We are back from our vacation on Anna Maria Island – our favorite Florida getaway. While there, I did some reading about limited scholarship on newspapers and the coverage of family. (Family is one of the supposed four F’s of the women’s pages.) I recently found this 1914 pamphlet about taking care of babies. It was issued by the Department of Labor, Children’s Bureau. It was quite controversial at the time as some people were offended that the government was getting involved in family life. Here is a 1947 article about that pamphlet. What I am learning is that there is much less coverage of family – other than advice…

Maxine Peet was a news reporter for the Messenger for 24 years, retiring in 1984, after reporting on Messengerland people “from the cradle to the grave”. During her years at the Messenger she was the women’s page editor, wrote feature articles including her “Just Between Us” column, and finished her career covering churches and religion. She died December 18. This is what a colleague, June Logue, wrote about Maxine: “She loved her job and enjoyed going to weddings, prenuptials, engagement parties, etc. This was Maxine’s world and she loved giving it her best. I found out quickly that I did not enjoy her duties when she took a short vacation…