Winter-2013NWHM_NwsltrXIV

A Different
P O I N T O F V I E W
IN THIS EDITION
2 LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
3 NWHM HOSTS ANNUAL de Pizan Honors
5 A STAR-STUDDED AFFAIR
6 LEGISLATION UPDATE
7 NWHM AND GWU LAUNCH FIRST LECTURE SERIES
8 FEATURE ARTICLE: MAD WOMEN
9 THE FEMALE CONSUMER
11 DID YOU KNOW?
12 BIOGRAPHIES
14 SPOTLIGHT
WINTER 2013 | VOLUME XIV
Cover Image
“Advertising: A Career for Women,” J. Walter Thompson Company, 1963
Publications Collection
John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History
Duke University David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library

2
ADIFFERENTPOINTOFVIEW
Dear Friends,
It’s been an exceptionally busy, but exciting season with the annual de
Pizan Honors Gala on October 9 and Los Angeles Regional Council Women
Making History event on October 24. Both events were a resounding
success with hundreds of men and women attending to help honor
women who have made (and those who are making) history, and to learn
more about our efforts to secure a permanent home for the Museum.
Each of the Living Legacy and Women Making History award recipients spoke from the heart about the
women who’ve inspired them. In particular, Dr. Etta Pisano (this year’s recipient of the Dr. Helen Taussig
Award) touched many in the audience as she spoke so emotionally about being 15 and the oldest of 7
children when she lost her mother to breast cancer more than 40 years ago. Her emotion resonated with
all of us because we know that no matter how much time passes, our connections to our mothers last
a lifetime. Dr. Pisano’s loss at such a young age was truly a defining moment as today she is one of the
world’s leading radiologists and has invented technologies that are saving the lives of women with breast
cancer and other breast abnormalities.
It’s stories like Dr. Pisano’s that continue to fuel our drive to ensure that women in our history
and those making history today are recognized, celebrated and remembered for their significant
contributions to society; and that their stories are chronicled for future generations to learn from.
I’m also delighted to report that we launched our Initiating Change / Adapting to Change Lecture
Series, presented in partnership with The George Washington University on October 2 with A New
Order: Change for Women in the U. S. Military. It was a fascinating conversation moderated by legendary
journalist Eleanor Clift and featuring military history scholar, Dr. Lisa Meyer and retired Brigadier General
Wilma Vaught. The second event in the series, Making A Business of Change: American Women in Business,
was held on November 12. Moderated by veteran news executive and biographer A’Lelia Bundles and
featuring history of American business cultures scholar, Professor Pamela Laird and President & Chief
Executive Officer of McKissack & McKissack, Deryl McKissack.
Amid all of our activity, the government shut-down occurred. We were so delighted to see our
own Senator Susan Collins (Sponsor of S. 398 to create a Commission on NWHM) prompt and lead the
negotiations to end the shut-down and avoid the default. In the same way that women from the North
and South came together to heal the nation after the Civil War, it took the women in our Senate to clean
up the mess! Bravo! In Maya Angelou’s words,“You make me proud to spell my name W-O-M-A-N.”
Many thanks for your continued support and a very happy new year from NWHM’s board and staff!
Respectfully,
Joan Wages
LETTER FROM JOAN WAGES
NWHM President

