Misplaced Pages

#758241

41-442: Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer (November 18, 1861 – December 16, 1951), widely known by the pen name Dorothy Dix , was an American journalist and columnist. As the forerunner of today's popular advice columnists , Dix was America's highest paid and most widely read female journalist at the time of her death. Her advice on marriage was syndicated in newspapers around the world. With an estimated audience of 60 million readers, she became

82-401: A brand name; the accompanying picture may bear little resemblance to the actual author. The Athenian Mercury contained the first known advice column in 1690. Traditionally presented in a magazine or newspaper , an advice column can also be delivered through other news media, such as the internet and broadcast news media . The original advice columns of The Athenian Mercury covered

123-543: A jury found her not guilty. Dix wrote columns and other material that brought attention to women, and she also appeared at suffrage events. In a column called "The Ordinary Woman," she urged readers to regard domestic work highly. "Women who are toiling over cooking-stoves, slaving at sewing-machines, pinching and economizing to educate and cultivate their children.... the Ordinary Woman is the real heroine of life," she wrote. Dix also encouraged women to work outside of

164-423: A plea "for the domestic woman — the woman who is the mainstay of the world, who is back of every great enterprise and who makes possible the achievements of men — the woman behind the broom, who is the hardest-worked and worst-paid laborer on the face of the earth ...." In New Orleans in 1903, she appeared on a platform with Susan B. Anthony to campaign for woman suffrage. Years later, Dix again spoke to attendees at

205-622: A popular and recognized figure on her travels abroad. In addition to her journalistic work, she joined in the campaign for woman suffrage and the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution . Elizabeth Meriwether was born to William Meriwether and Maria (Winston) Meriwether on the Woodstock plantation located on the borders of Montgomery County, Tennessee and Todd County, Kentucky . She attended Clarksville Female Academy and later completed one semester at

246-657: A pseudonym. She first used the pen name Dorothy Dix in 1896 for her column, "Sunday Salad," in the Picayune ; Dorothy, because she liked the name, and Dix in honor of an old family slave named Mr. Dick who had saved the Meriwether family silver during the Civil War . Within months the column was renamed to Dorothy Dix Talks and under that name was to become the world's longest-running newspaper feature. The column's widespread popularity began in 1923 when Dix signed with

287-465: A wide scope of information, answering questions on subjects such as science, history, and politics. John Dunton , the bookseller who established The Athenian Mercury , enlisted experts in different fields to assist with the answers. As more people read the columns, questions on relationships increased. In 1704, Daniel Defoe began a public affairs journal, A Review of the Affairs of France . He used

328-451: Is sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer , writing for Ask Dr. Ruth . Unlike the broad variety of questions in the earlier columns, modern advice columns tended to focus on personal questions about relationships, morals, and etiquette. However, despite the perception that sex was not a topic in advice columns early in the twentieth century, questions about sexual behavior, practices, and expectations were addressed in advice columns as early as

369-415: Is male). An advice columnist is someone who gives advice to people who send in problems to the media outlet. The image presented was originally of an older woman dispensing comforting advice and maternal wisdom, hence the name "aunt". Sometimes the author is in fact a composite or a team: Marjorie Proops 's name appeared (with photo) long after she retired. The nominal writer may be a pseudonym , or in effect

410-526: The Australian term " Dorothy Dixer ", an expression widely used in Australia to refer to a question from a member of Parliament to a minister that enables the minister to make an announcement in the form of a reply. In Australian rhyming slang , a "Dorothy" or "Dorothy Dix" refers to a hit for six in cricket. In Andy Griffith 's 1955 version of the song "Make Yourself Comfortable", Griffith tells

451-514: The Hollins Institute . In 1888, she married her stepmother's brother, George Gilmer. Shortly after her marriage to George, his mental health began to deteriorate, forcing Dix to provide financial support for both of them. He would later be institutionalized and eventually died in an asylum in 1931. In the aftermath of these events, Dix moved to Louisiana and took up writing. Her journalism career began after her neighbor Eliza Nicholson ,

