Freda Kirchwey
Freda Kirchwey | |
---|---|
Born | Mary Frederika Kirchwey September 26, 1893 |
Died | January 3, 1976 | (aged 82)
Alma mater | Barnard College |
Occupation | Journalist |
Spouse | Evans Clark |
Mary Frederika "Freda" Kirchwey (September 26, 1893 – January 3, 1976) was an American journalist, editor, and publisher strongly committed throughout her career to
Background
Born in Lake Placid, New York, in 1893 as the Progressive Era was getting under way, Kirchwey was the daughter of pacifist Columbia Law Professor George W. Kirchwey.[2] She attended Barnard College from 1911 to 1915.
Career
Kirchwey began working locally in journalism after graduation, at the New York Morning Telegraph,
In 1918, she was brought to The Nation by then editor Oswald Garrison Villard, largely at the behest of Kirchwey's former professor at Barnard, Henry Raymond Mussey, first working in the International Relations Section. In 1922 she became managing editor. In 1925 Kirchwey, an active feminist, published Our Changing Morality, a collection of articles dealing primarily with changing sexual relations. In 1926 she launched These Modern Women, a set of essays portraying successful feminist lives, including work by Crystal Eastman.[2] Kirchwey also wrote articles in The Nation about early feminists Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul.[2] She succeeded Villard as editor of the magazine in 1933, first as part of a four-person committee, then as the sole editor, becoming the first woman at the top of the masthead of a national weekly newsmagazine. In 1937, she bought the magazine from Maurice Wertheim, who had purchased it from Villard in a brief and particularly contentious period of the magazine's history.[3]
As editor, Kirchwey was strongly supportive of
Kirchwey, as president of Nation Associates, remained editor of the paper until 1955, when McWilliams became editor and George Kirstein became publisher.
After 1955, Kirchwey became involved with a collection of
Personal life
In November 1915, Kirchwey married Evans Clark, then a Princeton University professor who later worked for The New York Times. They had three sons, only one of whom survived to adulthood.[2][7]
Death
She died on January 3, 1976, in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Works
- The Atomic Era: Can it Bring Peace and Abundance! (New York: McBride, 1950).
- One World or None, The Nation, August 18, 1945.
- Our Changing Morality: A Symposium (New York: A. & C. Boni, 1924).
- When H.G. Wells Split the Atom: A 1914 Preview of 1945, The Nation, August 18, 1945.
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-415-96950-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-61069-214-4.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-940489-21-6.
- ISBN 978-0-8101-2831-6.
- ^ ISBN 0-674-31828-5.
- ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
- ^ "Kirchwey, Freda. Papers of Freda Kirchwey, 1871–1972: A Finding Aid". Harvard University Library. Archived from the original on 25 December 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
Further reading
- Alpern, Sara. A Woman of The Nation (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1987).
- Alpern, Sara. "In Search of Freda Kirchwey: From Identification to Separation" in Sara Alpern, et al. The Challenge of Feminist Biography: Writing the Lives of Modern American Women (Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1992). ISBN 0-252-01926-1(Hardcover), 0252062922 (Paperback)
- Showalter, Elaine (1989). These Modern Women: Autobiographical Essays from the Twenties [Rev. ed.]. New York, NY: The Feminist Press. pp. 147.
External links
- Letter from Freda Kirchwey to President Truman, May 10, 1948
- Letter from Freda Kirchwey to President Truman, June 19, 1948
- American American Registry: Freda Kirchwey
- Women in American History: Freda Kirchwey
- Spartacus Educational: Kirchwey Biography
- Freda Kirchwey Papers.Schlesinger Library Archived 2012-05-09 at the Wayback Machine, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.