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O
n October 9, 2013, the National
Women’s History Museum held
its 3rd annual de Pizan Honors
ceremony in Washington, DC.
More than 300 guests filled the Mead Center for
American Theatre at Arena Stage to celebrate
American women who have enriched the
fabric of this nation through their life’s work.
Each year since 2011 NWHM has paid tribute
posthumously to three trailblazing women
with an award in their name presented to a
contemporary counterpart. The 2013 honorees
included Tony Award-winning actress and
activist Phylicia Rashad (Lena Horne Living
Legacy Award), world-renowned opera singer
Denyce Graves (Marian Anderson Living Legacy
Award) and groundbreaking radiologist Dr.
Etta Pisano (Helen Taussig Living Legacy Award).
Multi-award winning documentary filmmaker
Ken Burns was honored with the Henry Blackwell
Award, named for the 19th century women’s
rights advocate who co-founded the American
Women Suffrage Association. The award
honors men who have championed, supported,
encouraged and appreciated the contributions,
NWHM HOSTS ITS THIRD ANNUAL
de Pizan Honors on October 9, 2013
achievements and most importantly, the
experiences of American women.
A major highlight of the evening were the heart-
felt and stirring acceptance speeches given
by each honoree. Each spoke to the value and
importance of honoring and telling the rich
and diverse stories of the women who built this
nation, as well as the inspirational women in
their own lives.
Prior to the program the Museum held a silent
auction with a number of exciting prizes
including a series of hand-crafted hats designed
by Laura Spears, a recent graduate from the
University of Texas at Austin’s MFA program in
design and technology, a Washington Redskins
package, an Ultimate National’s Baseball fan
package, a weekend in Miami and a Broadway
show in New York City, among other prizes.
Dr. Pisano is an award-winning medical
history-making radiologist whose work in
screening for and diagnosis of breast cancer
gained national recognition in leading medical
journals. Recently Dr. Pisano co-founded
her own company, NextRay, Inc., which will
commercialize a device she and her partners
invented that creates medical images using
x-rays providing superior image quality at a
substantially lower dose for those women
undergoing breast cancer screening. She has
been named as one of the 20 most influential
people in radiology. Dr. Piasno accepted the Dr.
Helen Taussig Living Legacy award named for
the groundbreaking pediatric cardiologist who
developed a surgical procedure to correct“blue
baby”syndrome, a defect that prevents babies’
hearts from receiving enough oxygen. Credited
“Too often women’s history is marginalized
as a separate, politically correct addendum
to American history.”
—Ken Burns
“Women in STEM find it too hard to
succeed…I’ll work hard to change what’s
possible for women and girls in science.”
—Dr. Pisano
Honorees Denyce Graves, Dr. Etta Pisano and Phylicia Rashad with NWHM
President CEO Joan Wages

4
with creating the field of pediatric cardiology,
Dr. Tasussig was one of the first women to
receive a full professorship at John’s Hopkins
University and the first woman to serve as
president of the American Heart Association.
Award-winning actress, teacher and activist
Phylicia Rashad is perhaps best known as one
of America’s favorite TV moms, Claire Huxtable,
on the award-winning sitcom The Cosby Show.
Her rich and diverse acting career has included
roles on both the stage and the screen world-
wide. Ms. Rashad accepted the Lena Horne Living
Legacy Award.
Lena Horne was one of the most popular
entertainers of the 20th century. Famous for
her singing and acting, Ms. Horne was the first
African‑American to have a contract with a major
Hollywood movie studio. A passionate civil
rights activist, she refused to sing to segregated
audiences during WWII, participated in NAACP
rallies and the march on Washington, and
worked with Eleanor Roosevelt to pass anti-
lynching laws.
Washington native, Denyce Graves, is a mezzo-
soprano vocal sensation and“operatic superstar
of the 21st century.”Her career has taken her to
the world’s greatest opera houses and concert
halls. She is currently a cultural ambassador
for the United States and travels throughout
the world under the auspices of the State
Department appearing in goodwill missions of
“Marian Anderson’s voice was so powerful
that music just happened to be the vehicle
through which we knew her.”
—Denyce Graves
musical performances, lectures and seminars.
Ms. Graves accepted the Marian Anderson Living
Legacy Award.
Marian Anderson was a world-renowned contralto
and one of the most accomplished singers in
the United States during the 1930s. She was the
first African‑American entertainer to perform at
theWhite House and was the recipient of the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Kennedy
Center Honors, the National Medal of Arts and a
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
NWHM would like to thank all who were able
to attend the event and to express particular
appreciation to the event’s honorary co-chairs,
Senator Elizabeth Dole, Mrs. Lynda Bird Johnson
Robb, and all of our sponsors.
Marian Anderson
Lena Horne
Dr. Helen Taussig
“It’s important to commemorate the
contributions womenmake each day.”
—Phylicia Rashad

