Vivian Castleberry
-
Women’s History Month: Vivian Castleberry, Part 1
Day 13 of Women’s History Month features Dallas women’s page editor Vivian Castleberry. She was interviewed for the Washington Press Club Foundation’s Women in Journalism project. It is available here. This is how Vivian is described for the documentary Trailblazing Texas Women: “An extremely bright, articulate woman, her close-cropped gray hair, pearls and suit reminiscent of the Kennedy era, Vivian Castleberry sips her cup of tea and tells her stories with a sardonic sense of humor and the same dry wit she deployed in print to blast those that treated her as “the little woman” journalist. Vivian knew from day one that she wanted to be a writer. She attended…
-
Day Seven: Women’s Page History in 7 Objects
The seventh object that represents the women’s page is a quilt. Most of journalism history considers the content of women’s pages to be soft news. Yet, a closer examination of the women’s sections in the 1950s and 1960s shows more complex content. There was soft news – personality profiles, fashion stories and features. There were also stories about politics, education news and family violence. The women’s page editors created a new kind of news within the social fabric of their communities – a kind of quilted news. Quilts have become recognized as art – largely women’s art – in recent decades. Some credit the counterculture’s arts-and-crafts movement in the 1960s…
-
Day Five: Women’s Page History in 7 Objects
The fifth object that represents the women’s pages is a reporter’s notebook. The women’s page journalist with her reporter’s notebook is Bobbi McCallum. The most amazing reporter’s notebook from a women’s page journalist that I have read was the one that Vivian Castleberry kept the day that President Kennedy was assassinated. It is available at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas. Vivian had been at the Trade Center and was waiting for the president to arrive. Word came that a shooting day occurred. Rev. Luther Holcomb began to speak. Vivian wrote of his words, “We are relying upon the faith we possess.” The wife of Henry S. Miller spoke out…
You May Also Like
Fashion Writers Marian Christy & Bobbi McCallum
-
Day Three: Women’s Page History in 7 Objects
For day three of Women’s Page History in 7 Objects – the item is white gloves. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was expected that the women’s page journalist would wear white gloves when out on assignment. Dallas women’s page journalist Vivian Castleberry said she never went anywhere without a reporter’s notebook and white gloves. She told me that even the members of the Garden Club would wear white gloves at groundbreaking ceremonies. Here is a link to a documentary about Vivian that I was happy to be a part of. Above is an image of trailblazing women’s page editor Dorothy Jurney wearing gloves – seated next to Miami Herald…
-
Day One: Women’s Page History in 7 Objects
I just read about this cool history project – Seattle History in 25 Objects. In that spirit, I am blogging about seven objects in women’s page history for the next week. Today, it is the typewriter. This typewriter sits in my home office. Above is Vivian Castleberry at her typewriter. Vivian was the longtime women’s page editor at the Dallas Times Herald and a regular Penney-Missouri Award winner. Here is an article I wrote about Vivian. Here is a documentary about Vivian that aired on PBS.
-
Happy Anniversary!
Today Lance & I have been married for nine years – which means we have been researching women’s page editors for about the same amount of time. We have spent countless hours going through archives and writing about the women whose stories we feel lucky to document. Together, we spent several days at the home of Curtis and Vivian Castleberry in Dallas. We got to interview the daughter of Ruthe Deskin. In 2008, Lance gave a great talk about our work together: “Tales of an Accidental Journalism Historian: What Four Archives in Four Months Taught a College Media Adviser About Pre-Women’s Liberation Newsrooms.” Here is a link to the speech.…
