jounalism history
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Book chapter about women and gossip
I learned on Friday that my proposal for a book chapter about women and gossip had been accepted – the CFP was on H-Net. This was the call for proposed chapters. I am looking at the concept through the role of gossip both in the political columns and the advice columns that ran in women’s pages. While both kinds of columns have been discounted because either they contained “women’s news” or were in the “women’s sections,” these columns played important roles. One of the most significant political columnists was Vera Glaser – she is pictured above. Lance and I went through her papers several years ago at the University of…
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New Eleni Epstein image
I just found this new image of Washington Star fashion editor Eleni Epstein at her desk. It is available here. I am working on a revise-and-resubmit about Eleni and her influence on newspaper fashion reporting.
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Eleni Epstein: Revise & Resubmit
Lance & I got great news this week about our article about Washington Star fashion editor Eleni Epstein. It was a positive and helpful revise-and-resubmit that we should be able to complete in the next few weeks. Fashion journalism often gets marginalized as unimportant because it is “women’s news.” Yet, as we proved, it is an important business with significant social and political meanings – especially in Washington, DC. We spent several visits going through Eleni’s papers at the University of Missouri in 2006 and 2007. It has taken many years to put her story together. We are so pleased to see her story closer to publication.
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Mitt Romney’s Father George Romney
With GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney in the news, I have been reminded of his father George Romney. He was a governor of Michigan in the 1960s and also worked at HUD. Women’s page journalist Roberta “Bobbi” Applegate’s brother Albert Applegate worked for George Romney. (Bobbi Applegate was the first woman to work as a governor’s press secretary – for Michigan Governor Kim Sigler – before moving on to become the club reporter for the women’s pages of the Miami Herald. My article about her appeared in a 2008 issue of Michigan History Magazine.) Also in 2008, I nominated and helped to induct Roberta into the Michigan Journalism Hall of…
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Wisconsin Badgers in the Rose Bowl
In honor of the Wisconsin Badgers in the Rose Bowl this year, here is a women’s page reference from a previous Badger Rose Bowl appearance – from a former Wisconsin women’s page journalist Dorothy Kincaid. Dorothy was the longtime food journalist at the Milwaukee Sentinel. (The cookbook that she edited is pictured above – I found it on eBay.) When she retired, she shared this memory of banned from the press box during the 1963 Rose Bowl she traveled to California with the University of Wisconsin Badgers football team. Her assignment was to write a color piece about the parade and game. Shehad tried to make advance plans to cover…
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Anniversary of the Death of the Miami News
The last issue of the Miami News was published on December 31 in 1988. In the 1960s, it had one of the best women’s pages around – headed by the wonderful Billie O’Day, who was also an accomplished musician and conductor. I hope to write more about Billie in 2012.
