Florida history
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Roxcy Bolton, Gender & Naming Hurricanes
This is the first week of the hurricane season and the potential names have been announced. The list includes male and female names. That wasn’t always the case. Prior to the Women’s Liberation Movement, hurricanes were only named for women. Miami feminist Roxcy Bolton (pictured below) played a central role in changing the policy. She got tired of reading headlines about hurricanes with women’s names destroying communities. Instead, she suggested that hurricanes be named for senators – since they like to name things after themselves. Roxcy put up a significant fight with government officials. By 1979, the policy was changed to alternate women and men’s names when it came to…
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Tampa Bay History Center Visit
We had a wonderful visit to the Tampa Bay History Center to celebrate Lance’s new job at the University of Tampa. We started with a visit to acclaimed restaurant Columbia Cafe. I had the “1905 Salad” which was wonderful. I loved the exhibits that focused on social history, such at the Tampa Woman’s Club. Women’s organizations have helped build the foundations of communities including fundraisers for libraries, schools and hospitals. These activities were covered by the women’s pages of newspapers. Another great example was about a Tampa Department Store, Maas Brothers. Lance & I have an article coming out in the Tampa Bay History Journal this year about women’s page…
- Florida history, Florida Women's Pages, food editors, food history, food journalism, journalism history
More About Food Editor Grace Barr
This morning, Lance & I went down to the Orange County Regional History Center to go through the papers of Graham Barr. He was the son of Orlando Sentinel food editor Grace Warlow Barr. I learned quite a bit about Grace. She attended Goucher College in Baltimore before marrying Leal Barr. The couple had twins: Gracia and Graham. They divorced in 1936 and she joined the Sentinel in 1940 to support her family. She initially became the society editor with a column called “Cynthia’s Tea Table Chatter.” The column ended in 1964 and she focused on food. She was the food editor until her retirement in 1969. Her cookbook, Cooking…
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Writing Women into the Curriculum
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Miami News Billie O’Day Obituary
I was happy to see the obituary of Miami News women’s page editors Billie O’Day. It ran in the Miami Herald recently. She was the longtime Miami News women’s page editor who won several Penney-Missouri Awards – the top recognition for women’s pages. This is my favorite part:“Summing herself up in her notes, Billie O’Day wrote: “I believed Anita Hill. My favorite TV shows are ‘Sherlock Holmes,’ ‘Brooklyn Bridge,’ ‘Murder She Wrote,’ ‘The Civil War,’ and any other documentary by Ken Burns. “I watch CNN and C-Span. I go to lunch every day with my next-door neighbor, a Juilliard grad and a terrific vocalist and pianist. I don’t go out…
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Writing Women into the Curriculum
- Florida history, Florida Women's Pages, food editors, food history, food journalism, journalism history, women's page history
St. Petersburg Times Food Editor Diana Rowell
I have been looking into the career of Diana Rowell who was the society editor and later food editor in the women’s pages at the St. Petersburg Times. Here is a link to one of her 1953 food columns.
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Writing Women into the Curriculum
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Women’s History Month: Beverley Morales
Day 29 of Women’s History month features Beverley Brink Morales She grew up on a Montana ranch where she punched cattle, dehorned calves, and herded sheep. She graduated from Montana State University and was hired by a newspaper to cover snow ski competitions and prizefights. After some public relations positions, she was hired as a society reporter at the Mexico News in Mexico City. She married the newspaper’s sports editor, Hector Morales. The couple came to the U.S. in 1956 and ran a newspaper in North Dakota. In 1959, she became an assistant editor in the Miami Herald’s women’s section – the top women’s section in the country. Unlike many…
