Florida Women's Pages
- Florida newspapers, Florida Women's Pages, Marjorie Paxson, Miami Herald, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Day 16 & Marjorie Paxson
Day 16 of Womn’s History Month features Marjorie Paxson who helped found the National Women and Media Collection. She was a longtime women’s page journalist in Texas and Florida who became the fourth female publisher at Gannett. She worked on the hard news side during World War II and then returned to the women’s pages in peacetime. She worked at women’s pages in Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania. She was a good friend of Marie Anderson and Dorothy Jurney. Here is a link to the finding guide for her papers. Here is a link to an article Lance & I wrote about Paxson.
- Florida food, Florida newspapers, Florida Women's Pages, food editors, Miami Herald, Virginia Heffington, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Day 15 & Virginia Heffington
Day 15 of Women’s History Month features Virginia Heffington – a food editor in Florida and later California. Recently, the Miami Herald cited a recipe from its 1960s food editor Virginia Heffington. This is the book that Heffington wrote in 1968 when she was the Homemaking Editor of the Miami Herald. At that point she had been at the Herald for five years and had won a Vesta Award – the top recognition for food journalism. In the introduction to the book, she mentioned that she was a graduate of Iowa State in home economic journalism. I also found an archive in Canada that had ten of Virginia’s clips in…
- Dorothy Jurney, Florida Women's Pages, Marie Anderson, women's history, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Day 14 & Women Politicking Politely Book
I am excited to share the cover of my upcoming book, Women Politicking Politely. It comes out next month. This book includes the relatively unknown stories of six important women who laid the foundation for improving women’s equality in the U.S. While they largely worked behind the scenes, they made a significant impact. In the group are two female political operatives who worked behind the scenes along with four female journalists who also occasionally worked within government to advance women’s rights during the 1950s through the 1970s. Much of it centers on Washington, D.C., as well as the more unlikely cities of Madison, Wisconsin and Miami, Florida. It includes the…
- Dorothy Clifford, Florida Women's Pages, women and journalism, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Day 14 & Dorothy Clifford
Day 14 of Women’s History Month features Tallahassee Democrat women’s page editor Dorothy Clifford. I had the opportunity to interview her several years ago. This is the wonderful material from her obituary:“Dorothy Clifford, doyenne of the Tallahassee Democrat newsroom and arbiter of the Tallahassee social scene for more than 40 years, died Sunday morning.” and “For decades, Clifford was the newspaper’s social historian. Most famously, she wrote the Democrat’s weekly “Capital Scene” column — a round-up of parties, gatherings and events laden with bold-faced names of those who attended. Though the term society column might make some wince — including Clifford — it was considered a badge of honor to…
- Bertha Hahn, Florida food, Florida Women's Pages, food editors, food journalism, women and journalism, women's history, women's history month
Women’s History Month: Day 12 & Bertha Cochran Hahn
Day 12 of Women’s History Month features Miami News food editor Bertha Cochran Hahn. She worked with Billie O’Day who I blogged about yesterday. Bertha Cochran Hahn earned a home economics degree from Purdue University and worked as a home demonstration agent. During World War II, she became a second lieutenant in the Army Medical Crops and was stationed in Air Force hospitals. After the war, she earned a journalism degree from the University of Miami. She became the food editor at the Miami News in the 1953 and remained in the position through the 1960s. She worked for editor Jim Bellows – who wrote about her in his book,…
- Billie O'Day, Florida Conference of Historians, Florida newspapers, Florida Women's Pages, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Day 11 & Billie O’Day
Today I presented a paper about women’s page editor Billie O’Day at the Florida Conference of Historians. I have long been interested in the story of Billie O’Day. I first learned of her as a winner of two Penney-Missouri Awards (the top recognition for women’s pages) for her work in the women’s pages of the Miami News in the 1960s. I also knew that she had quite a career in music and radio. Billie Corinne Womack (O’Day was her radio name that she began using as her own name) was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas in 1919. As a child she both played football and musical instruments. She earned an…
