Ishbel Ross (December 15, 1895 – September 21, 1975) was a Scottish-born American newspaper reporter, novelist, and nonfiction writer. In a writing career spanning six decades, Ross wrote numerous biographies of prominent women, with her best-known work being the first substantial history of women journalists.

Biography

Ishbel Ross was born on December 15, 1895 in

Bonar Bridge Bonar Bridge ( gd, Drochaid a' Bhanna, ) is a village on the north bank of the Kyle of Sutherland to the west and the Dornoch Firth to the east in the Parish of Creich in the Highland council area of Scotland. The Kyle of Sutherland ("the Kyl ...

, Scotland, one of six children of David Ross and Grace (McCrone) Ross. She graduated from the Tain Royal Academy in 1916 and then emigrated to Canada, where she took a job as a publicist for the Canadian Food Board. She started out as a clerk on the ''Toronto Daily News'' and rose quickly to become a bylined reporter. A factor in her early success was an exclusive interview she obtained with the suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst in 1917 when Pankhurst was en route to Toronto. Ross left the ''Toronto Daily News'' in 1919 for a job as a general assignment reporter at the ''

New-York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...

'', becoming the second woman reporter (after

Emma Bugbee Emma Bugbee (May 19, 1888 – October 6, 1981) was an American suffragist and journalist. She participated in and reported on the 1912 Suffrage Hike from New York City to Albany, New York. Biography She was born in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. Sh ...

) to be hired for this paper's city room. Among the stories she covered for the paper were the high-profile

Hall–Mills murder case The Hall–Mills murder case involved Edward Wheeler Hall, an Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal priest, and Eleanor Mills, a member of his choir with whom he was having an extramarital affair, affair, both of whom were murdered on S ...

and

Lindbergh baby kidnapping On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. (born June 22, 1930), the 20-month-old son of aviators Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was abducted from his crib in the upper floor of the Lindberghs' home, Highfields, in East Amw ...

. In 1922, she married ''

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 ...

'' reporter Bruce Rae, with whom she had a daughter. In the 1930s, Ross turned to writing novels. Her first, ''Promenade Deck'', was published in 1932. She left the paper the following year to concentrate on novel writing, publishing four more during her lifetime. At the instigation of the ''New-York Tribunes city editor, Stanley Walker, she also began writing nonfiction. Her first book, ''Ladies of the Press'' (1936), was the first formal history of women in journalism, examining the various roles women have played in print journalism, with a focus on notable journalists like

Marguerite Martyn Marguerite Martyn (September 26, 1878 – April 17, 1948) was an American journalist and political cartoonist with the '' St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' in the early 20th century. She was noted as much for her published sketches as for her articles. ...

Margaret Fuller Sarah Margaret Fuller (May 23, 1810 – July 19, 1850), sometimes referred to as Margaret Fuller Ossoli, was an American journalist, editor, critic, translator, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movemen ...

Nellie Bly Elizabeth Cochran Seaman (born Elizabeth Jane Cochran; May 5, 1864 – January 27, 1922), better known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist, industrialist, inventor, and charity worker who was widely known for her record-breaki ...

, and

Dorothy Dix Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer (November 18, 1861 – December 16, 1951), widely known by the pen name Dorothy Dix, was an American journalist and columnist. As the forerunner of today's popular advice columnists, Dix was America's highest paid ...

. Although limited to white women, it looked at those working in both urban and rural settings. Ross identified more than 300 women editors and publishers working at papers throughout the United States. It is still considered "the classic work among the general histories" of the subject. Ross wrote some twenty nonfiction books, many of which were lives of famous women, ranging from the wives of American presidents to physician

Elizabeth Blackwell Elizabeth Blackwell (3 February 182131 May 1910) was a British physician, notable as the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States, and the first woman on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council for the United Ki ...

