The Pioneer Woman monument is a bronze sculpture in Ponca City, Oklahoma, designed by Bryant Baker and dedicated on April 22, 1930.

"[2] At that point Marland sent out invitations to many of America's leading sculptors, offering them each a $10,000 honorarium to produce a roughly 3 feet (0.9 m) tall bronze model for the statue.

Several sculptors, Daniel Chester French, George Grey Barnard and Paul Manship turned Marland down, also declining were the only two women invited, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and Anna Hyatt Huntington,[5] leaving him with an even dozen artists, all males.

The artists who submitted models were Bryant Baker, A, Stirling Calder, Jo Davidson, James Earle Fraser, John Gregory, F. Lynn Jenkins, Mario Korbel, Arthur Lee, Hermon Atkins MacNeil, Maurice Sterne, Mahonri Young, and Wheeler Williams.

[6] Marland's original idea was to have a woman in pioneer dress accompanied by a child, and so he provided a sunbonnet to each sculptor.

[8] Mahonri Young's biographer Thomas Toone relates that Young produced not only the required three foot tall statuette, but also a plaster version of the entire Pioneer Memorial as he envisioned it, replete with detailed bas-reliefs of western scenes around the base of a massive pedestal and platform, on top of which the pioneer woman "holds her child in the embrace of a Renaissance Madonna.

Toone also adds that the winning sculptor, Baker Bryant used, "a professional actress as his model, which produced a glamorous figure, representing Western myth more than reality.

"[10] There are some questions raised about the winning design by Donald De Lue, at that time Baker Bryant's chief assistant.

"it was especially on the "Pioneer Woman" that De Lue manifest his talent ... ... Baker claimed that the conception and movement of the final monument was developed in an eight-to-ten inch sketch model made by him a few hours after he learned about the competition.

De Lue executed the thirty-three inch competition model for the sculpture in 1927, with Baker supervising and completing the face.

[8] James Earle Fraser based his almost Impressionistic statue on his favorite aunt, Dora, who was herself a pioneer woman.

[12] Many years after the competition Wheeler Williams' model was re-discovered, enlarged, cast, and now sits in front of the public library in Liberty, Kansas.

[7]Marland reserved the right to make the final choice for the monument, but he sought input from the public and so these models then began a tour of museums and art galleries across the nation.

[18] The L.A. Times reported that art critic Helen Appleton Read felt that "no adequate tribute had been paid to the pioneer woman" and that "most of the competitors failed to produce anything monumental".

Some private fundraising helped to defray the final costs and $25,000 was supplied by Lew Wentz, Marland's long-time business rival as well as fellow philanthropist of Ponca City.

After much private debate and encouragement, Lew Wentz in 1929 loaned money to Marland enabling him to make final payments for the statue, secured by a real estate mortgage and arranged by a local banker, resulting in Wentz filing a lawsuit in 1936 to collect on the non-performing loan [see Ada Weekly News, 12 March 1936].

[24] The dedication itself began at 1:30 pm central time with a nationwide radio address on WJZ by United States President Herbert Hoover broadcasting from the White House.

[25] He introduced the native Oklahoman, Secretary of War Patrick J. Hurley who had intended to attend the unveiling in person before his visit was curtailed by illness and so spoke from his home.

There are few men of the West of my generation who did not know the pioneer woman in his own mother, and who does not rejoice to know that her part in building that great civilization is to have such beautiful recognition.

Not only they bore great burdens of daily toil and the rearing of families, but they were intent that their children should have a chance, that the doors of opportunity should be open to them.

We have reached that period in civilization where we are fair enough to accord to woman the honor of the pre-eminent part she has taken in shaping the destinies of mankind.

In 2002 the Pioneer Woman statue underwent renovations, including the repair of a 4-inch crack in the heel of the boy's left boot.

"This is the first professional restoration of the statue since the artist himself directed a cleaning a few years after it was erected," said Kathy Dickson, Historical Society museums director.

There is a plaque on the first step beneath the statue which reads: this monument was erected by e. w. marland in appreciation of the heroic character of the woman who braved thedangers and endured the hardships incident to the dailylife of the pioneer and homesteader in this countryThe image of the Pioneer Woman has long been a symbol of Ponca City.

In 1941 as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations the General Federation of Women's Clubs presented gold and bronze medals with a bas-relief of the Pioneer Woman to prominent and long-standing members.

That the book was intended to be the Bible was made clear by Baker in an interview in which he stated, "In trying to symbolize the Pioneer Woman of America I wanted to depict Courage and Faith ...