This Week in Women’s Business History

March 27 – April 2

Mar. 27, 1982
Harriet Stratemeyer Adams dies. She was the daughter of Edward Stratemeyer, who founded the Stratemeyer Syndicate and brought to life the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins, and Tom Swift. Harriet and her sister, Edna, learned to run the syndicate after their father’s unexpected death in 1930. When Edna retired from the business in 1942, Harriet carried on. For fifty-two years, she managed the syndicate’s literary output which included writing detailed outlines for the hired writers and editing the final work.

Mar. 28, 1973
Ida Rosenthal dies. Rosenthal formed Maidenform with her husband, William, and Enid Bissett. When Bissett retired in 1930, William became president and managed design and manufacturing; Ida was treasurer and managed sales, marketing, and finance. She became president after William’s death in 1958.

Mar. 29, 1900
Mabel Flanley is born. With partner Sally Woodward she founded one of the earliest female-owned public relations agencies, Flanley and Woodward Public Relations.

Mar. 30, 1910
Elizabeth Brady is born. She was a vice president of Bankers Trust.

Mar. 31, 1925
Henrietta Chamberlain King dies. She operated and expanded King Ranch in southern Texas after the death of her husband, working closely with her son-in-law, Robert Kleberg.

Apr. 1, 1877
Aurelia Henry Reinhardt is born. She was president of Mills College.

Apr. 2, 1905
Evelyn Walker is born. Between 1930 and 1976, Walker produced children’s programs for radio stations WAPI, WRBC, WSBN in Birmingham, AL.

Last week in women’s business history

Mar. 20, 1918
Marian McPartland is born. She was a jazz pianist who created her own record label, Halcyon, to keep her work and that of other jazz musicians available to listeners.

Mar. 21, 1901
Genevieve Hazzard is born. She was an account executive at Campbell-Ewald advertising and the first female executive at the Chevrolet division of General Motors.

Mar. 23, 1897
Victoria Hernandez is born. She ran the first music store in New York City devoted to Puerto Rican music.

Mar. 24, 1912
Dorothy I. Height is born. She was an administrator with the YWCA and an advocate for civil rights.

Mar. 25, 1964
Rose Hum Lee dies. When Lee was appointed to chair the Sociology Department at Chicago’s Roosevelt University, she was the first woman and the first Chinese American to head an academic department of an American university. Before completing her PhD in sociology in 1947 and working in academia, Lee had two other careers. From the late 1920s until 1938, Lee lived in Canton (Guangzhou), China with her first husband and worked in business and government. Lee returned to the US after the Japanese bombed Canton and supported herself and her daughter as a freelance writer, playwright, and lecturer.

Mar. 26, 1863
Bertha Van Hoosen is born. She was a physician and the first president of American Medical Women’s Association, an organization she founded.