journalism history
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Penney-Missouri Awards Director Paul Myhre
I had the most pleasant surprise yesterday morning. I received an email with the subject line “Paul Myhre.” It was from his son. I have been a Paul Myhre fan for at least a decade. He has been the center of my research as the one who brought the women I studied together. His letters back and forth to the women’s page editors – especially those in Florida – chronicled the struggles and the friendships that became the basis of my work. It also led me to love Florida while living in St. Louis. (Many of the Award winners were from Florida newspapers.) Back in 2000, I was a doctoral…
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Tucson women’s editor Betty Milburn
I recently came across the 2008 obituary of Tucson women’s page editor Betty Milburn Schumacher. According to her obituary:“She was Woman’s View editor from 1950 to 1970. Under her guidance, the women’s section expanded its coverage from social news, fashion and food to coverage of women in politics, the feminist movement, and consumer and family issues. Mrs. Schumacher wrote a social column for the section. She covered fashion shows in major cities around the country and also wrote for the newspaper from food conventions.” I hope to learn more about Betty and her women’s section. That is her on the right in the above photo.
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Tucson women’s editor Betty Milburn
I recently came across the 2008 obituary of Tucson women’s page editor Betty Milburn Schumacher. According to her obituary:“She was Woman’s View editor from 1950 to 1970. Under her guidance, the women’s section expanded its coverage from social news, fashion and food to coverage of women in politics, the feminist movement, and consumer and family issues. Mrs. Schumacher wrote a social column for the section. She covered fashion shows in major cities around the country and also wrote for the newspaper from food conventions.” I hope to learn more about Betty and her women’s section. That is her on the right in the above photo.
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Dorothee Polson Cookbook: Pot au Feu
I just finished reading the 1971 cookbook Pot au Feu written by Arizona Republic food editor Dorothee Polson. (Pot au feu is French for “pot on the fire.”) It’s a great mixture of food stories, recipes and anecdotes about her three children. Much of women’s page content consisted of food news and family columns. One of the columns in the book is “Working Mother Makes Rules.” She notes, “I happen to be one of those statistics, the 1-of-every-3 homemakers who hold jobs; the 1-out-of-5 mothers who juggle careers.” In the column, she gives advice on her rules for combining work and newspapering. This was my favorite tips was: “Forget schedules.…
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Dorothee Polson Cookbook: Pot au Feu
I just finished reading the 1971 cookbook Pot au Feu written by Arizona Republic food editor Dorothee Polson. (Pot au feu is French for “pot on the fire.”) It’s a great mixture of food stories, recipes and anecdotes about her three children. Much of women’s page content consisted of food news and family columns. One of the columns in the book is “Working Mother Makes Rules.” She notes, “I happen to be one of those statistics, the 1-of-every-3 homemakers who hold jobs; the 1-out-of-5 mothers who juggle careers.” In the column, she gives advice on her rules for combining work and newspapering. This was my favorite tips was: “Forget schedules.…
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Re-evaluating the women’s pages
The State Journal-Register featured the above photo on its blog this week, along with the following information:“It was a different era in 1958. Different enough, in fact, that newspapers frequently cordoned off “women’s news” from the rest of the paper in special sections. Today’s photo comes from such a section in the Illinois State Register on March 13, 1958. Pictured is dental assistant Carol Kornfeld. Carol was the Register’s “Beauty of the Week,” said the headline below the picture. A note from the Register women’s page editor, Margaret Turnbull, says this is the second in a series. We’re not sure how long this tradition continued. Other headlines from that day’s…
