-
Biographical book about women journalists
I found this reference book at a used bookstore. It’s a great resource for researching women journalists. Included in the book are many women’s page editors including Gloria Biggs and Vivian Castleberry. Above is information about Betty Preston Oiler, a women’s page editor from Glendale, California. I am working on a revise-and-resubmit about Betty that I hope to finish over Spring Break.
-
Society Writing
I found this great article about society writing – an important part of women’s pages. The writer explained the evolution of society writing as it was becoming more inclusive. Houston society columnist Betty Ewing is quoted. We plan to take a closer look at society news at some point, especially the coverage of brides.
-
Writing about Betty Ewing
Today I am making revisions and adding some new information to my article about Houston society writer Betty Ewing. (Society news was a mainstay of women’s sections.) She was another example of a woman who covered the news side during World War II and was then sent back to the women’s pages during peace time. I went through Betty’s papers at Texas Woman’s University in 2005. My initial manuscript has been under review for several years. I am pulling it and sending it off somewhere else. Betty was a colorful character – in person and in her writing.
You May Also Like
Beacon College Salon Series Talk
-
New women’s page thesis
I just received this thesis about women’s page content and editor training through ILL. It was done at the University of Wisconsin in 1967. It has some interesting results about the background of women’s page journalists – especially the formal education that many had in home economics. In the content analysis, the author reports that at larger circulation newspapers devoted the most space to food. The smaller devoted the most space to family news – this included columns like “Dear Abby.”
-
Searching for Koky Dishon images
I am on the lookout for Colleen “Koky” Dishon images. Dishon was an influential women’s page editor in Ohio, Milwaukee and Chicago. She went on to be the first woman on the masthead of the Chicago Tribune. The above image is from the Penney-Missouri Award papers at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection – my favorite archive. In the photo, she is judging the Awards. I have been frustrated that no one at the Tribune has returned emails or phone calls over the last year in my search for Koky images.
-
New Jeanne Voltz cookbook
I just received another Jeanne Voltz cookbook. She was a food editor in the women’s pages of the Miami Herald in the 1950s and the Los Angeles Times in the 1960s. I love this dedication to her parents. She has mentioned her parents in relation to her cooking in a few interviews. I have been collecting information on Jeanne for years – most recently in Helen Muir’s papers at the University of Miami. I plan to write a conference paper about her this Spring.
A website devoted to the history of newspaper women's pages
