Letter 01

In the late 1800s the line between investigative reporting and sensational news was blurry. Daredevil reporters often went undercover and found themselves in dangerous situations while chasing a story. It was a time when major newspapers were fighting for subscribers and betting on sensational news to bring in more sales.  It was also the time when the kind of “proper” jobs women could have was limited, and the profession of a journalist opened up new doors for many. Many of the late 1800s female journalists were labeled as “stunt girl” reporters, a dismissive label, rather than as “investigative reporters.” Sometimes, the newspapers would not give them their personal bylines. Many women took on dangerous assignments; some had reform ideas in mind, some didn’t, and were more interested in the story. In many cases, their work resulted in social change. They inspired a new generation of women and paved the way for muckraking of the early 1900s and new journalism of the 1960s.

Investigative reporters and the work they have done.

Elizabeth Banks

Born in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1865, she grew up with her aunt and uncle on “the experimental farm” near Madison, Wisconsin. She paid for her education at Milwaukee Downer Female Seminary College by doing laundry. From a young age Elizabeth dreamed of becoming a journalist and was excited to get an opportunity to write for the Globe in St. Paul; she chose the pseudonym “Polly Pollock” for her articles. Journalism to Elizabeth was not only a passion, she relied on it for income. However, she was soon disillusioned by the assignments she received, mostly about fashion, balls, and gossip. Having difficulties finding jobs in American newspapers, besides writing for society and fashion pages, she moved to London in 1892 and conquered England as an “American Girl in London.” She took on an undercover investigation into the lives of domestic servants. An interesting twist was that she reported on both the servants and the employers, and as a result, was criticized by both sides. 

Nelly Bly

Nelly Bly is the most famous of the “stunt girl reporters.” People tend to remember her spectacular trip around the world to beat the fictional character Phileas Fogg’s time of 80 Days Around the World in the eponymous novel by Jules Verne. Yet, her most daring investigation was undercover work in a New York insane asylum for women on Blackwell’s Island (nowadays Roosevelt Island). In September of 1887 Nelly Bly convinced a judge and several doctors of her mental instability and was committed to the insane asylum. Patients she met there were often not mentally ill at all, some were locked up by accident, some by their devious relatives, and some committed themselves out of desperation. She experienced not only the poor living conditions and spoiled food, but she also observed the mistreatment of patients. Once her reports came out, there was an uproar of indignation. That investigation led to a change in mental institutions’ policies. And in a way, “stunt reporting” was born.  

Faith Fenton

Faith Fenton was the pen name of Alice Freeman, a daring woman journalist who ventured out on foot to the Klondike region to report for the Globe, a Canadian newspaper.  During her journey she was walking many miles per day in challenging conditions. Before her Yukon adventure, she wrote a " Women’s Empire" column for “The Toronto Empire.” For many years Alice Freeman kept her journalist work secret and worked as a teacher during the day. She reached Dawson City in August of 1898. Throughout her journey and while at Dawson she kept sending her articles back to eastern Canada. In the Klondike she met and married Dr. John Brown. They returned to Toronto in 1904.

Eliza Putnam Heaton

Unusual for the times she lived in, Elize Putnam continued working as a journalist even after she got married. Together with her husband, she worked at the Brooklyn Daily Times. She was a prolific journalist, working in every department of the paper. She loved her photo camera and took many photographs from which illustrations for the paper were made. Eliza undertook a daring and important assignment in 1888, when she boarded an ocean liner from Liverpool, England to New York, pretending to be an immigrant to America. From New York, she followed her fellow immigrants to Chicago. She wrote her experience in an article titled “A Shame Emigrant’s Voyage to New York.” Her faithful account was published and republished many times, serving as a true window into this moment in American history. 

Annie Laurie

On a rainy afternoon in San Francisco in January 1890, a woman was walking unsteadily in a busy district at Kearny and Market. Her pupils were wide, she seemed sick and weak to the passersby, but most, including the policeman, ignored her. At the same time the woman was thinking: “I kept walking away from it and then back again. I thought I’d have to give it up–that I hadn’t the courage to do anything so dreadful. But I knew that it was my duty as a reporter to go through with it and that if I wasn’t ready for such things I had better choose another business.” Finally, she fainted, or in reality, faked a fainting, and was driven to the receiving hospital in the police wagon, usually used to take prisoners to jail. At the hospital she was treated for hysteria, almost forced into a medical treatment she was refusing, and was subjected to more humiliations from a despicable doctor. Little did this doctor know that it was Annie Laurie (real name Winifred Sweet) who was in his care. Annie Laurie prepared for the assignment with care; she used belladonna drops to widen her pupils and relied on her acting skills to do the rest. Her report was not only about the lack of an ambulance in the city, but more so about the cruel treatment she received at the hospital. As a result, the doctor was dismissed and the first ambulance was ordered from Chicago.