Margaret Fuller

Born this day in 1810: MARGARET FULLER (1810–1850), distinguished woman of letters, teacher, literary critic, journalist, Transcendentalist, brilliant conversationalist, critic, activist, the nation’s first feminist, and one of the intellectual prime movers of her day.

For free digital access to Fuller’s groundbreaking feminist work, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, go here.

To read about her in a U.S. textbook, you’re shit out of luck.

Dorothy Schiff

Schiff in 1963

Born this day in 1939: Dorothy Schiff (1939–1989), first woman newspaper publisher in New York

As a young woman Schiff lived the life of a wealthy socialite. In the 1930s, however, she began devoting her time to social welfare work and championing New Deal politics. In 1939 she bought controlling interest in the New York Post, initially installing her second husband as publisher. Before long she took control, becoming the first woman publisher in New York City. She transformed the Post into a staunchly liberal tabloid (and even was able to turn a profit with this long-standing money pit), supporting unions and other liberal causes. She sold the paper, New York’s only surviving afternoon daily, to Rupert Murdoch in 1976.

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Jane Cunningham Croly

“The somewhat churlish treatment accorded to Mrs. Croly’s application for a ticket, and, subsequently, to other ladies who applied for an extension of the same privilege upon the same terms as men, suggested to Mrs. Croly the idea of a club composed of women only, that should manage its own affairs, represent as far as possible the active interests of women, and create a bond of fellowship between them.”

— Jane Cunningham Croly, A History of the Woman’s Club Movement in America

Born this day in 1829: Jane Cunningham Croly (1829–1901), journalist, feminist, pioneer of the woman’s club movement

Jane Cunningham Croly was born Jane Cunningham in Leicestershire, England, and grew up in New York state. In 1855 she moved to New York City to pursue a career in journalism. She began writing a weekly column in the Sunday Times and Noah’s Weekly Messenger. “Parlor and Side-walk Gossip” was one of the earliest instances of a woman’s department in a city newspaper. It also became what is believed the first syndicated column authored by a woman. She wrote for several other publications as well. As was the standard for women writers, she wrote under a pseudonym, “Jennie June.”

In 1856 she married fellow journalist David Goodman Croly. The couple would have four children, one of whom died in infancy. In 1860 both began working for the New York World. Croly managed the World’s women’s department from 1862 to 1872. She also wrote for the Weekly Times, and for 27 years was the chief staff writer for Mme. Demorest’s Mirror of Fashions (later Demorest’s Monthly Magazine). She also created the first newspaper shopping guide. She wrote for many other publications as well, including Godey’s Lady’s Book and The New York Times.

Although much of her writing was about fashion, she poked fun at the confining clothing of the day (as well as the more extreme fashion reforms). She devoted much of her writing to the improvement of women’s standing in society. She urged middle class women, who were freed from the more burdensome household duties, not to waste their minds on trivialities. She believed deeply that the key to women’s emancipation was financial independence and economic equality—gained through equal opportunity for employment. She believed that all other freedoms would follow, including the right to vote. She insisted that women, if they wanted equal outcomes, should put equal effort into their endeavors.

In 1868, the New York Press Club held a reception honoring Charles Dickens—and did not allow women to attend. Croly was incensed. In response she created a professional women’s association called Sorosis—the first major woman’s club in the nation.

She threw herself into the woman’s club movement. She held a national convention of woman’s clubs in 1889. It brought together representatives from more than 60 woman’s clubs to help organize their social reform efforts. The convention led to the creation of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. Croly wrote a history of the movement, The History of the Woman’s Club Movement in America (1,170 pages long!), published in 1898. She also founded, in 1889, the Women’s Press Club of New York. She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1994.

Other books by Croly include Jennie Jungian: Talks on Women’s Topics, 1869; For Better or Worse, 1875; Cookery Book for Young Beginners, 1866. See also this tribute to Croly, Memories of Jane Cunningham Croly, “Jenny June,” by the Women’s Press Club of New York City.

