I am working on several submissions for the National Communication Association which will be held in Orlando next fall. I just completed a paper about the life and career of Jane Nickerson, who I consider the first food editor (the food section was typically located in the women’s pages) of the New York Times. Here is how the paper begins:             In the summer of 1957, New York Times food editor Jane Nickerson lifted a glass of Chassagne-Montrachet at the restaurant “21” and toasted her leaving the newspaper with lunch guests Gourmet magazine editor Eileen Gaden and Gourmet writer Craig Claiborne. Nickerson, who had been at the Times since 1942,…

It is sadly official – the American Press Institute no longer exists. Here is a post about it. Above is an image from the year (2005) I went through A.P. I. The session focused on the Lifestyle section of newspapers – the modern version of women’s pages, at least in theory. A.P. I. was one of the first national journalism organizations to hold sessions for women’s page journalists as early as 1959. Early attendees included women’s page editors Dorothy Jurney, Vivian Castleberry, Maggie Savoy and Anne Rowe.

When journalist Dorothy Townsend died recently, she was lauded for being the only woman from the Los Angeles Times team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1966 for coverage of the Watts riots – pictured above. She was also lauded for, in the words of the obituary writer for, “insisting on being reassigned from “the women’s pages” in early 1964.” This is the consistent narrative – women’s pages were a place to escape from – a part of the newspaper with little value.The truth was much more complex. Dorothy would have known Maggie Savoy who I wrote about a few years ago.

I am working on a book review of Out on Assignment. It includes a chapter on women’s page editors. One of my favorite lines written by Alice Fahs is: “We neglect the ‘women’s page’ at our peril.” (pg 13)

I just learned that my proposal for the Mary Lily Research Grant to visit the archives at Duke University has been accepted. I will go through the paper of feminist Robin Morgan and analyze her interaction with the media – most specifically with any women’s page editors. Longtime Miami Herald women’s page editor Marie Anderson was a Duke University graduate.

Today I went to a session at the Florida Writers Conference presented by former Orlando Sentinel restaurant critic Scott Joseph. He spoke about his role in his newspaper’s food section – content that originated in the women’s pages. His approach to food writing fits into what Lance and I have written about in the past when it came to St. Petersburg Times food critic Ruth Gray.