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Texas A & M and Vivian Castleberry
Yesterday it was announced that Elsa A. Murano, the first female president of Texas A & M, was stepping down. Here is the NYT article about it. It was a reminder of how far Texas A & M has come – after all, women were not fully accepted as students until 1971. Dallas women’s page editor Vivian Castleberry oversaw the women’s section of the student newspaper at Texas A & M while her husband Curtis was going to school there in the 1950s. Vivian worked for the newspaper because, at the time, the university did not accept women. In fact, when Vivian spoke to the president, he told her the…
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Moving
We are almost done moving into our new house. While there has been a lot of unpacking, I have been thinking of Florida women’s page editor Beverley Brink Morales for perspective. (She worked for the Miami Herald and the Sun-Sentinel in the 1960s. She won two Penney-Missouri Awards while at the Sun-Sentinel.) Beverley was born and raised in Montana. After college, she moved to Iowa and then on to Mexico City. She then relocated to Miami and Dayton, Ohio, before moving back to Montana. After several years in her native state, she moved onto Alaska where she lived for several years before she died. I figure if Beverley went through…
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It’s going to be a baby boy
We learned yesterday that I am having a baby boy. His name will be Curtis James. He will be named for the husbands of two great women’s page editors: Curtis Castleberry (married to Vivian Castleberry) and James Bellows (married to Maggie Savoy). This is a photo with Vivian and Curtis. Lance and I stayed with them last summer for a few days in Dallas. This is a photo of Jim who I interviewed a few years ago. Jim (a great editor in his own right) died a few months ago – I learned about his death while I was in Dallas being interviewed for a documentary about Vivian Castleberry.
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Dr. Maurine Beasley
I was just reading the AJHA oral history with Maurine Beasley. It’s in the fall 2008 issue of American Journalism, pages 102-115. Maurine Beasley was the one who introduced me to the wonderful world of women’s page editors.
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Ben Stein mentions Jim Bellows
Watch CBS Videos Online Ben Stein talks about great editor Jim Bellows on the CBS Sunday Morning program. Jim was a hero of many in journalism, especially women’s page editors. (He was married to wonderful women’s page editor Maggie Savoy.) Lance and I are working on an article about Jim.
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James Beard House
Here is a tour of James Beard’s house. Miami Herald and Los Angeles Times food journalist Jeanne Voltz was a friend of Beard and often cooked for him. (Jeanne was a journalist who used her reporting skills to become a great food writer after getting her start under women’s page journalist Dorothy Jurney.) I am working a biographical article about Beard for the book, Icons of American Cooking. He was an amazing man with respect for food sections that started in the women’s pages.
A website devoted to the history of newspaper women's pages
