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