May Aufderheide

May Frances Aufderheide (May 21, 1888 - September 1, 1972) was an American composer of ragtime music. She is widely considered the best of the female ragtime composers.

May Aufderheide was a member of the Indianapolis ragtime community that included Paul Pratt , Cecil Duane Crabbe , J. Russel Robinson, Will B. Morrison , Julia Lee Niebergall , and Gladys Yelvington . The popularity of her first published rag, "Dusty," convinced her father, Indianapolis loan broker J. H. Aufderheide, to enter the music publishing business. She went on to compose and publish "Richmond Rag," "The Thriller," "Buzzer Rag," "Blue Ribbon Rag," "A Totally Different Rag," and "Novelty Rag," plus a number of waltzes and songs in collaboration with other composers.

She married Thomas M. Kaufman, and retired from composing in the early teens. She died in Pasadena, California.