Using public records

I have been using Florida's strong FOIA law to request public records that relate to women's page editors. Below is the initial divorce record for Dorothy Jurney. Her husband Frank appealed this decision and won. He died not long after the appeal. (He appealed on the grounds that there was no cruelty in the marriage - the only grounds for divorce at the time.)

My article about Dorothy, known as the godmother of women's pages, is scheduled to be published next year.

West Coast Women's Page Editors

View West Coast Women's Page Journalists in a larger map

New Ken Burns project

The new Ken Burns' PBS project on the National Parks includes a section on the Everglades. He includes Miami Herald reporter Juanita Greene. She worked with many of the women's page journalists I studied - Roberta Applegate, Marie Anderson, Helen Muir, etc.

These women, along with Marjory Stoneman Douglas, were instrumental in saving the Everglades.

I am also collecting information on Miami Herald editor John Pennekamp. He was an early champion of the environment - especially the Everglades. I am going to examine how he framed the cause of conservation. This was also a common cause of women's page editors and women's clubs

Florida ERA fight & the media

My article about the fight for/against the Equal Rights Amendment in Florida and how newspapers covered the issue is in its final stage. (Most of the articles ran after the women's pages were eliminated.)

The article has been accepted and we're currently going over images to run with the article. The images above include several options that are being considered.

Betty Preston editing

I am going through this great book about California history, 1950-1963. It is helpful as I finish up the final edits on my article about Betty Preston. Betty was the women's page editor at a Glendale, California newspaper from the 1940s until the 1970s when she was promoted. She won several Penney-Missouri Awards and several of her letters were found at the University of Missouri. (She did not leave her papers.) I also interviewed several of her former co-workers and her step-daughter.

I hope to send the article out for review this week.

John Pennekamp Research

I am collecting information on Miami Herald editor John Pennekamp. He was an early champion of the environment - especially the Everglades. I am going to examine how he framed the cause of conservation. This was also a common cause of women's page editors and women's clubs. (As always, I am searching for references to women's page editors.)

I am hoping to go through his papers at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida before the baby arrives. I am also hoping to find a thesis that was written about Pennekamp in the early 1970s.

New Maggie Savoy image

I just found this image of women's page editor Maggie Savoy. It was taken in 1966 at the Society of Women Engineers National Convention in Phoenix. (Maggie is sitting on the far right.) The image can be found online at the Walter P Reuther Library. I think Maggie was working as the urban affairs writer for UPI at the time.

Here is my article about Maggie that came out earlier this year.

I am collecting new information about Maggie - focusing on her years at UPI. It was the only time she wrote under the byline "Maggie Bellows." (Her third husband was the amazing newspaper editor Jim Bellows.)

Potential Honor for Marjorie Paxson

I have nominated women's page editor and later Gannett publisher Marjorie Paxson for the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame. I just received confirmation that the nomination was received.

Marjorie was an amazing journalist and leader. Here is my article about Marjorie. I received a letter from her last week.

The committee will look at the nominations in December. My hope is that women's page editors are included in more journalism halls of fame - so they are a part of public history. (I nominated Roberta Appplegate into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame two years ago. I was thrilled to see her inducted.)