Book cover with a dark background. Large white title at the top reads, “A MINE OF HER OWN.” Below in smaller white text: “Women Prospectors in the American West, 1850–1950.” Beneath that appears the author’s name, “Sally Zanjani.” The cover image shows a person wearing a light-colored blouse and long skirt, standing with one arm bent at the waist and the other arm raised, holding a small tool or object.

Sally Zanjani

1999 Nevada Writers Hall of Fame Inductee

Summary

Sally Springer Zanjani is the granddaughter of Carson Valley pioneer Herman H. Springmeyer. She is a graduate of New York University, where she also obtained her Master of Arts and PhD degrees. She was affiliated with the University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Political Science from 1975-2009.

Besides publishing ten books about Western history, she has been involved with the production of several documentary films about Nevada history. She is a past President of the Mining History Association and has been associated with the Nevada Women's History Project. She is a member of the Western History Association and Western Writers of America.

In 1992, she won a Cofounders Award: Westerners International for Goldfield: The Last Gold Rush on the Western Frontier. In 1997 she was honored by the Nevada Women's History Project. In 1999 she received the Rodman Paul Award for Outstanding Contributions to Mining History. In 2001, she received the Evans Biography Award and the Cofounders Award: Westerners International for the biography Sarah Winnemucca. She has written numerous articles on Nevada history and reviewed many books about Western history for various scholarly journals.