Elizabeth “Baby Doe” Tabor

Join Temple as she presents Elizabeth “Baby Doe” Tabor, the central figure in a western mining frontier saga involving money, divorce, family heartbreak, and pioneer resilience.  Baby Doe was admired by miners and hated by “decent” women, yet she captured the heart of the richest man in the West, Horace Tabor.  After winning Horace away from his respected first wife, Baby Doe fought to gain respect as the second Mrs. Tabor.  But bankruptcy and tragic relationships changed the course of her life, giving her rags instead of riches.  In this presentation, a mature Baby Doe talks about her life experiences with mining, marriage, motherhood and miracles.

Judy Nolte Temple teaches in both the English and Gender & Women’s Studies departments at the University of Arizona. Her courses include “Women’s Life Writing” and “Women in Literature.” In 2003, she received a Fulbright award to conduct research in New Zealand on women’s diaries. She is the editor of two essay collections on the literary Southwest and the author of two books, the most recent of which is Baby Doe Tabor: The Madwoman in the Cabin. In preparation for a forthcoming book, Temple is currently editing selections from the 50-year-long diary of Mary Walsh, an Irish immigrant to Arizona.