, American Red Cross founder Clara Barton, and Confederate spy

Rose O'Neal Greenhow Rose O'Neal Greenhow (1813– October 1, 1864) was a renowned Confederate spy during the American Civil War. A socialite in Washington, D.C., during the period before the war, she moved in important political circles and cultivated friendsh ...

. Her other books addressed more general topics such as education for the blind (''Journey into the Light'', 1951) and American taste (''Taste in America'', 1967). Her books were considered well-researched though written in a journalistic rather than academic style. Ross died in New York City on September 21, 1975, of unknown causes, surviving her husband by 12 years. Some of her papers are in the

Schlesinger Library The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America is a research library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. According to Nancy F. Cott, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director ...

in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Books

*
Through The Lich-gate
' (1931) *''Promenade Deck'' (1932) *''Marriage in Gotham'' (1933) *''Highland Twilight'' (1934) *
Ladies of the Press
' (1936) *''Fifty Years a Woman'' (1938) *''Isle of Escape'' (1942) *''Child of Destiny: The Life Story of the First Woman Doctor'' (1944; biography of

) *
Charmers and Cranks: Twelve Famous American Women Who Defied Convention
' (1965) *
Journey into the Light
' (1951) *
Proud Kate Portrait Of An Ambitious Woman
' (1953; biography of

Kate Chase Katherine Jane ("Kate") Chase Sprague (August 13, 1840 – July 31, 1899) was a Washington society hostess during the American Civil War. During the war, she married Rhode Island Governor William Sprague. She was the daughter of Ohio politician ...

) *
Rebel Rose: Life of Rose O'Neal Greenhow
' (1954; biography of

) *
The Print Shop of the Blind
' (1957) *''First Lady of the South: The Life of Mrs. Jefferson Davis'' (1958; biography of

Varina Davis Varina Anne Banks Howell Davis (May 7, 1826 – October 16, 1906) was the only First Lady of the Confederate States of America, and the longtime second wife of President Jefferson Davis. She moved to a house in Richmond, Virginia, in mid-1 ...

) *
The General's Wife: The Life of Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant
' (1959; biography of

Julia Grant Julia Boggs Grant ( née Dent; January 26, 1826 – December 14, 1902) was the first lady of the United States and wife of President Ulysses S. Grant. As first lady, she became a national figure in her own right. Her memoirs, '' The Personal M ...

) *
Grace Coolidge and Her Era
' (1962; biography of

Grace Coolidge Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...

) *
Crusades & crinoline's
(1963) *
An American Family: The Tafts, 1678 to 1964
' (1964; biography of the Taft family) *''Taste in America: An Illustrated History'' (1967) *
Sons of Adam, daughters of Eve
' (1969) *
The Expatriates
' (1970) *
The uncrowned queen; life of Lola Montez
' (1972; biography of

Lola Montez Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld (17 February 1821 – 17 January 1861), better known by the stage name Lola Montez (), was an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a Spanish dancer, courtesan, and mistress of King Ludwig ...

) *
The President's Wife: Mary Todd Lincoln
' (1973; biography of

Mary Todd Lincoln Mary Ann Todd Lincoln (December 13, 1818July 16, 1882) served as First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Mary Lincoln was a member of a large and wealthy, slave-owning ...

) *
Power with Grace: The Life Story of Mrs. Woodrow Wilson
' (1975; biography of

Edith Wilson Edith Wilson ( Bolling, formerly Galt; October 15, 1872 – December 28, 1961) was the first lady of the United States from 1915 to 1921 and the second wife of President Woodrow Wilson. She married the widower Wilson in December 1915, during hi ...

) *
Silhouette in Diamonds: The Life of Mrs. Potter Palmer
' (1975; biography of

Bertha Palmer Bertha Matilde Palmer (; May 22, 1849 – May 5, 1918) was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist. Early life Born as Bertha Matilde Honoré in Louisville, Kentucky, her father was businessman Henry Hamilton Honoré. Known wi ...

)

Biography

Books

References

Further reading