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N
WHM’s Los Angeles Regional Council
hosted its 2nd, Women Making
History event, on Thursday Oct.
24th at the Mr. C Hotel in Beverly
Hills. CSI star Melina Kanakaredes served as the
evening’s emcee and honors were presented
to Grammy, Oscar, Emmy and Tony-Award
Winning Actress Rita Moreno, Actress and Activist
Fran Drescher, and the United Nation’s Girl Up
initiative which provides girls around the world
with life-changing opportunities; Olympic Gold
Medalist Rebecca Soni accepted on behalf of
Girl Up. The event was attended by more than
250 guests including NWHM Ambassadors and
stars of Devious Maids, Brianna Brown, and Susan
Lucci, Actresses Judy Reyes, Ana Ortiz, Marianna
Klaveno, Rebecca Wisocky, NWHM Interim Board
Chair Carey Shuart, Charter Members of the
Museum, and new supporters.
Rosie O’Donnell introduced Fran Drescher with
remarks that had the audience both laughing
and crying. Ms. Drescher was honored for her
work in cancer prevention. In accepting the
honor, Drescher spoke of her support for NWHM
saying,“Women have been side-by-side with
men throughout the ages, only in history there
is a great void.”Ms. Drescher founded the Cancer
Schmancer Movement after surviving her own
A STAR-STUDDED AFFAIR AT
at NWHM’s Second Annual LA Event
battle with uterine cancer. Cancer Schmancer
is a non-profit organization committed to
transforming patients into medical consumers
and working to change the way people live.
Drescher has received multiple Emmy and
Golden Globe nominations for her portrayal
of“Miss Fine”on The Nanny. She currently
serves the U.S. State Department as a Public
Diplomacy Envoy for Women’s Health, and is an
accomplished author whose two books became
New York Times bestsellers.
The legendary
Rita Moreno was
honored for her
pioneering work in
the entertainment
industry. Ms.
Moreno was
introduced by
her long-time
friend and West
Side Story co-
star, George Chakiris, who spoke fondly of their
friendship, which began more than 50 years ago.
Moreno belongs to an elite group of only eight
living performers (and the only Hispanic person)
who have won entertainment’s grand slam—an
Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. Moreno was
born in Puerto Rico in 1931. She moved with
her mother to New York at the age of 5, and
made her Broadway debut a mere 8 years later.
After her Oscar-winning performance in the
1961 film adaptation of West Side Story, Moreno
continued to grow her list of accomplishments
with countless theater, film, television, and
Broadway appearances. Today, at 81 years young,
Rita Moreno remains one of the busiest stars in
show business; her first book—a memoir—was
published this spring and instantly became a New
York Times bestseller.
The Girl Up Foundation was honored for its pivotal
work improving the lives of girls across the globe.
Rebecca Soni, Fran Drescher, Rita Moreno, Joan Wages
George Chakiris and Rita Moreno

6
This initiative of
the United Nations
Foundation,
mobilizes American
youth to raise
awareness and
funds for UN
programs that
provide girls
around the world
with life-changing
opportunities like
the chance to go to school, see a doctor, and stay
safe from violence. Through online engagement
and community mobilization, Girl Up is a platform
for American girls to advocate on behalf of
girls everywhere. With its Teen Advisory Board,
nationwide network of Girl Up Clubs, and online
constituents, the campaign has galvanized more
than 300,000 supporters to stand up for the rights
of all girls. As a Girl Up champion, six-time Olympic
medalist Rebecca Soni went from shattering
world swimming records to mobilizing American
girls to advocate for the world’s most marginalized
girls, particularly in developing countries.
Special thanks to the
LA Regional Council,
Dermalogica, Dr.
Gretchen Green,
Mari Johnson, Earth
Friendly Products, Mr.
C Hotel, Los Angeles
Magazine, and Elana
Pianko for their
generous support of
the National Women’s
History Museum.
Rosie O’Donnell
Susan Lucci
CORRECTION!
Historical Women
Who Rocked: Myers-Briggs
(Winter 2012 Edition)
An incorrect link was featured in
this article. Please follow the link
below to access the Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator assessment tool:
http://www.mbticomplete.com
WOMEN SEND GOVERNMENT
BACK TO WORK
While the majority of Americans were painfully aware of
the recent Government shutdown, few are aware that it
took the women in the Senate to come up with a plan to get
Government back to work. Senator Susan Collins, Sponsor
of our Senate bill S 398, led the charge along with another
long-time NWHM supporter Senator Lisa Murkowski. It’s
no surprise that the solution came from women. We
already know (and history backs this up) that women find
ways to make it work. We are leaders, problem solvers
and meditators. And, we’re delighted that Senators Collins
and Murkowski, along with many others in the Senate and
the House, are back working diligently to move NWHM’s
legislation forward in both houses.
YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Special thanks to all the Charter Members who responded to
our request to send handwritten notes and for telephoning
Senator Wyden and Representative Hastings. Your personal
notes and calls DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Speaker Boehner
recently shared with me at a Congressional function that
he was aware of the bill pending for the National Women’s
History Museum and confirmed that once HR 863 passes out
of the Natural Resources Committee in the House, he will
ensure it is brought to the floor for a final vote.
This commitment is a major breakthrough for the Museum
and its supporters and means we must keep the pressure on
Congressman Doc Hastings and Senator Ron Wyden since our
bills sit waiting for review in their committees.
WHICH MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
SUPPORT NWHM LEGISLATION?
NWHM posted a U.S. map and state-by-state sponsor
information on its website at www.nwhm.org/get-involved/
promote/legislation-sponsors, which enables visitors to see if
their Representative and two Senators are sponsors of HR 863
and S 398. If they are, visitors to the site can easily send a
thank you letter directly from the website; and if not, they can
send a note urging sponsorship.
Congress is learning on a daily basis that NWHM and its
Charter Members have no intention of going away or letting
our efforts for a permanent home on the National Mall
dissipate. If anything, the longer they deny women their
rightful place on the Mall, the stronger our resolve.
We are already more than a Museum. With over 2.2 million
hits on our website annually, and 45,000 institutions using
the site as an educational resource — we are already
bringing women’s history into the light of day. In addition,
our 23 online exhibits, galas, receptions, lecture series and
National Speakers Bureau are helping to raise awareness
and engage support as we work and wait to secure our site.
NWHM is working closely with Representatives Maloney and
Blackburn and Senators Susan Collins and Barbara Mikulski to
move our bills forward. We WILL realize the dream. The bills
will pass. As Former Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson said when
recently asked if Congress would ever pass legislation allowing
us a presence on the Mall — “Yes…it’s just a matter of time!”
UPDATELEGISLATION

