I recently received a new file of letters from Florida women’s page editor Gloria Biggs during the 1970s and 1980s. They are at the Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton University. Most of the letters were back and forth between Biggs and George Beebe about her work with the World Press Freedom Committee. My favorite part of the file was a handwritten note from Biggs on a February 9, 1978 letter. She wrote: “P.S. I know you’re as delighted as I am about Marj Paxson’s promotion to publisher.” Marjorie Paxson was a Florida women’s page editor who became the fourth female publisher in the Gannett newspaper chain. Biggs had been the…

Yesterday, I discovered a collection that had a folder of papers from women’s page editor and then publisher Gloria Biggs. The papers are from her time post-publisher working with the World Press Freedom Committee. Her official papers are in the National Women and Media Collection in Missouri. I am presenting a paper about on Biggs at the Florida Historical Society’s annual meeting in Jacksonville this weekend. It is called: “I Weep When I Read the Lines about Not Being a Feminist”: Gloria Biggs’ Transition from Women’s Page Editor to Publisher.”

Yesterday, I discovered a collection that had a folder of papers from women’s page editor and then publisher Gloria Biggs. The papers are from her time post-publisher working with the World Press Freedom Committee. Her official papers are in the National Women and Media Collection in Missouri. I am presenting a paper about on Biggs at the Florida Historical Society’s annual meeting in Jacksonville this weekend. It is called: “I Weep When I Read the Lines about Not Being a Feminist”: Gloria Biggs’ Transition from Women’s Page Editor to Publisher.”

Jacksonville journalist Jessie-Lynne Kerr died this week. She is another example of a great reporter who got her start in the women’s pages. From her obituary: “On Dec. 7, 1959, she began work as a reporter for the women’s section of the daily paper.Most of her work was representative of the women’s pages of the day. She would write up weddings, put together the food page, report on charity galas. But on Dec. 16, 1960, during a driving snow storm, two planes collided over Staten Island. Her car was equipped with snow tires and chains, so she was sent to the scene to cover her first hard news story. “It…