SECTION 10

#1732780773759

492-795: The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) outlining the social, political and economic reasons why women should be granted the right to vote. One reason was that "every question of politics affects the home, and particularly affects the woman in the home." Originally published in 1908 in the San Francisco Examiner , the four-page piece addressed taxation, the differences between men and women, household budgets, morals, education, and other arguments in favor of women's suffrage. The circulars, along with novel items such as buttons, stationery, playing cards and other materials that promoted

533-1112: The New England Courant and later in the Pennsylvania Gazette . The popular columnist Dorothy Dix began her column in 1896. Marie Manning started "Dear Beatrice Fairfax" in 1898. In 1902, George V. Hobart wrote a humorous advice column, "Dinkelspiel Answers Some Letters", in the San Francisco Examiner . In 1906, a column called " A Bintel Brief " ran in the Jewish Daily Forward in New York, which answered questions from new immigrants. From 1941 to her death in 1962, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote an advice column, If You Ask Me , first published in Ladies Home Journal and then later in McCall's . A selection of her columns

574-505: The 1920s, although not in the explicit manner that can be found today. Many advice columns are now syndicated and appear in several newspapers. Prominent American examples include Dear Abby , Ann Landers , Carolyn Hax 's Tell Me About It , and Slate.com's Dear Prudence . In the 1970s, the Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News Syndicate estimated that 65 million people read "Dear Abby" daily. As recently as 2000, both

615-485: The 1980s, Ann Landers wrote an anti-nuclear column and encouraged her readers to clip it and forward it; over 100,000 letters were received by the White House. One million copies of her 1971 column supporting a cancer bill were sent to President Nixon . The "Agony Aunt" has become the subject of fiction, often satirically or farcically. Versions of the form include: Woman%27s Journal Woman's Journal

656-818: The Ann Landers and "Dear Abby" syndicated columns were published in over 500 newspapers. Internet sites such as the Elder Wisdom Circle offer relationship advice to a broad audience; Dear Maggie offers sex advice to a predominantly Christian readership in Christianity Magazine , and Miriam's Advice Well offers advice to Jews in Philadelphia. These days, men as advice columnists are rarer than women in print, but men have been appearing more often online in both serious and comedic formats. Advice columns were not simply informational; from

697-626: The National American Suffrage Convention held April 14, 1910, in Washington, D.C. She delivered her address, "The Real Reason Why Women Cannot Vote," by imitating the dialect of the African-American character featured in her "Mirandy" novels. Along with her pro-suffrage convention speeches and event appearances, Dix penned columns and essays supporting women's right to vote. She wrote a circular for

738-632: The Philadelphia-based Public Ledger Syndicate . At various times the column was published in 273 papers. At its peak in 1940, Dix was receiving 100,000 letters a year and her estimated reading audience was about 60 million in countries including United States, UK, Australia, New Zealand, South America, China, and Canada. One of her most famous single columns was Dictates for a Happy Life , a ten-point plan for happiness, which had to be frequently reprinted due to popular demand. In addition to her newspaper columns, Dix

779-525: The United States Constitution was passed ensuring women's right to vote. The editor-in-chief of The Woman Citizen was Rose Emmet Young ; Alice Stone Blackwell was a contributing editor. Every U.S. Congress member was given a free subscription to the journal. It covered issues such as child labor in addition to women's suffrage. After women won the right to vote, the journal's focus shifted to political education for women. One of

820-531: The aims of the League of Women Voters was to demonstrate its continued political power, now in the form of large numbers of newly enfranchised voters, and to soften its image in the eyes of women who were wary of radical politics. To that end, the journal courted middle-class female readers. It editorialized in support of the Maternity and Infancy Act of 1921, which was the first major legislation to be passed after

861-486: The courtroom for the infamous 1926 Hall-Mills trial after the New York Evening Post offered a staggering $ 1,000 a week. In this case, a socially prominent clergyman, Edward Hall, was found deceased with the body of Eleanor Mills, a singer in the choir and wife of the church janitor. She was shot three times and her throat slit. Frances Noel Stevens Hall, the wife of Edward Hall, stood trial for murder, but

