- Eleni Epstein, fashion history, fashion journalism, Ford Library, journalism history, Washington Star
Inauguration & Fashion Journalism
There has been heavy media coverage of what First Lady Michelle Obama might wear to the Inauguration tomorrow. Here is an example from ABC News. The First Lady’s fashion sense would have been appreciated by fashion journalist Eleni Epstein who covered my first ladies – including Jackie Kennedy. Eleni Epstein was the longtime fashion editor at the Washington Star. Her papers are in the National Women & Media Collection. Here is a link to a calender from the Ford Library which shows the First Lady meeting privately with Eleni Epstein. My article about Epstein took more than six years to research and write. It will come out next year in…
-
Ruth Casa-Emellos’ 1952 shrimp frittata recipe
Last night, Lance made an updated version of Ruth Casa-Emellos’ 1952 shrimp frittata recipe – we served it with mimosa and a fruit salad for dinner. Here is a link to the recipe. Casa-Emellos was a food tester at the New York Times in the 1950s and 1960s. This dish was part of an effort to re-create the dishes served on the fashionable Italian cruise line, the Saturnia. That story is included in this cookbook about shrimp meals. I am just beginning to investigate Casa-Emellos‘ career and her role in food journalism.
You May Also Like
Food Studies Presentation: Ohio Food Editor History
-
Death of Dear Abby columnist
“Dear Abby” – Abigail Van Buren — the pen name of Pauline Friedman Phillips – died yesterday. Her national syndicated advice column was common in the women’s pages of newspapers for decades. In one column, she wrote about one of my favorite women’s page editors Maggie Savoy. Here is a link to the column. I am pleased to see how much attention has been paid to Van Buren’s death as often soft news does not get much respect.
-
New Image of Food Journalists
I was working on my book manuscript about food newspaper journalism when I came across this great image of Clementine Paddleford and Ruth Casa-Emellos. They are judge entries in Pillsbury’s 3rd National Baking Contest, Waldorf-Astoria, New York City, in 1951. It can be found here at the Truman Library & Museum. Paddleford was a food writer for the New York Herald Tribune in the 1950s and 1960s. A great book was written about her life – Hometown Appetites. Her papers are in the archives of Kansas State University – where my husband earned his master’s degree. I am currently researching Casa-Emellos who had been hired as a food tester at…
-
More About Fashion Editor Marji Kunz
I received some great material about Detroit fashion journalist Marji Kunz. Here is an earlier post about Marji. The letter above is from Marji to Paul Myhre, director of the Penney-Missouri Awards – the top recognition for the women’s pages. It can be found in the papers of the Penney-Missouri Awards at the State Historical Society of Missouri. Marji won two Penney-Missouri Awards for her reporting on fashion.
-
Eugene Patterson Has Died
Eugene Patterson died yesterday. According to his obit: “He wrote about the civil rights movement at a time when many Southern newspapers were reluctant to cover it.” He headed the St. Pete Times (now the Tampa Bay Times)in the years when former women’s page editor Anne Rowe Goldman served as ombudsman. Here is a link to a story about Patterson naming Goldman to her position. Several Southern newspapers were champions of civil rights but overlooked inequities that women faced – including in the newsroom. There is a comment in the book Orange Journalism which noted that Goldman should have promoted higher but was not because she was a woman.
A website devoted to the history of newspaper women's pages