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WINTER2013
C
hange is a constant in life. It may come
slowly as a result of cultural evolution,
or it may be precipitated by economic,
social, political, or natural events.
Demand for change may be a result of historic
injustice and inequality, or it may be precipitated
by immediate needs to provide resources for
self or family. Of course, not all change is sought
after, and women often have been forced to
adapt to new and unforeseen situations. As part
of our ongoing partnership with The George
Washington University history department, the
National Women’s History Museum has launched
Initiating Change/Adapting to Change, a series of
community forums that place modern women’s
issues in a historical framework. Each event
features two speakers: a women’s history scholar
and an accomplished woman who presents the
topic’s contemporary perspective.
Our first forum, A New Order: Change for Women
in the U.S. Military was held on October 2, 2013
at the Arts Club of Washington. Legendary
journalist Eleanor Clift moderated this fascinating
discussion which featured Dr. Leisa Meyer
(College of William Mary) and General Wilma
Vaught (President of the Board of Directors of the
Women In Military Service For America Memorial
Foundation, Inc.). The hour-long, wide-ranging
conversation examined several topics comparing
the modern and historical aspects of women
and military life. These included changes in
why women enter the service, how the service
accommodates and rewards women, the barriers
to advancement, the military as a gendered
workplace, and the reality of sexual assault.
The second forum in the series, Making a Business
of Change: American Women in Business, was
held on Tuesday, November 12th at GWU’s Jack
Morton Auditorium in Washington, DC. Ms. A’Leila
Bundles, chairwoman of the Foundation for the
National Archives, moderated the discussion
which featured University of Colorado historian
Dr. Pamela Laird and Chairwoman of McKissack
and McKissack, Ms. Deryl McKissack.
The American dream is often described as the
belief that hard work and ambition are the keys
to economic and social advancement. Popular
culture celebrates the image of the self-made
man. However, research shows that social capital
is infinitely more important to success than either
talent or drive. Robust networks and connections
are critical to success. Historically, women
were left out of power networks, but as larger
numbers entered into career fields they learned
to forge alternate networks. Rather than waiting
for opportunity, many successful women have
created their own opportunities and in doing so
challenged the notion of business as usual.
This insightful discussion touched on many areas
of women’s experiences in business including
balancing work and family, overcoming gender-bias,
and the fact that the government has both opened
doors to women’s participation in the work force
(Civil Rights Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity
Act), but also eliminated programs designed to
promote women in business. Please visit our
website to view excerpts from the discussion.
We are profoundly grateful to pricewaterhouse-
coopers (PWC) for generously supporting the
second forum; and look forward to reporting on
the next two forums—Game Changers: American
Women in Sports (February 19, 2014) and Stand-
ing Up for Change: Women and the Civil Rights
Movement (March 26, 2014) in a future issue.
NWHM THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Launch Initiating Change—Adapting to Change
Dr. Leisa Meyer, Eleanor Clift, General Vaught, Joan Wages

