Explore the world of Marguerite Martyn, America's forgotten journalist

Marguerite Martyn

(1880-1948) was an art school graduate who worked as a reporter and illustrator for the St. Louis Dispatch from 1905 to 1941. She covered national political conventions and interviewed people like actresses Lillian Russell, Mary Garden, and Ethel Barrymore, the poet Sara Teasdale, industrialist Andrew Carnegie, women’s rights activist Mother Jones and ’round-the-world traveler Nelly Bly. An early "celebrity journalist," she was so popular with her readers that her name was placed right up in the headlines.
No topic was immune from Martyn's insightful and sometimes whimsical pen:

She wrote and illustrated articles about women's suffrage, World War I, fashion, food, work, class differences, and more. Our book series offers a selection of Martyn's work during the Progressive Era, from 1905 to 1923, a time of great political, social and cultural upheaval. Experience a glimpse of history through the eyes of this intrepid reporter.

WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT MARGUERITE MARTYN AND HER WORK HERE.

Print Edition Now Available!

Our first book in the series follows Martyn while she chronicles --in words and sketches-- the suffragist movement, two political conventions, and the lives of noteworthy women and men during the tumultuous years of America's Progressive Era. Here, you'll find women marching for the vote, child workers dreaming of a better life, teenagers dancing the Bunny Hug in dimly lit clubs, long skirts and big hats. Criminals and politicians, artists and archbishops, corsets and conventions, romance and rebellion--Martyn covered it all, with sensitivity, wit and whimsy.

In his review, Frank Absher, of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, writes:
"An entertaining and informative
perspective...Martyn was an excellent writer, but her features gave her a chance to display her secret weapon: an ability to illustrate her subjects in pen and ink...
It is easy to discern in reading these articles that Martyn was quite a character herself...Her descriptive writing style, which relied heavily on her interview subjects and her surroundings, truly set her work apart from the day's standard news stories."

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And More to Come..

A sampling of illustrations by Marguerite Martyn to be included in future books in the series.

Writing by Martyn:

New!
Beatrice Farnham on Civilization, American Indians, and Her Fashion Choices

America Is No Place for Babies, Says The Lady Hercules

French Heels and Wooden Blocks

Nellie Bly Chases Business Prospects Out to a Brewery

Andrew Carnegie On Prosperity, Income Tax, and the Blessings of Poverty

Marguerite Martyn Interviews Theophile Papin: "What Is Society?"