Big Finds in the Marjorie Paxson Papers
I just finished going through the wonderful package of papers that arrived from the National Women & Media Collection. The copies are from the newly indexed Marjorie Paxson papers.
Marjorie, who helped established the NWMC, was a longtime women’s page editor before becoming a newspaper publisher. That is a drawing of her above and a card signed by her friends and colleagues at the Miami Herald as she was leaving for the St. Petersburg Times. There are also great photos of her going away party – including one image of Marj with women’s page pioneer Marie Anderson.
In some ways it was bittersweet to see the images. Marjorie looks so happy as she left for a new adventure. Yet, she was treated poorly at the St. Pete Times and was fired when they learned that she was looking for another job.
Other great material I found included speeches from a 1963 Women’s Page conference featuring Jim Bellows and Paul Myhre and transcripts from a 1972 food editors conference – which included Bellows and Jeanne Voltz as speakers.