8
FEATURE
Mad Women: A History of America’s
Influential Women of the Ad Industry
Sydnee C. Winston — NWHM Project Coordinator
W
ith 15 Emmy’s under its belt,
legions of dedicated viewers, and
a ranking as the sixth greatest
TV drama of all time, AMC’s Mad
Men is seemingly unstoppable. The show, set
in 1960s New York City, explores the business
and personal lives of men and women working
at a fictional Madison Avenue advertising
agency. Mad Men has received high praise for
the historical accuracy of its sets, costumes and
portrayal of life in the 1960s ad industry; but just
how accurate is its portrayal of the pioneering
“mad women”of the period who helped shape
the industry? While it’s true that, except for a few
rare exceptions, professional women were largely
restricted to administrative positions, there were
quite a few in history who achieved great success
of their own in this male-dominated industry.
One of the first was Mathilde C. Weil. In 1880,
four decades before the United States granted
its women citizens the right to vote, Mathilde, a
German-immigrant, opened an ad agency in New
York City. The M.C. Weil Agency became the first
general agency established by a woman and Weil
has been heralded as“America’s first ad woman.”
A mere nine years earlier, Weil and her husband
had made the journey from Germany to the U.S.
and Not long after their arrival, Mr. Weil passed
away, leaving Mathilde with no means of support.
Image of a New Woman
FEATURE continues on page 9
Image
John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising Marketing History
Duke University David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library

9
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She eventually found work as a translator in
English, German, French and Spanish, and later
as a newspaper and magazine writer, but it was
when she started buying and selling ad space for
a German newspaper during the mid-1870s that
she discovered a career in advertising could be
far more profitable. Weil had a keen eye for what
women were reading during those days and her
company was very successful.
“By the 1880s, states began to modify laws to
give women the right to their own wages during
marriage, to enter into business partnerships
and sign contracts. As a result, women’s roles
as consumers and as ad women became all
the more important in the emerging consumer
society of the early 20th century.”
During the early 1900s, a number of women
gained prominence as successful ad managers,
illustrators and photographers. Jane Johnston
Martin was in many ways the embodiment of
the“New Woman”feminist ideal of the turn of the
20th century.“She was a successful ad manager
for Sperry Hutchinson and specialized in the
woman’s viewpoint, insisting that she understood
the needs and desires of women because she was
one. She worked at the company from 1904 until
her resignation in 1922, and was reputed to have
earned a salary of $10,000 a year, about eight
times the average annual salary in 1925.”
Another woman who rose to prominence in the
ad industry during the early 20th Century was
copywriter and advertising executive Helen
Lansdowne Resor. Resor not only helped transform
the way agencies advertised to women with her
provocative ads, but also founded the Women’s
Editorial Department at the prestigious J. Walter
Thompson Company in the early 1900s.
Erma Proetz, an innovative copywriter and later
ad agency executive during the 1920s and 1930s,
created an award-winning ad campaign for“Pet Milk,”
which appeared in Ladies’HomeJournalin May of
1927. The campaign was so successful that she won
the Harvard Award in 1927 for the“best planned and
executed national advertising campaign.”
While Proetz was carving out her career as a
successful copywriter at the Gardner Agency,
American women have had tremendous
influence on the advertising industry since
its earliest days. In our culture women are
often seen as the consumers and shopping is
associated with femininity. It is no accident
that women have been influencing what we
want, need and purchase for centuries.
Modern American consumer culture arose
on the backdrop of the 19th century, a
time in which America experienced rapid
urbanization and industrialization, which
was making fundamental shifts in cultural
attitudes towards women. With this new
mass production of goods, businesses
crafted new methods of distribution,
promotion and sales, which established
the framework of our modern consumer
culture. As businesses thought of new ways
to sell their products and expand consumer
demand, they adopted new methods of
merchandising, packaging and advertising.
The image of the “female consumer”
was one of the cultural and marketing
phenomena that emerged from new
advertising. Consumer identity became
linked with notions of femininity and was
seen as the way to a better life.
Godey’s Lady’s
Book (edited by
Sarah Josepha
Hale) set the
precedent
for women’s
magazines, and
by the turn of
the century,
the “big six”
women’s
magazines—
Ladies’ Home
Journal,
McCall’s, Delineator, Woman’s Home
Companion, Pictorial Review, and Good
Housekeeping—were founded.
The Female
CONSUMER
June 1867 issue of Godey’s Lady’s Book

