McClure's

mnsss114 Ida Tarbell Papers, 1896-1943 Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Kara M. McClurken. Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College

Northampton, MA

2003

Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Laura Cutter. 2003-06-12 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 mnsss114 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Sophia Smith CollectionSmith College Ida Tarbell Papers, 1896-1943 Finding Aid MS 159 Kara M. McClurken Revised 2002 Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Collection Overview Tarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva), 1857-1944 Ida Tarbell Papers1896-1943 MS 159 2 boxes (1 linear ft.) Sophia Smith Collection

Smith College Northampton, MA

Journalist; Historian; Biographer; and Anti-suffragist. Papers are primarily related to her professional life, focusing on her time as assistant editor at McClure's and on her writings about Abraham Lincoln. There is also a small amount of material regarding her anti-suffrage views. Types of material include correspondence, memorabilia, journal and newspaper articles, published and unpublished writings, and a photograph. English. Biographical Note

Ida Minerva Tarbell was born in Erie County, Pennsylvania on 5 November 1857, the daughter of Esther Ann McCullough and Franklin Sumner Tarbell. She attended local public schools and graduated from Allegheny College in 1880, the sole woman of her class.

Ida M. Tarbell, undated

She taught for a few years at Poland Union Seminary, in Poland, Ohio, and worked for The Chatauquan, a home-study teaching guide based in Meadville, Pennsylvania from 1883 to 1891. She left her job, traveling to Paris to study the role of women in the French Revolution. While there, she supported herself by writing occasional articles for Scribner's magazine and by 1892, McClure's, including a series of articles on Napoleon Bonaparte that was published in book form in 1895. She also wrote biographies of Madame Roland (1896) and Abraham Lincoln (1900), but remains best known for her scathing expose, The History of Standard Oil (1904). She was an assistant editor of McClure's from 1894 to 1906. She was one of a group of investigative journalists (dubbed "muckrakers" by Theodore Roosevelt) who owned and edited the American Magazine from 1906 to 1915. She then lectured on the Chautauqua circuit until 1932, speaking on a variety of topics and occasionally writing articles for magazines.

Though a supporter of women's rights early in her career, she did not support women's suffrage, a position that caused friction between her and those she worked with on a variety of causes. She suffered from Parkinson's disease in her later years and died in Bridgeport, Connecticut on 6 January 1944

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Ida Tarbell Papers consist of 1 linear foot and are primarily related to her professional life, dating from 1896 to 1943. The bulk of the papers date from 1896 to 1912, and focus on her time as assistant editor at McClure's and on her writings about Abraham Lincoln. There is also a small amount of material regarding her anti-suffrage views. Types of material include correspondence, memorabilia, journal and newspaper articles, published and unpublished writings, and a photograph.

Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into three series:

I. Biographical Materials II. Correspondence III. Writings Information on Use Terms of Access and Use

The papers are open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection.

The copyright owner of this collection is unknown. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use" must also be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection as owners of the physical property.

Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Ida Tarbell Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.

History of the Collection

Dorothy P. Huntington and the heirs of John Sanborn Phillips donated his materials related to Ida Tarbell to the Sophia Smith Collection in 1958. All in the Day's Work, Tarbell's autobiography, was purchased in 1996.

Processed by Kara M. McClurken, 2002.

Search Terms Boyden, Albert Augustus, 1875-1925--Correspondence Brower, Charles D., 1863-1945 Davis, J. McCan (John McCan), 1866-1916--Correspondence Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Biography--Sources Phillips, John Sanborn, 1861-1949--Correspondence Tarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva), 1857-1944 American Magazine--History McClure's magazine--History Journalism--United States--History--20th century--Sources Women and war--United States--History Women journalists--United States--History--Sources Women--Suffrage--United States--History Additional Information SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS 1 1 Newspaper clippings, 1912-42, n.d. 1 2 Memorabilia and photograph, 1913-24, 1937, 1942, n.d. 1 3 All in the Day's Work: An Autobiography, 1939 SERIES II. CORRESPONDENCE 1 4-11 General, A-Z, 1896-1901, n.d. Individuals 1 12 Boyden, Albert, 1905-12, n.d. 1 13 Davis, J. McCan, 1898-1900 1 14 Phillips, John S., 1910-43 2 1-9 Business letters, 1896-97 SERIES III. WRITINGS Published 2 10 "The Irresponsible Woman and the Friendless Child," The American Magazine, May 1912 2 "Is Women's Suffrage a Failure?" Good Housekeeping, October 1924 2 "Ten Years of Woman Suffrage," The Literary Digest, 1930 [Includes excerpts from an interview with Tarbell; author unknown] 2 "The American Woman: How She Met the Experience of War," The American Magazine (in two parts), n.d. Unpublished 2 11 "Account of whalers caught in arctic ice and the heroism of their rescuer, Charles D. Brower," [author unknown], n.d.