In my work on Pittsburgh fashion editor Barbara Cloud, I came across the name of fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert. In an email interview, Cloud remembered about Eleanor Lambert: “She made fashion newsworthy and gave editors access to designers like we never had before.” Thanks to Lambert, Cloud visited the homes of designers. Cloud wrote: “We got good stories and I guess we were courted but I never thought of it like that. I shared all of that with readers. I took them along with me as I covered the scene.” Here are images of Lambert: Here is the link to her obituary. From the article: “Eleanor Lambert, whose tireless promotion…

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has posted a story about how it tests recipes, following up on the earlier Washington Post story. Here is the story. From the article, answering the question about testing recipes: “Here’s the longer answer: We consistently test recipes from local sources (home cooks, chefs and anyone else) as well as recipes from, say, websites or cookbooks that we have the least suspicion might not work exactly as written. We test some columnists’ recipes – notably, Sandy D’Amato’s for his Kitchen Technician feature in Entrée (mainly to be sure they translate well to a home kitchen). Most newspapers I know test at least some of the recipes…

I just received word that the Encyclopedia of the Sixties will be published at the end of the month. I wrote two entries for the Encyclopedia: one about Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham and one about the false myth of women burning their bras at the 1968 Miss America Pageant. When it comes to women’s page history, too much credit goes to the Washington Post as being the leader in transforming the women’s pages into lifestyle sections. (The personal credit tends to go to editor Ben Bradlee not publisher Graham.) I would argue that Washington Post women’s page editor Marie Sauer was the true leader of women’s page progress. In…

I spent yesterday going through the minor revisions for my article about Miami Herald and Los Angeles Times food editor Jeanne Voltz. I went through her cookbook looking for details about her personal life and for examples of cultural anthropology. Below is a stack of her cookbooks. I am missing three of her books. – Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My article about Miami Herald and Los Angeles Times food editor Jeanne Voltz has been accepted for publication. It should run in the Spring 2012 issue of American Journalism. I am working on the final minor revisions right now. – Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

As I re-read David Kamp’s book, The United States of Arugula, I am again surprised by The lack if women’s roles, outside of a handful of names. Like other food historians, he minimizes the role of NY Times food editor Jane Nickerson. He writes of the food editor who followed Nickerson, “Claiborne treated food as a journalistic beat, a daily responsibility to sniff out what was going on in America’s more creative kitchens.” (p. 70) I have many examples that Nickerson was already doing that prior to Claiborne. After all, her column was called, “News of Food.” – Posted using BlogPress from my iPad