10
(DDB), and copy chief and Vice President of Jack
Tinkler Partners. Mary is credited with bringing
creative vision and direction to iconic print and
television ads for nationally-recognized brands
like Alka-Seltzer, Braniff Airlines, Volkswagen and
Avis Rent-a-Car. By 1969, Wells was the highest
paid woman in the world; earning an annual
salary of $225,000.
In a 2012 New York Times article, Wells, who is
now 84, reflected on her experience as a woman
in such a male-dominated environment. “There
were and are so many talented women in the
advertising business, and the real wonder is why
they aren’t all running worldwide agencies of
their own,”she said.“I’m looking into that.”
Bernice Fitz-
Gibbon was
making her
mark as one
of the most
successful retail
ad makers in
the industry.
She got her
start working at
Wannamaker’s
in New York
and later at
Macy’s, where
beginning in 1928, she worked as a head fashion
copywriter earning $15,000 a year. Fitz-Gibbon
was the creative genius behind Macy’s:“It’s Smart
to Be Thrifty”tagline. She worked at Macy’s
for twelve years before leaving to continue her
career in the advertising department at Macy’s
competitor, Gimbels. While at Gimbels, she
created innovative advertisements that engaged
readers with anecdotes, catchy slogans and puns,
to give the store its own unique personality. Her
clever advertisements had a tremendous impact
on sales and Gimbels’ business increased 96
percent from 1939 to 1945.
By the 1940s, Fitz-Gibbon had become one of the
highest-paid women in American advertising;
earning $90,000 in 1941. In 1954 she opened her
own retail advertising consulting firm on Fifth
Avenue in New York City, and only a year later
was voted Woman of the Year in Business by the
Association of Press Editors.
In 1966 (the year that Mad Men’s 5th season
commences), a talented ad executive’s visionary
and game-changing work was taking Madison
Avenue by storm. That was Mary Wells Lawrence.
Not only was Mary the founding president
of Wells Rich Greene (which she ran for two
decades), she was also the first female CEO of a
company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Over the course of her 40 year career, Wells
worked as a fashion-advertising manager for
Macy’s, a writer and copy group head at McCann-
Erickson, an associate copy chief and head of new
products development at Doyle Dane Bernbach
Bernice Fitz-Gibbon
(Photo Credit) American Advertising Federation
References:
“Ad Women: How They Impact What we Need, Want and Buy”; Juliann
Sivulka, Prometheus Books, 2009
New York Times Article: A Pioneer in a Mad Men’s World; June 8, 2012;
Gina Bellafante: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/fashion/mary-
wells-lawrence-took-on-the-mad-men.html?_r=0
Image
John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising Marketing History
Duke University David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library
Macy’s Window Display c. 1952 Photo Courtesy of The Library of Congress

11
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Check out these historic ads that
use women to advertise ideas
and products. We certainly
HAVE come a long way, baby!
Photos Courtesy of
Library of Congress
You DO Make
a Difference
“In all my 99 years, I can
think of nothing more
important for women
now than finally giving
NWHM a HOME,
so please support our
legislation.”
—Cecilia, Santa Monica, CA
“Honor your mothers,
grandmothers, daughters
and sisters by granting
the National Women’s
History Museum the last
site on the National Mall.”
—Vera, Lakeville, PA
“All of us, female and male,
are part of our history.
It always struck me as
wrong that only men were
recognized. We must honor
the accomplishments of all
if we are truly to meet our
potential as a race.”
—Pamela, Hillsborough, NJ
Visit http://nwhm.org/get-involved/promote/
legislation-sponsors to find out if your
Representative and Senators have sponsored
our legislation.