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Bess Furman

Born this day in 1894: Bess Furman (1894–1969), early AP reporter who covered the FDR White House, especially Eleanor Roosevelt, and became one of the best-known women reporters of her day

Bess Furman, a Nebraska native, was daughter of the editor and publisher of her hometown newspaper. She worked in her father’s storefront office, setting type, from a young age. After graduating high school, however, she began  working as a teacher. She taught for several years while attending college at the Nebraska State Teachers College and was the first woman to edit the school’s newspaper. Furman graduated in 1918, but instead of continuing her teaching career, she pursued a career in journalism. Between 1920 and 1929 she wrote for various Nebraska publications. She was a staff write at the Kearney Daily Hub and a news feature writer and Sunday magazine writer for the Omaha Bee-News. In 1928 her award-winning a story on presidential candidate Alfred E. Smith caught the eye of the Associated Press. Furman, anxious to make a name for herself outside of Nebraska, joined the AP’s Washington bureau in 1929. She was the first woman to regularly cover the House of Representatives for a news agency. Her main assignments were to cover first ladies Lou Hoover and Eleanor Roosevelt and FDR’s campaign activities. Her writing was often angled toward women, covering not only the first lady, but also other women in politics and women’s rights. ER, her primary subject, would be a great influence on Furman’s career.  ER and Furman developed a close relationship over the years, and ER would become godmother to Furman’s daughter.

At the end of 1936 Furman, who had since married a fellow reporter, returned to Nebraska to give birth to twins. For several years she ran a publicity agency with her sister Lucile, working mostly for various women’s organizations. During World War II she worked in the Office of War Information as assistant chief of the  Magazine Division. From 1943 to 1961 she worked for the Washington bureau of the New York Times. Throughout this period she became increasingly interested in covering education, health, and science. In 1961 she began working in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and was made head of its Press Information Section the following year.

Furman’s autobiography, Washington By-Line, was published in 1949. She also wrote a social history of the White House called White House Profile in 1951. In 1946 she was elected president of the National Women’ s Press Club. In 1975 she was inducted into the Nebraska Newspaper Hall of Fame.

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Helen Rogers Reid

Born this day in 1882: Helen Rogers Reid (1882–1970), driving force behind the revival and success of New York Tribune/ New York Herald Tribune.

Helen Rogers was a native of Wisconsin. She worked her way through Barnard College and graduated with an A.B. degree in 1903. She then began working as a social secretary for Elisabeth Mills Reid, daughter of the financier Darius Ogden Mills, and wife of Whitelaw Reid. Mr. Reid was owner of the flagging New York Tribune. In 1911 she married their son, Ogden. Ogden inherited the newspaper from his father the following year. The couple had three  children: two sons, Whitelaw and Ogden, and one daughter, Elizabeth, who died in 1924

Helen read was active in the suffrage movement and was treasurer of the state’s suffrage campaign. She was a proponent not only of the vote, but of women’s economic independence from their husbands. She also believed that husbands should take a more direct role in running a household and raising children.

Meanwhile, the Tribune continued to lose money, despite the millions the Reid family had been injecting into it. At her husbands pleas, Helen began working at the paper, soliticiting advertisements. She combined a sharp business acumen with her extensive social contacts to attract advertisors. Two months later she was head of the advertising department. She was instrumental in the Tribune’s acquiring of the New York Herald, which resulted in the newly minted New York Heard Tribune.

Reid served as vice-president of the paper from 1922 to 1947, then as president (following the death of Ogden) from 1947 to 1953. She expanded the staff (among them many women) and introduced new features to the paper, such as gardening, cooking, that would attract a middle-class female readership and placed women in prominent editorial roles. The Herald Tribune became one of the leading papers of the nation, and through it Reid wielded political power.

In 1953 she passed the presidency on to her son Whitelaw and presided as chair of the board until 1955, after which she stepped down as chair, but remained on the board.

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