Margaret A. Delaney Scrapbook and Papers, 1923-1949 | University of Illinois Archives

Margaret Agnes Delaney was born on September 17th, 1898 in South Dakota, a daughter of Bernard and Alice Marie (Lynch) Delaney.  She attended the University of Chicago, Northern College (Aberdeen, SD), the University of Minnesota, and graduated from the University of Illinois in 1924 with a bachelor's degree in journalism.  She later earned a master's degree from the University of Missouri in the same subject.  She had a long and successful career as a writer, both for newspapers across the United States and in personal poetry and prose. 

She was a charter member of the South Dakota Press Women, and had, as of 1949, won more than 60 awards in South Dakota literature contests.  In part of her career, she specialized in writing farm articles and features.  In addition to her membership in women's journalism groups, she was involved with and helped publicize many other civic organizations.  She finished her career with the Humboldt Times of Eureka, CA.

Margaret Delaney died on January 4th, 1981, and is buried in the Delaney family plot of St. Boniface Cemetery, Clark, SD.

- Margaret Agnes Delaney, "Autobiographical Sketch," 1932

- Feature article about Margaret Agnes Delaney, the South Dakotan, 1949