12
Helen Lansdowne Resor was a pioneering
advertiser and copywriter who became Vice
President and Director at the renowned J.
Walter Thompson ad agency in New York
City. For over 40 years, she and her husband Stanley Resor
worked to build the powerhouse advertising agency.
With their support, the company grew from only a few
offices and fewer than 100 employees to a worldwide staff
of more than 7,000 in over twenty-three countries, and
$360 million in billings. Not only did her work influence
a change in how companies advertised to women, but
her commitment to expanding career opportunities for
women in advertising was remarkable as well.
An ardent suffragist and champion of women’s rights, all of
Resor’s work centered on her commitment to improving the
lives of women. As a young girl, her mother taught her the
value of self-reliance as a woman; the powerful lesson would
prove to be influential throughout her career.
Lansdowne graduated from high school with honors in 1903
and after a brief stint as a bill auditor at the Procter Collier
Agency in Cincinnati, began writing retail ads. In 1906 she
worked for a nationally recognized streetcar advertising firm.
In 1907, Stanley Resor, who had been working at Procter
Collier as a salesman, persuaded Lansdowne to return to the
agency as a copywriter. A year later in 1908, when Stanley and
his brother opened the J.WalterThompson Cincinnati office,
they hired Lansdowne as the company’s first copywriter.
It didn’t take long for Lansdowne to be promoted. She
moved to the agency’s New York headquarters in 1911 and
soon became the first woman to successfully create and
write national advertising campaigns. Her most famous and
enormously successful campaign was for Woodbury Facial
Soap in 1911.“Lansdowne made assumptions about the
gendered nature of the audience and added the essential
emotional appeal to the rational sales argument.”1
She
determined the soap’s target audience was female and
planned for the ad to appear exclusively in prominent
women’s magazines that were read by white middle
and upper class audiences. Lansdowne understood the
desires of many American women, one of which was the
total adoration and devotion of a man. She capitalized on
that fantasy and used it to sell the soap. The ad featured a
painting of an attractive couple and a provocative headline
that read:“A skin you love to touch.”Over the next five years,
sales of the Woodbury line jumped from $515,000 in 1915 to
$2.58 million in 1920.
Lansdowne’s groundbreaking work on the Woodbury
campaign is also thought to be a part of the broader
movement in advertising towards the use of market
investigations, psychological insights and copy testing to
better understand audiences.
In what was perhaps her most important and far-reaching
contribution to the advertising industry, Lansdowne opened
the Women’s Editorial Department at JWT. She and her
husband believed that the growth of the advertising field
would depend on female consumers and that women
advertisers would be crucial in understanding women’s
wants.“JWT employed more women in creative positions
than any other agency at the time. These female executives
controlled most of the agency’s prestigious soap, food,
drug and toiletry accounts. In 1918, the copy written by the
Women’s Editorial Department accounted for $2.26 million
of the company’s $3.90 million billings.”2
Lansdowne would later become vice president and director
at JWT and would remain active at the agency until
September 1958, when she fell in the office and injured
her head. She died on Jan. 2, 1964 and was posthumously
inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 1967.
BIOGRAPHIES
Renowned American copywriter and ad agency
executive, Erma Proetz, made a name for herself
in the advertising world at a time when it
offered little advancement for women. She was
the first woman inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame
in 1952 (posthumously) and from 1923 to the end of her life
Erma Proetz
(1891 - 1944)
Helen Lansdowne Resor
(1886 - 1964)
BIOGRAPHIES continues on page 13
Photo Credit: American Advertising Federation
Photo Credit: American Advertising Federation

