Dear Abby and Ann Landers

Yesterday was the birthday of two advice columnists whose work usually ran in the women’s pages. According to the National Women’s History Museum, born on July 4,1918: Twins Esther Pauline Friedman Lederer and Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips – columnists writing as Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren or Dear Abby. When it came to the “F” of fmaily in the women’s pages, it was these writers who led the way.

Many newspapers also including a local advice columnist. My favorite was Eleanor Hart at the Miami Herald. I presented a paper about her work last fall. Here is more about her.

Advice columns had a powerful role in communities and nationally but few have been studied on an academic level.

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