With the recent premiere of the long-awaited movie adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s book, Wicked, there is much talk about not only Glinda and Elphaba, two of Oz’s most famous witches, but also the larger Wizard of Oz universe. While we know a lot about Glinda, Elphaba, and Dorothy Gale, we do not hear as much about the other woman in the land of Oz.

Many Oz character studies have been done, including on the women, that look at their journeys and transformations throughout the book series. This blog post explores a few of the characters and their written adventures found in the collections of the Toppan Rare Books Library. Scholars have noted the way in which the women Oz characters often challenge traditional female gender roles, and this is perhaps one of the primary reasons the characters remain popular and relevant. Many of the women of Oz encompass one of the overarching themes of the series: following the path to find your way and being true to yourself along the journey.

Introduced in The Marvelous Land of Oz from 1904, Ozma was the rightful ruler of Oz. She began her journey as a fairy woman and the daughter of King Pastoria, King of Oz before the Wizard’s arrival. The Wizard overthrew King Pastoria upon his arrival, forcing Pastoria to go into hiding and leave his baby daughter behind. The Wizard, paranoid that Ozma would grow up and try to reclaim the throne, gave the baby girl to an evil witch named Mombi. Mombi turned Ozma into a boy named Tip in hopes that she wouldn’t remember ever having been a girl and that neither she nor the inhabitants of Oz would recognize Tip as Pastoria’s child. This worked for about fourteen years, until Tip escaped Mombi’s clutches and ventured into Oz.

After using the “powder of life” to bring Jack Pumpkinhead and the Sawhorse to life, Tip ran away from an enraged Mombi. He and his magical creations encountered the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow – the new King of Oz since the Wizard was gone – and finally, Glinda, the Good Witch of the South.

After a pursuit of Mombi, Glinda finally discovered that Tip was Ozma all along. Tip was initially shocked and scared to discover that he had always been Ozma and frets that his friends will no longer like him if he is a girl. The Tin Woodman reassured the child: “It don’t hurt to be a girl I’m told; and we will all remain your faithful friends just the same. And, to be honest with you, I’ve always considered girls nicer than boys.” Reassured, she reluctantly allowed Glinda to transform her back into Ozma. “I might try it for a while, just to see how it seems, you know. But if I don’t like being a girl you must change me into a boy again.” Glinda reassures her that “no respectable sorceress likes to make things appear to be what they are not,” but agreeing that she will honor Ozma’s wishes. Tip transformed into an ethereal, fairylike princess with long hair and wore. a crown with the Oz insignia and a flowy white gown.

Fortunately, Ozma quite liked being a girl and ruling over Oz. When Dorothy Gale returns to Oz after the events in The Marvelous Land of Oz, she and Ozma became close friends. After Dorothy learned of her family’s financial troubles, Ozma allowed Aunt Em and Uncle Henry to stay as “permanent guests.” Ozma’s role in the series underscores the importance of friendship, generosity, and staying true to yourself.

Betsy Bobbin

At the beginning of The Tik-Tok of Oz (1914), a little Midwestern farm girl and her barnyard companion were swept away to Oz after a major weather event. You would be forgiven for thinking that the girl in question is Dorothy Gale, the heroine of the Oz series, but you would be mistaken.

In the 1910s, L. Frank Baum’s Oz stories received several profitable stage adaptations – most notably, Fred R. Hamlin’s musical adaptation. To stage these productions, Baum contracted his characters out to different writers and producers, rendering them un-useable for other Oz adaptations. So, when producers approached Baum for a stage adaptation of Ozma of Oz (1907), the Royal Historian of Oz found himself struggling to adapt the story due to the contractual difficulties regarding his Wizard of Oz characters – including Dorothy. Baum pivoted and authored a new play called The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. The play was scheduled for 1913 and introduced a new protagonist: a teenage girl named Betsy.

The characters were different, but still somewhat similar in various ways. Betsy Bobbin is from Oklahoma, differing from Dorothy being from Kansas. Dorothy’s companions were a dog named Toto and a chicken named Billina, and Betsy Bobbin had a mule named Hank. Dorothy arrived in Oz in a cyclone, while Betsy arrived during a sea storm. The finer details have been changed, but the stories were the same. The very few differences between Dorothy and Betsy were intentional since Baum simply needed a lead role for his new play.

After the success of the play, The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, Baum decided to turn it into a proper book, keeping Betsy as the protagonist instead of Dorothy. Betsy does pop-up from time to time in the Oz books – mostly as a friend to Dorothy and Ozma – but ultimately remained a Dorothy stand-in. Ruth Plumly Thompson, the author who took on the role of Royal Historian of Oz after Baum’s death, used Betsy’s character more often, even granting her the title of Princess in the later novels.