13
WINTER2013
first female CEO of a company listed on the New York Stock
Exchange.
Wells was born in Youngstown, Ohio, a steel mill town. Her
early interests focused on dancing, drama and theater.
At seventeen, she left for New York and enrolled in the
Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater. Two years later,
she moved to Pittsbugh, PA to attend the Carnegie Institute
of Technology where she met a married her husband Bert
Wells, an industrial student.
Wells began her career in 1951 at the age of twenty-three, as
a copy-writer at a department store inYoungstown. Upon
accepting a position as fashion advertising manager at Macy’s,
she moved back to NewYork.The follow year she was offered
the position of writer and copy group head at McCann-
Erickson. She accepted the position and worked there for the
next three years.
From 1957 to 1964,Wells worked as the associate copy chief
and head of new products development at Doyle Dane
Bernbach (DDB). In her book, ABigLifeinAdvertising (2002),
Wells noted that DDB partners James Edwin Doyle, Maxwell
Dane, andWilliam Bernbach were significant influences on her
career. It was during her tenure at DDB, thatWells honed her
creative talents by working on award-winning campaigns for
Volkswagen and Avis Rent-a-Car.
By 1964, Wells had established herself as a widely known
and respected copy chief and had become the Vice President
of Jack Tinker Partners, a branch of the prestigious Marion
Harper’s Interpublic Advertising firm. Her creative work
helped to give brands like Alka-Seltzer a personality and in
fact, she wrote the lyrics to its jingle:“No matter what shape
your stomach is in.”Despite her success at Tinkler Partners,
Wells was still subjected to the unfairness and discrimination
toward women that existed in the business. She eventually
left the company when she was told that she could not
be given the title of president (of the company) because it
would limit the growth of Jack Tinker Partners.
Undaunted, Wells founded Wells Rich Greene in 1966 and
served as president and chairwoman of its board. In less than
six months, the young firm had enlisted an impressive roster
of clients with billings of $28.5 million, putting it among
the fifty biggest ad agencies in the country. Wells Rich
Greene also proved to be lucrative. By 1969, she was earning
$225,000 per year, making her the highest-paid woman in
the world.3
Wells won many honors for her innovative and
groundbreaking work including induction into the
Copywriters Hall of Fame in 1969 and being named
Advertising Woman of the Year in 1971. Wells resigned as
CEO in 1990.
in 1944, she worked with the Gardner Advertising Company
in St. Louis as a successful copywriter, account executive,
director, creative vice president.
A graduate ofWashington University in St., Louis, Proetz earned
her degree in liberal arts in 1910 and later began work as a
copywriter at the Gardner Agency in St. Louis.There she created
a very successful campaign to promote an evaporated milk
brand called“Pet Milk,”which appeared in Ladies’HomeJournal
in May of 1927. She created a PetMilk test kitchen complete
with recipes and developed an extensive advertising campaign
around it. Her work won her the prestigious Harvard Award
in 1924 and again in 1925 for the“most effective illustration in
advertising.” In 1927 she won the $2,000 EdwardW. Bok prize
by Harvard Award Jury for the“best planned and executed
advertising campaign.”Proetz was the only person (male or
female) to receive all three awards.
Over the next twenty years she would continue to create
powerful ad campaigns for many accounts including radio
and magazines.
By 1931, Proetz’work and talent had catapulted her into
the prominent position of being one of the ten most
distinguished St. Louisans and four years later in 1935,
she was named as one of the 16 outstanding women in
American business.
In 1936 Proetz was appointed president of the Women’s
Advertising Club of St. Louis. She was also elected as regional
director of the St. Louis Branch of the Fashion Group and
served as chairman of the Council of Women’s Clubs of the
Advertising Federation of America.
When she died in 1944, the St. Louis Fashion Group established
the Erma Proetz Memorial Scholarship atWashington
University School of Fine Arts.The honor recognized“her great
interest in students and the wide help and encouragement she
gave many young girls starting out in their careers.”
1 “Ad Women: How They Impact What we Need, Want and Buy”; Juliann
Sivulka; Prometheus Books, 2009; pg. 26
Sivulka; Prometheus Books, 2009; pg. 28.
Sivulka; Prometheus Books, 2009; pg. 286.
Mary Wells Lawrence is a retired advertising
executive whose talent and ingenuity
helped to transform the way Madison
Avenue viewed women in advertising during
the 1960s and 1970s. She served as founding president of
Wells Rich Greene, a well-known ad agency, and was also the
Mary Wells Lawrence
(1928 - )

14
SPOTLIGHT ON NWHM’S DIRECTOR OF
COMMUNICATIONS SUSAN MURPHY
The National Women’s History Museum is
delighted to welcome Susan Murphy as its
Director of Communications. Susan is an
accomplished marketing communications
strategist with more than 20 years of experience
working with leading public relations agencies,
multi-national corporations, national not for
profits, and federal government agencies. Her
expertise includes integrated communications
planning and program development, brand
marketing, media relations, crisis and issue
management, thought leadership, partnerships,
publications, event planning and execution,
budget management and staff development.
Prior to joining NWHM, Susan spent nearly a decade as Vice President, Corporate
Communications and Senior Vice President, Public Relations at the national non-profit Ad
Council where she worked to help many of the nation’s leading non-profit organizations
and federal government agencies communicate their critical messages to the American
people. Autism Speaks, American Red Cross, National Center for Missing Exploited
Children, National Crime Prevention Council, and the Departments of Health Human
Services, Homeland Security, Justice, and Transportation are just a few of the clients
she has served. Her work has been called“masterful,”by PR Week and we are thrilled to
have her working to maximize the reach and impact of our mission. The following letter
summarizes her own thoughts on joining us!
Dear NWHM Board of Directors, Charter Members, Ambassadors, Donors, Friends:
It is truly my honor to join NWHM. The extent to which women are
underrepresented in our national narrative is startling to me. What I find equally
startling is that in several cases, the accounts of some of our most significant
historic events credit men for the accomplishments of women. (Think cotton gin
and pasteurization).
I made the decision many years ago to dedicate my career to programs that would
affect positive change in society, and I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work on
campaigns that raised awareness, inspired positive action and even, saved lives.
The opportunity to contribute my experience to advancing the NWHM mission and
securing a home for women’s history on or near the National Mall is truly a pleasure
and privilege.
I’m currently working to develop a strategic, comprehensive and measurable
communications plan for 2014 and look forward to sharing some of our successes
with all of you in future issues of this newsletter. Thank you for your continued
support of NWHM.
Kind Regards,
Susan

205 S. Whiting Street, Suite 254
Alexandria, VA 22304
t: 703.461.1920 | f: 703.636.2668
www.nwhm.org
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