Ruth Millett Papers
Scope and Contents
Correspondence, photographs, printed material, programs, invitations, announcements, speeches, writings, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and newspaper slicks document Ruth Millett’s life and career from 1927 through her retirement in 1967. The bulk of the papers are clippings and full page reproductions of her columns, We, the Women, and Mind Your Manners, written for the Newspaper Enterprise Association syndication service from 1937-1967. We, the Women addressed women’s issues of the mid-twentieth century, from education and career, to homemaking, etiquette, personal relationships, and popular culture. Of note are Millett’s columns addressing the changes in women’s lives brought about by the Great Depression, World War II, and cultural movements of the 1950s and 1960s.
Dates
- 1927-1967, undated
Creator
- Lowry, Ruth Millett (Person)
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright has been transferred to Texas Christian University.
Biographical / Historical
Ruth Linwood Millett Lowry was born February 10, 1912 to Ralph and Alice Millett in Dallas, Texas. The family soon moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where Ralph Millett, was a columnist and editor of the Memphis Press-Scimitar. The Milletts were a close family, and Ruth and Ralph Jr. both pursued their father’s profession, journalism. Ruth graduated from the University of Iowa, worked briefly in Missouri, then moved to New York City where she began writing two syndicated columns, Ruth Millett Says . . . (later titled We, the Women) and Mind Your Manners, for the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA). She married Dr. Frederick Lowry and had twins Peter and Lynne. The family moved around the Midwest a bit before settling in Austin, Texas. Millett continued with her career as a columnist until her retirement in 1967. She died April 16, 1997 in Austin. Millett’s columns, which ran as often as six days a week in more than 450 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada, included interviews with celebrities, commentaries on the effects of World War II on American families, discussions of behavior of elected officials and first ladies, and advice on topics such as whether women should work outside the home and how children should be educated. Millett received thousands of letters from readers and was named one of the U.S.’s top ten most powerful women by Pageant magazine in 1953. She was also honored by the New York Newspaper Women’s Club, Theta Sigma Phi, a fraternity for women writers, and named the Austin American Statesman Career Woman of 1963.
Extent
15 Linear feet
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Arranged in three series: I. Personal Papers, 1927-1967 ; II. Newspaper clippings, 1930-1957 and undated ; and Series III. Slicks and newspapers, 1930-1967
Physical Location
Vault: TT E1 - 4
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Peter Lowry, 2014.
- Advice columnists -- United States Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
- Child rearing -- United States Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
- Clippings (information artifacts) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Consumer education -- United States Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
- Correspondence Subject Source: {:aat=>"Art & Architecture Thesaurus", :cash=>"Canadian Subject Headings", :gmgpc=>"TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms", :ingest=>"Unspecified ingested source", :lcgft=>"Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms", :lcsh=>"Library of Congress Subject Headings", :lcshac=>"Library of Congress Children's Subject Headings", :local=>"Local sources", :mesh=>"Medical Subject Headings", :nal=>"National Agricultural Library subject headings", :ram=>"Répertoire d'autorités RAMEAU", :rbgenr=>"Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing", :rvm=>"Répertoire de vedettes-matière", :tgn=>"Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names"}
- Etiquette for children and teenagers Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
- Life skills -- United States Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
- Newspapers -- Sections, columns, etc. Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
- Op-ed pages Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
- Photographs Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Printed ephemera Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
- Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
- Women journalists -- United States Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Journalists Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Guide to the Ruth Millett Papers
- Author
- Compiled by Miriam Villanueva Mary Saffell Special Collections staff
- Date
- March 2015
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Archives and Special Collections, Mary Couts Burnett Library Repository
TCU Box 298400
2800 S. University Drive
Fort Worth, Texas 76129-0001
Fort Worth Texas 76129
(817) 257-4566
(817) 257-7282 (Fax)
LibSpecialCollections@tcu.edu