SECTION 20

#1732780773759

902-443: The days of The Athenian Mercury , they contributed to a sense of community in which readers not only learned from others' issues vicariously, but engaged with each other by offering their own answers to questions already published or by challenging advice given by the columnist. David Gudelunas, in his book Confidential to America , said "It was through reading columns such as "Dorothy Dix" and "Ann Landers" that Americans learned what

943-596: The home in her writings and speeches. Participating in the suffrage movement, Dix spoke at the 34th annual National American Suffrage Convention, which was marked by the inaugural International Woman Suffrage Conference, at the First Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., Feb. 12–18, 1902. Her address, titled "The Woman With the Broom," filled four columns in the Woman's Journal . In her speech, she made

984-536: The interest of women, a key advertising demographic. An advice column for teenagers, "Boy Dates Girl" by Gay Head, started in Scholastic magazine in 1936. Advice columns specifically for teens became more common in the 1950s, such as "Ask Beth" which began in the Boston Globe and was then syndicated to 50 papers. More recently, advice columns have been written by experts in specific fields. One example

1025-467: The kitchen to allow her sister Agnes (played by Treva Frazee ) to share her bedroom because she was upset over marital trouble caused by Ralph, Kramden exclaims "OK, Dorothy Dix, fixer of marriage problems, fix my sleeping problem!" Advice column The responses are written by an advice columnist (colloquially known in British English as an agony aunt , or agony uncle if the columnist

1066-421: The lives of others, became a tool in ventures as disparate as children's counseling and teaching English as a second language. A male British columnist felt that his column served several useful purposes: referrals to public services, education, and reassurance. He also noted the cathartic value to the letter writers. Due their national reach and popularity, advice columns could also be a tool for activism. In

1107-765: The most learned and ingenious of both universities, and of the Royal-Society . Della Manley, the first recorded woman editor in Britain, began a gossip sheet in 1709, the Female Tattler , which included advice to readers, making her the first Agony Aunt. Her advice column approach was soon mimicked in the Female Spectator , a women's magazine launched by Eliza Haywood . As Silence Dogood and other characters, Benjamin Franklin offered advice in

1148-934: The name of a fictional society, the "Scandalous Club", as the "author" of a lighter section of the Review , and soon readers were sending 40–50 letters a week asking for advice from the Scandalous Club. At one point, Defoe complained of a backlog of 300 unanswered questions. Eventually, he spun off the letters-and-answers into a separate paper called the Little Review . A few years after the Little Review ended, The British Apollo newspaper provided advice to readers' questions in London. These have been compiled and published as The British Apollo: containing two thousand answers to curious questions in most arts and sciences, serious, comical, and humorous, approved of by many of

1189-562: The official organ of the National American Woman Suffrage Association until 1920, when the organization was reformed as the League of Women Voters, and the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed granting women the right to vote. Publication of Woman Citizen slowed from weekly, to bi-weekly, to monthly. In 1927, it was renamed The Woman's Journal . It ceased publication in June 1931. Woman's Journal

1230-567: The other half was up to—no matter what half they themselves represented." When people wrote letters, they were writing not only to the columnist, but also to their peers who would read about their problems. By discussing shared issues, advice columns contribute to a common understanding of mores and communal values. For example, as a community dialog, "A Bintel Brief" provided Eastern European Jewish immigrants with advice on adjusting to American life and helped bridge their disparate national cultures. David Gudelunas states "Newspaper advice columns in

1271-463: The owner of the New Orleans newspaper Daily Picayune , saw her work and offered her a job as a reporter. At the beginning of her career, before writing advice columns, Dix wrote obituaries, recipes and theater reviews. As was customary for many female journalists at the time, who believed that their work had the potential to cause embarrassment or poor social standing, she chose to write under

Dorothy Dix - Misplaced Pages Continue

1312-609: The story of a man writing a letter to Dix, wanting her advice on the aggressive woman he's on a date with. A Providence, Rhode Island , newspaper reporter said at a trial, "For years no great American murder-trial looked complete until Dorothy Dix took her place at the press table. Dorothy Dix has arrived. The trial can now proceed.". In the episode " Here Comes the Bride " of the sitcom The Honeymooners , when Alice Kramden (played by Audrey Meadows ), forces her husband, Ralph Kramden (played by Jackie Gleason ), to sleep on chairs in

