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Love & Legislation in the Great Depression: Rep. Roberta West Nicholson

Online Lecture

Join us on Zoom for this illustrated one-hour lecture and Q&A with Nicole Poletika, Historian and Editor at the Indiana Historical Bureau, a Division of the Indiana State Library.

This online program focuses on Rep. Roberta West Nicholson (1903-1987), social reformer, legislator, and co-founder of Indianapolis’s first Planned Parenthood. Typically known as the daughter-in-law of Hoosier author Meredith Nicholson, her progressive 1935 breach of promise bill or “Anti-Heart Balm Bill” outlawed the ability of a woman to sue a man who had promised to marry her, but changed his mind. In an era of shifting attitudes towards marriage, her controversial bill inspired discussion about women’s equality and similar legislation in other states.

Presented by: Nicole Poletika, Editor at the Indiana Historical Bureau.

Special Collections and Digital Resources
Encyclopedia of Indianapolis—Rep. Roberta West Nicholson
IndyPL Research Databases (Library Card Required)—TIME Magazine: Love v. Extortion (1935)
Digital Indy—Board of Park Commissioners Meeting Minutes (1939)
IndyPL—Meredith Nicholson Collection
Indiana State Library Digital Collections—Oral History Collection
Indiana Historical Bureau (IHB)—Blog

Age Group: Adults

This free online lecture is part of the Culture, History, and Society lectures hosted on Zoom by the Indianapolis Special Collections Room (ISCR). This event is being held as an online meeting/webinar via Zoom. Registered attendees will receive the Zoom link via email within 2 hours before the online meeting/webinar. Made possible by Friends of the Library through gifts to The Indianapolis Public Library Foundation; the Indiana State Library Speaker's Bureau; and Indiana History Blog at the Indiana Historical Bureau, a Division of the Indiana State Library.

Contact: Montoya Barker, Special Collections Librarian 

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