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Catherine East article
Above is a new image of Catherine East that I found online. I am still working on an article about Catherine after going through her papers in Boston. She has some great things at the Schlesinger Library but I also also still discovering items about her in other archives. Catherine was a great behind-the-scenes person and worked regularly with women’s page editors, especially Marie Anderson and Dorothy Jurney. I hope to finish up a conference paper on Catherine after the baby arrives.
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Using public records
I have been using Florida’s strong FOIA law to request public records that relate to women’s page editors. Below is the initial divorce record for Dorothy Jurney. Her husband Frank appealed this decision and won. He died not long after the appeal. (He appealed on the grounds that there was no cruelty in the marriage – the only grounds for divorce at the time.) My article about Dorothy, known as the godmother of women’s pages, is scheduled to be published next year.
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West Coast Women’s Page Editors
View West Coast Women’s Page Journalists in a larger map
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New Ken Burns project
The new Ken Burns’ PBS project on the National Parks includes a section on the Everglades. He includes Miami Herald reporter Juanita Greene. She worked with many of the women’s page journalists I studied – Roberta Applegate, Marie Anderson, Helen Muir, etc. These women, along with Marjory Stoneman Douglas, were instrumental in saving the Everglades. I am also collecting information on Miami Herald editor John Pennekamp. He was an early champion of the environment – especially the Everglades. I am going to examine how he framed the cause of conservation. This was also a common cause of women’s page editors and women’s clubs
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Florida ERA fight & the media
My article about the fight for/against the Equal Rights Amendment in Florida and how newspapers covered the issue is in its final stage. (Most of the articles ran after the women’s pages were eliminated.) The article has been accepted and we’re currently going over images to run with the article. The images above include several options that are being considered.
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Betty Preston editing
I am going through this great book about California history, 1950-1963. It is helpful as I finish up the final edits on my article about Betty Preston. Betty was the women’s page editor at a Glendale, California newspaper from the 1940s until the 1970s when she was promoted. She won several Penney-Missouri Awards and several of her letters were found at the University of Missouri. (She did not leave her papers.) I also interviewed several of her former co-workers and her step-daughter. I hope to send the article out for review this week.
A website devoted to the history of newspaper women's pages