General Jinjur

During Tip’s journey through Oz in The Marvelous Land of Oz, he encountered an all-female feminist militia called the Army of Revolt. This army was led by a General named Jinjur. Despite being a native Munchkin, Jinjur was a pretty girl of average size with blue eyes and a short, blonde bob. Jinjur became radicalized after watching men exclusively ruling over Oz and the Emerald City for too long. She believed it’s a woman’s chance to take power.

Due to the events of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the Wizard’s departure, there was ample opportunity for her to rule. The Scarecrow had replaced the Wizard as the ruler of the Emerald City and there was no other known rightful monarch. Jinjur wanted to take advantage of this unstable power vacuum and staged a coup against the Scarecrow. After successfully enslaving the men and boys of the Emerald City and looting all its wealth, she enlisted the help of Mombi and her magic. “Girls! We are about to begin our great revolt against the men of Oz! … and to obtain power over our former oppressors!”, Jinjur says during her short stint as Queen.

Once Mombi was discovered as having hidden Ozma, both Mombi and Jinjur were captured. Fortunately, Glinda and Ozma took mercy on Jinjur and her army. Jinjur requested that she and the soldiers be allowed to return to their families and promised to behave. It helped that, after the revolt, the Scarecrow agreed that he should no longer be King of Oz, and Ozma ascended the throne, which resulted in what Jinjur had always wanted—a female ruler for Oz and the Emerald City.

In Ozma of Oz (1907), we learn that Jinjur had settled down, gotten married, and was running a dairy farm with her husband. This was likely disappointing for some readers, but Baum was sure to clarify that Jinjur “wears the pants” in her marriage and that she took on a great deal of the physical labor in the home. When we meet her again in The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918), she was still wearing her Army of Revolt uniform on the farm. Jinjur’s character arc turned her from a radical to a generous, kind, and calm individual, though she never abandoned her values and belief in women’s rights.

While certain aspects of Jinjur’s character have not aged well, scholars have interpreted Jinjur’s inclusion in Oz to be a friendly satire rather than a rebuke of the women’s suffrage movement.  Baum was both a supporter of women’s rights and directly involved in the movement.

One of the most significant women in the Oz universe is not a fictional character. L. Frank Baum’s mother-in-law, Matilda Joslyn Gage, is cited as being pivotal in her encouragement of Baum’s Oz series. Gage lived in Baum’s Chicago house along with her daughter, Maud, during her later years of life. Following her advice, L. Frank Baum wrote down the fanciful stories of Dorothy and her adventures in Oz creating a book series that has spawned numerous movies, book adaptations, and entertained generations of children and adults.

Much like the Oz characters, Matilda Joslyn Gage’s life was filled with adventures and like Jinjur, she fought for the advancement of women and others. Matilda Joslyn was born in 1826 in Cicero, New York to her parents Dr. Hezekiah and Helen Joslyn. Matilda grew up around books and was encouraged to expand her knowledge in a myriad of subjects from a young age by her father. She also witnessed both her parents work and support contemporary issues like the abolitionist and temperance movements. According to a biographical note in volume 1 of History of Woman Suffrage (1896), the family home in New York was a stop along the Underground Railroad. Following the example of her parents, Gage became involved in the burgeoning women’s rights movement.

Gage was a prolific writer, and her words are found throughout significant documents and publications of the suffrage movement, including the Declaration of Sentiments (1848) that was signed at the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls. As the movement progressed, Gage’s thoughts regarding the negative effects of the church and her views that all people, regardless of race, should have the right to vote led her to break away from activists like Susan B. Anthony and others aligned with the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).

Although she died in 1898 and did not live to see the publication and success of Baum’s Oz world, there are several nods to Gage and her activism in the books. It is somewhat fitting that Glinda, the Good Witch is said to be based on Gage.  Her character harkens back to witchcraft and how it was often used as a tool to oppress women, a topic that Gage explored in her 1893 work, Women, Church and State. Gage’s involvement in the movement was alluded to in a facetious way in Baum’s satirical interpretation of women activists. Considering the connections between Matilda Joslyn Gage and L. Frank Baum, the Oz storylines and their women characters seem a most fitting dedication to Baum’s mother-in-law and his appreciation of her and her life’s work.

The women of Oz encompassed many of the ideals and values of the late 19th and early 20th century. While much attention is focused on the stories and adventures of these women, these characters and their real-life inspirations add intrigue and complexity to the wonderful world of Oz.

Post contributed by Toppan Library’s intern Rhiannon Skye McLean and curator Mary Beth Brown.

For more information on Matilda Joslyn Gage and the women of Oz, check out these resources:

• Massachi, Dina Schiff. The Characters of Oz: Essays on Their Adaptation and Transformation. McFarland & Company, Inc., 2023.
• Paquet, Laura Byrne. “Matilda Joslyn Gage: The suffragist who defied the US government.” BBC, 2023.
• Schwartz, Evan I. “Matilda Joslyn Gage- The Unlikely Inspiration for the Wizard of Oz.” History.net, 2009.
• Jordan, Jamie. “The Radical Feminist Behind the Curtain.” Ms. Magazine, 2021.