Sally Zanjani

Descendent of the Springmeyers, a pioneer Carson Valley family, Sally Zanjani received her Ph.D. from New York University in 1974 and has been associated since 1975 with the Political Science department at the University of Nevada, Reno.

She is the author of more than forty articles and eight non-fiction books, including A Mine of Her Own: Women Prospectors in the American West, 1850-1950 (1997), chosen as one of the top ten books of all time by the Mining History Association. The Ignoble Conspiracy: Radicalism on Trial in Nevada (1986), written with Guy L. Rocha, was largely responsible for posthumous pardons granted Goldfield union radicals Morrie Preston and Joseph Smith in 1987, eighty years after their convictions. Goldfield: The Last Gold Rush on the Western Frontier (1992) won the Westerners International Award.

During 1998, she served as president of the Mining History Association, the first woman elected to this position, and in 1999 the association honored her with the Rodman Paul Award for outstanding contributions to mining history. The Nevada Women’s History Project has made her an honoree for her work on Nevada women. In 2000, she was chosen for the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. Her book Sarah Winnemucca (2001) has received the Evans Biography Award, a $10,000 prize, and the Westerners International Award for the best western history book of the year.

She has served as an interview subject on PBS and history channel television documentaries.

Contact Information:

4360 Slide Mountain Circle
Reno, NV 89511
Telephone: (775) 851-3042