Hannah Rea Woodman (February 10, 1870 – 1951) was an American writer and educator.
A native of Jacksonville, Illinois, Woodman was the daughter of William Clayton Woodman and his wife. Soon after her birth, the family moved to Wichita, Kansas,[1] where her family home served as the first hotel in the city.[2] At the age of three Hannah was captured by the Arapaho; William Mathewson assisted in her return. Woodman went on to attend Garfield University before finishing her bachelor's degree at Drake University and receiving a master's degree from the University of Kansas; she also engaged in graduate work at the University of Nebraska and the University of Minnesota. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, she taught for a time at a variety of institutions, embarking at the same time upon a writing career. In 1927 she returned to Wichita, passing the rest of her life teaching privately while continuing to write.[1] She worked in a variety of genres, producing plays, poems, and essays.[3] Woodman died in Wichita,[1] and is buried there at Maple Grove Cemetery.
Woodman is the namesake of Rea Woodman Elementary School in Wichita, opened in January 1956.[4] Many of her manuscripts are held in the collection of the Kansas Historical Society alongside other printed material from her career.[1]
