journalism history
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Revised Women’s Page/Lifestyle Section
I was interested to see that a newspaper is revising its feature section with a nod to its 1960s women’s section, according to this article. The editors asked readers: “What do you wish was still part of The Chronicle?” The answer was: “Enhance Your Life Section.” The newspaper is creating a section called “Your Life.” It was described as “a cross between the Women’s sections of the 1960s and 1970s and the scratch-and-sniff ink on April Fools’ Day Lifestyle section of the 1980 and 1990s.” I was pleased to see a newspaper recognize the value of the 1960s women’s pages rather than dismissing them as fluff – which typically happens.
- Eleni Epstein, fashion history, fashion journalism, journalism history, Washington Star, women's page history
History Takes Time
It has been more than seven years since I first heard the name Eleni Epstein – the longtime fashion editor at the Washington Star. It was when Lance and I were going through papers of the National Women & Media Collection, then at the University of Missouri. Eleni kept everything so we had a lot to go through. We made at least six visits to archive to go through her papers during the years we lived in St. Louis. Over the years, I discovered additional material about Eleni at several archives including the New York Public Library – Lance and I visited the Library and went through the papers of…
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Food Editor Nadine Bradley
I just found this great 1938 story about Nadine Bradley who was the food editor at the Omaha World-Herald. In the article, it is noted that Bradley had a degree from the University of Missouri and had already been a reporter for 13 years. More than 200,000 women read her column. The story was due to Bradley being in Miami with her husband for a visit. She likely hired Maude Coons who I wrote about in my book about food editors.
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Food Studies Presentation: Ohio Food Editor History
- Bobbi McCallum, Florida Women's Pages, journalism history, Koky Dishon, Roberta Applegate, Ruth Ellen Church, women's history, women's page history
Working as a Public Historian
I have been asked why I spend so much time doing research when that work is not considered research by my university. My answer is that I believe in public history. I have written before about having to twice as hard to get tenure because I study regional rather than national figures in journalism history. While it does not feel fair, the women I write about were rarely treated fairly and faced much bigger hurdles than my own. I have the usual peer-review history journal articles that I publicize through social media, especially Academia.edu and Linkedin. My article about food editor Jeanne Voltz has more than 560 page views on…
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Fashion Writers Marian Christy & Bobbi McCallum
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A New Wave of Women’s Pages
I am working on a response to a column that ran over the summer: A New Wave of Women’s Pages. In it, the writer noted: “gloated a bit the day I noticed The Washington Post’s She the People blog finally did away with the smear of lipstick beneath the “She” in its logo. Though I had nothing to do with the change, I so despised that little swipe of red texture. However its disappearance came about, it felt like a victory.” My response will be related to the chapter I am working on for our Mad Men & Women book: Lipstick was never the enemy. The column is insightful but…
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Quilted News: Mixing Hard and Soft News
Lance & I just got the acceptance email from the Florida Communication Association about our paper “Quilted News: Mixing Hard and Soft News to Create a New Definition for Women’s News.” We will be presenting at the conference in Orlando in October. The paper is an examination of the content of the winning women’s pages of the Penney-Missouri Awards in the 1960s – the first decade of the competition. There is an emphasis on Florida newspapers because in the 1960s Florida newspapers dominated the Penney-Missouri Awards. Overall, they won one-third of all awards during the decade. The content of the sections were examined using textual analysis. Further information was drawn…
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Writing Women into the Curriculum
