More Eleni Epstein papers

I have found more references about Eleni Epstein. Some of her papers are at the Smithsonsian. I have ordered copies of her work in the Smithsonian's "Fashion as Culture" program in 1977. I am working on an article about Eleni career as fashion editor at the Washington Star. She won a Penney-Missouri Award in 1960 for her work. This is my earlier post on Eleni.

In this photo, she is interviewing Pierre Cardin. The photo is in her papers at the WHMC.

Martee Wills

I was sad to learn that Martee Wills, a longtime reporter in the women's pages of the Tallahassee Democrat has died. Her obit was written by Dorothy Clifford who won a Penney-Missouri Award for her work at the Democrat. I interviewed Dorothy last year and hope to speak to her again.

Sen. Lori Wilson Park

Yesterday, Lance and I visited Florida Sen. Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach. (It's beautiful.)

My article about Sen. Wilson and the fight to ratify the ERA in Florida is under review at a historical journal. We also visited the Florida Historical Society in Cocoa.

Update: I just received DVDs of a Lori Wilson oral history.

Women Journalists' Class-Action Lawsuits

Florida Humanities Council

I've just been added to the Directory of Humanities Professionals of the Florida Humanities Council. I hope to be active with this organization in the future and to tell the stories of Florida women's page editors.

Revising Dorothy Jurney article

I am in the midst of revising my article on Dorothy Jurney for a journalism history journal. She was known as the "Godmother" of women's page editors.

Here she is pictured (standing) with a young Al Neuharth. The photo is part of the National Women and Media Collection at the University of Missouri.

A timeline of her journalism career is noted in the previous post.

Timeline of Dorothy Jurney's newspaper career

Milwaukee Press Club article

Our article "Way Past Deadline: The Women's Fight to Integrate the Milwaukee Press Club," was published this week by the Wisconsin Magazine of History.

In the 1960s, women journalists fought for equal opportunities and recognition within their profession. One such fight was to obtain membership to the oldest continuously run press club in the country. It wasn't until the 1970s that the Milwaukee Press Club finally allowed women to become members.

To tell the story, we went through the papers of Milwaukee Press Club in the Special Collections at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Ruthe Deskin submission

My article about Ruthe Deskin, longtime Las Vegas journalist, is now under review at a historical journal. Ruthe made a significant difference in her city and provided a stabilizing voice to the maverick publisher Hank Greenspun. (Ruthe is pictured here with Hank.)

I went through Ruthe's papers at UNLV and viewed the videotaped oral history that her family recorded. Here is my earlier post about my research on Ruthe.

Beverley Brink Morales Badhorse

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Kathryn Robinette

Kathryn Robinette won Penney-Missouri Awards for her women’s section of the Palm Beach Post in 1966 and 1968. She earned an undergraduate degree and then a master’s degree in English from the University of Chicago before trying women’s page journalism in 1960 in Georgia. She wrote: “I typed weddings and all that tiresome stuff but managed to fall in love with the work anyway. I also formed firm opinions about what type of story best served the reader’s interest – having been one for so long.” She married and had children. While she covered the many galas of Palm Beach, she covered social issues, too. Her 1968 full-page Mother’s Day article was about the role of foster mothers in her community.

Her story will be part of my book on Florida women’s page editors. This photo is from my most recent trip to the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri.

My book review

My review of the book The American Journalist in the 21st Century was recently published in Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. While there are more women in journalism, there are far too few women in positions of management – and this was before Ann Marie Lapinski announced she was leaving the Chicago Tribune.