Rachel Kollock McDowell (January 11, 1880 – August 30, 1949) was an American

journalist 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 the first religion editor of ''

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 ...

'', serving in that position from 1920 to 1948. She covered the city's religious activities, from weekly sermons to church construction, community organizing and welfare. During decades of rapid social change, she was known for her connections with Protestant and Catholic clergy, as well as Jewish rabbis, and paid special attention to interfaith efforts. She spoke nationally on religion, appearing at Chautauqua, and had a weekly radio show for a quarter of a century.

Early life and education

The daughter of Josephine Timanus and

William Osborn McDowell William Osborne McDowell (1848–1927) was a financier and businessman. He founded numerous patriotic organizations in the late nineteenth century including the Sons of the American Revolution. With expanding international interests, he supporte ...

, Rachel and her twin brother Malcolm were born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area."Manuscript Group 866, McDowell Family Papers, 1792–1966,"
New Jersey Historical Society, accessed 23 April 2012 Their father was a financier and businessman working in New York, with active interests in railroads and mining. He was also a civic organizer, founding the Sons of the American Revolution and helping with founding the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

in the late nineteenth century. In addition to such heritage organizations, he supported Cuban independence from Spain and worked for international peace movements. McDowell was educated in Newark and grew up in a strict

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

household whose members attended three church services every Sunday. From an early age, she was interested in writing, and at the age of 15 was paid for her poem on the death of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, published in ''

The New York Journal :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...

''. She attended college at Union Theological Seminary in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Career

McDowell was a committed career woman, becoming the only one of the seven McDowell children who did not marry. Years later, she said, "I had many beaux and many honest-to-goodness propositions, but I wanted to be an entity, not just a Mrs. Somebody." As a young woman, she went to work for the

Prudential Life Insurance Company Prudential Financial, Inc. is an American Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, retirement planning, investment management, and other products and services to both retail and institutional customers thr ...

in a job she disliked. Seeking a writing job, at age 22 she obtained a position as a reporter covering weddings and other society topics for the '' Newark Evening News''. In 1908, she left the Newark paper for her first New York City newspaper job. Beginning in 1908, she developed a "brilliant career" as a religious reporter and news editor of the ''

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the ''New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. His ...

'' but worried when the paper was sold in 1920. She was hired the same week of the sale announcement by ''The New York Times.'' She was the first Religion Editor appointed at the ''Times'' and worked in that position until 1948. Known for her pursuit of stories, McDowell knew clergy and rabbis throughout the city, from the top of the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

and

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

hierarchies on down and a variety of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

rabbis. She was particularly interested in interfaith movements. She featured Catholic and Protestant clergy, as well as rabbis, in her regular Saturday features. Her pre-eminence in the field of religious news reporting earned her the nickname "Lady Bishop."Meyer Berger, "Lady Bishop"
in Ruth Adler, ed., ''The Working Press: Special to The New York Times'', New York: Ayer Publishing, 1981, pp. 155–160, accessed 23 April 2012 The reporter Meyer Berger of ''The New York Times'' tells the following story about her:

When Bishop Manning called a press conference one day to announce a $10,000,000 campaign for the
Cathedral of St. John the Divine The Cathedral of St. John the Divine (sometimes referred to as St. John's and also nicknamed St. John the Unfinished) is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It is at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue in the Morningside Heights neighborhood ...
, he held up his statement until she got there – 50 minutes late. "Miss McDowell," he told her in hurtful reproach, "we have been waiting for you for 50 minutes." A tall young man at one side of the room answered before Miss McDowell had quite caught her breath. "Your Reverence," he said quietly, "Miss McDowell – and The Times – are worth waiting 50 minutes for. Her defender, head of the Bishop's New York campaign committee, was
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
."

McDowell recounted that one of her most notable memories was getting trapped in the mausoleum of Princess Anastasia of Greece after her funeral in 1923 at Woodlawn Cemetery in New York. An American heiress who married into the Greek royal family, the Princess had left instructions in her will that she should be interred with her parents at Woodlawn. McDowell had managed to learn the time and place of the secret burial, and gained access. After witnessing the funeral she went into the tomb to look at the names on other caskets and found herself locked in. She was unsuccessful in summoning help, but prayed until finally the door opened. It was an example of her persistence to get "exclusives"; she was credited with scores of them. In 1935, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine described her as "probably the ablest religious editor of any U. S. newspaper"."Religion: She Sees the Pope"
''Time'' magazine, 23 September 1935, accessed 23 April 2012 While at the ''Herald,'' she founded the Pure Language League for newspaper writers, to discourage the use of blasphemous and profane language, and carried her campaign to the ''Times.'' She was known there for her annual message on New Year's Eve reminding writers to use pure language. A devout Presbyterian, McDowell was invited to lecture on religion at venues across the country, with regular sessions at Chautauqua. For several years, she had a weekly program on religion on the radio.Joan N. Burstyn, ''Past and Promise: New Jersey Women''
Syracuse University Press, 1997, pp. 356–357 For more than 25 years, she wrote a weekly article for ''The Presbyterian'' (now ''The Presbyterian Outlook''. After meeting with

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Pius XI in 1935, she wrote about it and received in response more than 1,000 letters from around the world. Her short account was reprinted as ''My Audience with the Holy Father'' in 1936. McDowell retired as result of ill health on December 31, 1948, and died less than a year later on August 30, 1949.

Civic and professional life

McDowell was active in professional organizations, such as the New York City Women’s Press Club, the League of American PEN Women, and New Jersey Women’s Press Club. She was a member of the

"Rachel K. McDowell"
New Jersey Women's History (The Women's Project of New Jersey, Inc.), accessed 23 April 2012 and supported its educational activities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDowell, Rachel Kollock 1880 births 1949 deaths American women journalists American women writers American newspaper editors Writers from Newark, New Jersey The New York Times editors Women newspaper editors Daughters of the American Revolution people