Ann Cottrell Free (June 4, 1916 – October 30, 2004) was an American journalist who wrote extensively on animal protection issues.

Biography

Free was born in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, Virginia on June 4, 1916. A graduate of Collegiate School and Barnard College, she became the first woman Washington correspondent for the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

'', '' Newsweek'' and the '' Chicago Sun'', where she covered First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and wartime-Washington. After the war she served in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

as a special correspondent for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and in Europe for the Marshall Plan. She later wrote for the

North American Newspaper Alliance The North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA) was a large newspaper syndicate that flourished between 1922 and 1980. NANA employed some of the most noted writing talents of its time, including Grantland Rice, Joseph Alsop, Michael Stern, Lothrop S ...

and was a contributing columnist to '' The Washington Post'', the '' Washington Star'', other newspapers and syndicates. An Albert Schweitzer Medalist, she was also the recipient of a variety of humanitarian and writing awards for her novel, ''Forever the Wild Mare'', as well as her other animal writing. She initiated the establishment of the

Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge The Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge made up of several parcels of land along of Maine's southern coast. Created in 1966, it is named for environmentalist and author Rachel Carson, whose book ''Silent Spring'' ...

and presented testimony on numerous animal protection issues to Congressional committees. She authored three books, ''Forever the Wild Mare'' (Dodd Mead 1963), ''No Room, Save in the Heart'' (Flying Fox Press 1987) and ''Animals, Nature and Albert Schweitzer'' (Flying Fox Press, 2000). She received the Rachel Carson Legacy Award in 1988 and in 1996 was inducted into the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame. She was married to journalist

James S. Free James Stillman Free (November 5, 1908 – April 3, 1996) was an American journalist whose 50 years of Washington-based reporting included coverage of 10 presidential administrations, seven national political conventions, the Cold War, labor ...

, and, for a time, they co-authored ''Whirligig'', a syndicated column about Washington politics. Her oral histories are in the collections of Columbia University and the National Press Club. She died on October 30, 2004, at the age of 88 in Washington, D.C. A year later, the National Press Club Ann Cottrell Free Animal Reporting Award was established to inspire and encourage other journalists to follow in her footsteps. In 2008 she was one of twenty three women featured in the book ''They Made Their Mark: An Illustrated History of the Society of Woman Geographers'' (Globe Pequot Press). Her personal and professional papers are housed at the Library of Congress. ''Recently Processed Ann Cottrell Free Papers Expand Coverage of Women Journalists in the Manuscript Division'', Library of Congress Unfolding History Blog, Dec. 1, 2022
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References

Bibliography

*Virginia Communications Hall of Fame, 1996 *''Collegiate Spark'', Spring 1991 *''Animal Welfare Institute Quarterly'', Winter 2005, Volume 54, Number 1 *''They Made Their Mark: An Illustrated History of the Society of Woman Geographers'', Jane Eppinga, Globe Pequot Press, 2008.

External links

AnnCottrellFree.org

National Press Club Oral History Collection

Advocates Oral History Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Free, Ann Cottrell 1916 births 2004 deaths American animal welfare scholars American women journalists American newspaper journalists American environmentalists American women environmentalists Barnard College alumni Writers from Richmond, Virginia American women poets 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers Journalists from Virginia 20th-century American non-fiction writers Members of the Society of Woman Geographers 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American women