Charlotte Murray Curtis (December 19, 1928 – April 16, 1987) was an American journalist, columnist and editor at ''The New York Times''.
Career
Curtis worked as a
reporter
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
and society
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
for the ''Columbus Citizen'' for 11 years, and at ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' for 25 years. She began her career at the ''Times'' as a fashion reporter in 1961, and two years later was assigned to the "society beat," rising to editor of the Family/Style section by 1965. She transformed the traditional women's pages through her emphasis on current news and "lively writing." In 1974, she became an associate editor of the ''Times'' in charge of the
Op-Ed
An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...
Page, a position she held until 1982. Her name appeared on the ''Times''
masthead, the first woman to be included with the senior editors. Her column of social commentary ran from 1982 to June 1986.
[New York Times Obituary, April 17, 1987](_blank)
/ref>
At the ''Columbus Citizen'', Curtis honed her skills as a writer, analyst and researcher, sometimes using humor "to the dismay of her subjects." While she was editor at the ''Times'', she wrote articles for ''Harper's'' and ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
,'' and a book, '' The Rich and Other Atrocities'', published by Harper and Row
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
in 1976.
Charlotte Curtis, Journalist, Columbus Bicentennial
/ref>
Legacy
Journalist Emily Yoffe
Emily J. Yoffe (born October 15, 1955) is an American journalist and contributing writer for ''The Atlantic''. From 1998 to 2016 she was a regular contributor to ''Slate'' magazine, notably as Dear Prudence. She has also written for ''The New Y ...
describes her as "both the first woman on the masthead of ''The New York Times'' and one of the last women to always be the only woman in the room in the world of big-time journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
", and says she was "one of those rare print journalists who are as famous as the famous people she profiled".
Personal life
Curtis was born December 19, 1928, the daughter of George Morris and Lucile Atcherson Curtis
Lucile Atcherson Curtis (1894-1986) was the first woman in what became the U.S. Foreign Service. Specifically, she was the first woman appointed as a United States Diplomatic Officer or Consular Officer, in 1923; the U.S. would not establish the u ...
, in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, Illinois. She graduated from Columbus School for Girls and attended Vassar College
Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...
,[ majoring in United States history.] She was married to Dr. William E. Hunt, a professor and director of neurologic surgery at the College of Medicine at Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
.
Curtis died of cancer on April 16, 1987 at Ohio State University Hospital at the age of 58.
Further reading
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*
*
References
External links
Papers of Charlotte Curtis, 1928-1987 (inclusive), 1950-1981 (bulk).Schlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis, Charlotte
1928 births
1987 deaths
The New York Times editors
Vassar College alumni
Writers from Columbus, Ohio
American women journalists
American women columnists
Writers from Chicago
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
Deaths from cancer in Ohio
Columbus School for Girls alumni