1353-637: The suffrage movement, were included in a mail-order "Catalog of Suffrage Literature and Supplies" produced by the NAWSA Literature Committee. In addition to the circulars, Dix wrote three pamphlets on the subject of suffrage between 1912 and 1914. She also served as an editor for the July 1904 edition of Progress , a publication of the NAWSA. Her reputed practice of framing questions herself to allow her to publish prepared answers gave rise to

1394-423: The twentieth century are just as much about community discussions as they were in the seventeenth century." Readers took advantage of the anonymity of letters to advice columns to use it as a confessional. It gave them the opportunity to share information about themselves and their lives that, as many said in their letters, they were "too embarrassed" to tell people they knew. The advice column, with its views into

1435-570: Was a frequent contributor. Around 1887, headquarters were located in Boston on Park Street . Woman's Journal refused to carry advertisements for tobacco , liquor , or drugs . In 1910, Woman's Journal absorbed Progress , the official organ of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Until 1912, it served in that capacity, at which point it was renamed Woman's Journal and Suffrage News . By 1915, circulation had reached 27,634, up from 2,328 in 1909. In 1917, Woman's Journal

1476-464: Was an American women's rights periodical published from 1870 to 1931. It was founded in 1870 in Boston, Massachusetts , by Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Browne Blackwell as a weekly newspaper. In 1917 it was purchased by Carrie Chapman Catt 's Leslie Woman Suffrage Commission and merged with The Woman Voter and National Suffrage News to become known as The Woman Citizen . It served as

1517-573: Was compiled in the book If You Ask Me: Essential Advice from Eleanor Roosevelt in 2018. An unusual advice column that foreshadowed internet forums was "Confidential Chat" in the Boston Globe . Launched in 1922 and published until 2006, readers both asked and answered questions without a columnist as intermediary. Advice columns proliferated in American newspapers early in the twentieth century as publishers recognized their value in capturing

1558-479: Was founded in 1870 in Boston, Massachusetts , by Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Browne Blackwell as a weekly newspaper. The new paper incorporated Mary A. Livermore 's The Agitator , as well as a lesser known periodical called the Woman's Advocate . The works of Ohioan comedy writer Rosella Rice , whose poems mythologized the figure of Johnny Appleseed , were published in Woman's Journal . The first issue

1599-675: Was published on January 8, on the two-year anniversary of the first issue of Susan B. Anthony 's The Revolution . Stone and Blackwell served as editors, with assistance from Livermore. Julia Ward Howe edited from 1872 to 1879. Alice Stone Blackwell , daughter of Stone and Blackwell, began editing in 1883 and took over as sole editor after her father's death in 1909, continuing until 1917. Contributors included Charlotte Perkins Gilman , Antoinette Brown Blackwell , Mary Johnston , Stephen S. Wise , Zona Gale , Florence Kelley , Witter Bynner , Ben B. Lindsey , Louisa May Alcott , Harriet Clisby and Caroline Bartlett Crane . William Lloyd Garrison

1640-536: Was purchased by Carrie Chapman Catt 's Leslie Woman Suffrage Commission for $ 50,000, and merged with The Woman Voter , the official journal of the Woman Suffrage Party of New York City, and NAWSA's National Suffrage News to become known as The Woman Citizen . It served as NAWSA's official organ until 1920, when NAWSA was reformed as the League of Women Voters , and the Nineteenth Amendment to

1681-590: Was the author of books such as How to Win and Hold a Husband and Every-Day Help for Every-Day People . In addition to her advice columns, Dix was known for her reporting of murder trials. She earned her national reputation under the term of sob sister during the 15 years she worked for William Randolph Hearst 's New York Evening Journal as its leading crime reporter, concentrating mostly on murders and trials. Dix covered every high-profile case in New York until 1917 when she returned full time to writing her advice column, "Dorothy Dix Talks." She returned only once to

Dorothy Dix - Misplaced Pages Continue

#758241