Contains transcripts of oral history interviews for the Washington Press Club Foundation's Women in Journalism Oral History Projects.

"Women in Journalism" is an oral history project of the Washington Press Club Foundation (WPCF) that includes comprehensive interviews with U.S. women journalists who have made significant contributions to society through careers in journalism since the 1920s. The interviews also document changes in the roles, expectations, opportunities, and obstacles for women in American society during the 20th century. Access to transcripts of the interviews are available online.

In spite of these challenges, front-page women played a significant role in reshaping public perceptions about women's roles."--BOOK JACKET.

Re-Evaluating Women’s Page Journalism in the Post-World War II Era tells the stories of significant women’s page journalists who contributed to the women’s liberation movement and the journalism community. Previous versions of journalism history had reduced the role these women played at their newspapers and in their communities—if they were mentioned at all. For decades, the only place for women in newspapers was the women’s pages. While often dismissed as fluff by management, these sections in fact documented social changes in communities. These women were smart, feisty and ahead of their times. They left a great legacy for today’s women journalists. This book brings these individual women together and allows for a broader understanding of women’s page journalism in the 1950s and 1960s. It details the significant roles they played in the post-World War II years, laying the foundation for a changing role for women.

Jan Whitt tells the stories of women who have been overlooked in journalism history, offering an important corrective to scholarship that narrowly focuses on the deeds of men like Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. She explores the lives of women reporters who achieved significant historical recognition, such as Ida Tarbell and Ida Wells-Barnett, as well as literary authors such as Joan Didion, Susan Orlean, Willa Cather, and Eudora Welty, whose work blends influences from both journalism and literature. This study shows how numerous women broadened the editorial scope of newspapers and journals, transformed women's professional roles, used journalism as a training ground for major literary works, and led breakthroughs in lesbian and alternative presses.