Women’s Page Journalist Ruth Millett
I came across a new women’s page journalist to study: Ruth Linwood Millett. Her papers are at TCU. This is her bio from the school’s website:
“Ruth Linwood Millett was born February 10, 1912 to Ralph and Alice Millett in Dallas, Texas. The family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where Ralph Millett, was a columnist and editor of the Memphis Press-Scimitar. After graduating from the University of Iowa, Millett became dean of women at Northwest Missouri State Teachers College in Maryville.
She eventually moved to New York City to follow in her father’s footsteps and pursue a career in journalism. Millett soon began writing two syndicated columns, Mind Your Manners and Ruth Millett Says . . . (later titled We the Women), for the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA). She married Dr. Frederick Lowry and became a mother of twins. The family moved around the Midwest a bit before settling in Austin, Texas. Millett continued writing her columns until her retirement in 1967.
During her 30 year career, she received thousands of letters from readers and was named one of the U.S.’s top ten most powerful women by Pageant magazine in 1953. She was also honored by the New York Newspaper Women’s Club, Theta Sigma Phi, a fraternity for women writers, and named the Austin American Statesman Career Woman of 1963. Ruth died April 16, 1997 in Austin.”
