U. S. Representative Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts presides over the House Chamber in this image from 1926.    (Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives)

For many years Edith Nourse Rogers held the record as the longest serving woman in the Congress. Rogers followed her deceased husband John Jacob Rogers into the 5th District seat  when he died in March 1925. “Edith yielded to pressure from both Republicans and the American Legion to run for his seat and to continue support of veterans. Commenting that “the office seeks the woman,” 44-year-old Edith Nourse Rogers won the special election in June 1925, defeating a former governor with 72 percent of the vote, the first of eighteen lopsided electoral triumphs.” Mrs. Rogers held the seat until her death on September 10, 1960.

This weekend after holding the title as the longest serving female in the U.S. Senate,  Senator Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. will become the longest serving female member in all of Congress – surpassing the record held by Edith Nourse Rogers, R-MA who served for thirty-five years.

 Senator Barbara Mikulski