Eleanor Hart
I just received an email from a relative of Eleanor (Ratelle) Hart. I love hearing from family members of the women I study.
Eleanor was a reporter and advice columnist for the women’s pages of the Miami Herald in the 1950s and 1960s. I went through her papers at the South Florida Historical Society in Miami about three years ago and presented a paper about her last year at the Florida Communication Association conference.
My paper focused on how her column reflected the community’s negotiation of change in terms of race and gender. The integration of neighborhoods and working mothers led to heated letters from readers. Advice columns, like the women’s pages, are often overlooked by media critics and historians.
I am hoping to expand on the original paper for a history magazine or journal as Eleanor’s columns reflect an important part of Miami’s history.
