All of the coverage of the Casey Anthony trial (a local story for us here in Orlando) has me thinking about one of the few roles for women in journalism outside of the women’s pages: as “sob sisters.” These women covered trials in a sensational way. One woman who was first a sob sister and then a longtime women’s page editor for the Associated Press. Here is from an earlier post on Dorothy: Dorothy Roe was born in 1905 in Alba, Missouri. She graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism in 1924 and soon began her career as a reporter in El Dorado, Arkansas. It was a weekly newspaper that…

Yesterday was the birthday of two advice columnists whose work usually ran in the women’s pages. According to the National Women’s History Museum, born on July 4,1918: Twins Esther Pauline Friedman Lederer and Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips – columnists writing as Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren or Dear Abby. When it came to the “F” of fmaily in the women’s pages, it was these writers who led the way. Many newspapers also including a local advice columnist. My favorite was Eleanor Hart at the Miami Herald. I presented a paper about her work last fall. Here is more about her. Advice columns had a powerful role in communities and…

Yesterday was the birthday of two advice columnists whose work usually ran in the women’s pages. According to the National Women’s History Museum, born on July 4,1918: Twins Esther Pauline Friedman Lederer and Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips – columnists writing as Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren or Dear Abby. When it came to the “F” of fmaily in the women’s pages, it was these writers who led the way. Many newspapers also including a local advice columnist. My favorite was Eleanor Hart at the Miami Herald. I presented a paper about her work last fall. Here is more about her. Advice columns had a powerful role in communities and…