journalism history
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University of Miami Archives
We’re leaving this morning to drive to Miami. While there, we plan to go through the papers of Helen Muir at the University of Miami. She wrote for the women’s page of the Miami News and the Miami Herald in the 1950s. She was a lifelong friend of Marie Anderson, Dorothy Jurney and Marjory Stoneman Douglas. The four women helped create the foundation of Miami. Helen also did public relations work in early Miami – taking over from Dorothy Roe who become the women’s page editor for the Associated Press.
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Miami environmentalism
I am in the midst of reading the book, An Everglades Providence: Marjory Stoneman Douglas – published by the University of Georgia Press. Marjory was a great environmentalist who fought to save the Everglades. Her first job was at the Miami Herald. The book has been helpful in my work on Miami environmentalists – many were women who were encouraged by women’s page journalists, such as Marie Anderson. I just completed an encyclopedia entry on the Miami environment that is going to be published next year by the University of Houston.
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Nelson Poynter papers
Yesterday, Lance and I went to USF in St. Pete. We spent the morning going through the papers of Nelson Poynter and Henrietta Poynter. (They were owners of the St. Pete Times during the best years for women’s pages – the 1960s.) Here is Henrietta’s obituary. There were a few references to top women’s page editors Gloria Biggs and Anne Rowe. There was no record of the numerous Penney-Missouri Awards that the women’s section earned. I am continuing to collect information on the women’s section of the St. Pete Times.
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AJHA Research-in-Progress
I learned on Friday that the paper that Christine and I wrote about the discrimination class-action lawsuits that women journalists filed in the 1970s against newspapers and wire services has been accepted as Research-in-Progress for the American Journalism Historians Association convention in October. (The photo above is of Mary Lou Butcher, who filed suit against the Detroit News – Butcher started as a women’s page journalist.) I’m hoping that Christine will present the paper since my baby is due at the end of October. We worked on the research throughout the Spring semester. Our primary sources came from the WHMC.
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Baby Boom Final Edits
I heard last night that the final edits on the ABC-Clio book Baby Boom have been completed. I wrote the chapter “Women” which includes information about Fort Lauderdale women’s page editor Edee Greene. The book is now listed on Amazon.
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St. Pete Beach
Lance and I are on our way to St. Pete Beach for the weekend. Women’s page legend Dorothy Jurney’s brother, Richard Misener, was the mayor of St. Pete many years ago. He owned a big boat on the beach. Many Miami women’s page journalists would meet with Dorothy and go sailing. I’m hoping to visit an archive while we’re there.
