Benson
91. Ludmilla Buketoff Turkevich
92. Ethel Grow
93. Isabel Richardson Molter
94. Ilza Niemack
95. Ilza (name)
96. Jeanne Dusseau
97. Mildred S. Wertheimer
98. Florence L. Lattimore
99. Eleanor Larrabee Lattimore
100. Lillias MacDonald
101. Lucy Freibert
102. Doris L. Berryman
103. Gwen Hall
104. Lillian Gest
105. Elizabeth Kellam de Forest
106. Katharine Fisher Schwab

My DYKs

These are the DYKs from articles I created; I have enjoyed working on several other articles that have become DYK mentions, including most recently Mary Ridge and Wesley Tann.

1. Gertrude Van Wagenen (3/19/13)
2. Nelle Richmond Eberhart (7/30/13)
3. Edith R. Wyle (3/4/14)
4. Pauline Gracia Beery Mack (3/22/14)
5. Chizuko Judy Sugita de Queiroz (5/13/14)
6. Henrietta Rodman (5/27/14)
7. Grace Nicholson (6/27/14)
8. Zarh Pritchard (7/1/14)
9. Theora Hamblett (1/11/15)
10. Sinah Estelle Kelley (3/7/15)
11. Karen Boccalero (3/15/15)
12. Anne O'Hagan Shinn (3/26/15)
13. Laurel van der Wal (4/20/15)
14. Mabel Potter Daggett (10/17/15)
15. Grace Medes (11/20/15)
16. Lucy Meredith Bryce (1/14/16)
17. Clotilde Bressler-Gianoli (5/24/17)
18. Anissa Rawda Najjar (6/30/17)
19. Mira Zore-Armanda (6/2/18)
20. Mary Sophia Hyde Rice (9/10/18)
21. Ursula Newell Emerson (10/7/18)
22. Clarissa Chapman Armstrong (10/12/18)
23. Jennie Jackson (2/20/19)
24. Dorothy Vena Johnson (2/22/19)
25. A. C. Bilbrew (2/24/19)
26. Joyce Sumbi (2/25/19)
27. Lulu Grace Graves (3/5/19)
28. Eleanor C. Pressly (7/17/19, 7/17/20)
29. Gwendolyne Cowart (11/11/19)
30. Marilyn Saviola (1/17/20)
31. Hetty Jane Dunaway (5/10/21)
32. Marie Empress (5/19/21)
33. Columbia Eneutseak (9/3/21)
34. Theodora Wilson Wilson (10/2/21)
35. Matilda Allison (3/8/22)
36. Elise Reiman (9/29/22)
37. Ethel Hampson Brewster (11/5/22)
38. Janet Sorg Stoltzfus (1/14/23}
39. Margaret C. Waites (10/31/24)

My GAs and FAs

I don't actively work towards GA or FA status, but occasionally an article I started becomes a GA or a featured article when other folks have polished it up, including these. I love that Wikipedia's collaborative ecosystem allows such blossoming.

1. Marilyn Saviola (GA, 2020)
2. Daisy Bacon (FA, 1/7/24)