Rhoda R. Gilman, a Minnesota historian and founding member of the state’s Green Party, died May 9.

She was 91.

Born in Seattle, Gilman came to Minnesota in 1952. She earned her master’s degree in economics at Bryn Mawr, but her great love was history, said friend and collaborator Lois Yellowthunder.

“History to Rhoda wasn’t a litany of names, dates, places and battles, but rather the complex interplay of people, events, actions and forces beyond their control,” Yellowthunder wrote in a biographical sketch about her. “This approach to history came to fruition in her 2004 biography of Henry Sibley (the first governor of Minnesota.)”

Gilman began working at the Minnesota Historical Society in the publications, education and research divisions in 1958.

After she retired in 1992, she became a political activist and was a founding member of the Green Party of Minnesota. Gilman ran for lieutenant governor on the Green Party’s ticket in 2002. In 2008, she received the Vincent L. Hawkins Foundation award, recognizing her work toward peace and social justice.

Activism ran in the family. Gilman’s father, Leonard O. Raasch, was an activist, according to Yellowthunder. One of his favorite quotes was, “If a man isn’t a radical by the age of 30, then he’s either a damn fool or he’s already got his stake in the status quo.”

Gilman was a founding member of the Women Historians of the Midwest and the Minnesota Independent Scholars Forum. She also served on the board of the Institute for Minnesota Archaeology and the Minnesota Archaeological Society.