Selling Women’s History: Packaging Feminism in Twentieth-Century American Popular Culture

275 Pages·2017·3.737 MB·English

by  Emily Westkaemper

Selling Women’s
History
(cid:2)

Selling Women’s
History
(cid:2)
Packaging Feminism in
Twentieth-Century American
Popular Culture
Emily Westkaemper
rutgers university press
new brunswick, new jersey, and london
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Westkaemper, Emily, 1979– author.
Title: Selling women’s history : packaging feminism in twentieth-century American
popular culture / Emily Westkaemper.
Description: New Brunswick, New Jersey : Rutgers University Press, 2017. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2016015514| ISBN 9780813576336 (hardback) | ISBN 9780813576329
(pbk.) | ISBN 9780813576343 (e-book (epub)) | ISBN 9780813576350 (Web PDF)
Subjects: LCSH: Women in popular culture—United States—History. | History in
popular culture—United States—History. | Women in advertising—United States—
History. | History in advertising—United States—History. | Women—United States—
History. | Feminism—United States—History. | BISAC: SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women’s
Studies. | ART / Popular Culture. | SOCIAL SCIENCE / Popular Culture. | DESIGN /
Graphic Arts / Advertising. | HISTORY / United States / General.
Classifi cation: LCC HQ1410 .W47 2017 | DDC 305.420973—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016015514
A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the British
Library.
Copyright © 2017 by Emily Westkaemper
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without
written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press, 106
Somerset Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. Th e only exception to this prohibition is
“fair use” as defi ned by U.S. copyright law.
Visit our website: http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu
Manufactured in the United States of America
For my mother, Kathleen Hogan Westkaemper

C O N T E N T S
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1 Martha Washington (Would Have) Shopped
Here: Women’s History in Magazines and
Ephemera, 1910–1935 18
2 “Th e Quaker Girl Turns Modern”: How
Adwomen Promoted History, 1910–1940 50
3 Broadcasting Yesteryear: Women’s History
on Commercial Radio, 1930–1945 77
4 Gallant American Women: Feminist
Historians and the Mass Media, 1935–1950 94
5 Betsy Ross Red Lipstick: Products as
Artifacts and Inspiration, 1940–1950 127
6 “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby”: Women’s
History in Consumer Culture from
World War II to Women’s Liberation 162
Epilogue 194
Notes 199
Index 247
vii

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S
I received generous fi nancial support for archival research from the
Smithsonian Institution, the Hagley Museum and Library, the Radcliff e
Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard Schlesinger Library, Smith College,
the University of Wyoming American Heritage Center, Franklin & Marshall
College, and an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship at the Library
Company of Philadelphia and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Rutgers
University and its history department provided funding during my graduate
study. James Madison University (JMU) provided vital assistance through
an Edna T. Shaeff er Humanist Award, a College of Arts and Letters Faculty
Summer Research Grant, a Madison Caucus for Gender Equality Professional
Development Fund Grant, and history department research funds. I would
also like to thank Gabrielle Lanier, Michael Galgano, David Jeff rey, and my
colleagues and students for making JMU a wonderful place to work as a
historian.
Many archivists and curators assisted my research. Th ank you to Marianne
Hansen and Eric Pumroy for providing access to the unprocessed Philadelphia
Club of Advertising Women records at the Bryn Mawr College Library. At the
Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, Larry Bird, Fath Davis
Ruffi ns, and Susan Strange off ered useful insight. Larry generously shared his
Cavalcade of America research materials. At Schlesinger Library, Ellen Shea
made fruitful recommendations. Paula Weddle and the JMU interlibrary loan
staff provided important assistance.
I appreciate feedback on portions of this work presented at the JMU
History Forum; the JMU Center for Faculty Innovation; the 2013 American
Historical Association Annual Meeting; the 2008 Berkshire Conference; the
2007 American Studies Association Annual Meeting; and the 2007 Graduate
ix