7th Annual FLCHE Conference

Sip and Scholarship Keynote

Newspaper Advice Columns: Creating Conversations, Questioning Social Mores & Predicting Elvis’ Popularity

Newspaper advice columns were common in the post-World War II years. These largely women-written columns were smart, interesting and often entertaining. The advice columns reflected both national and local issues. In doing so, these columns documented social change – including debates about gender, race and economic roles. Some specific content columns gave advice on health, finances and child care – as well as cooking and cleaning. Various columnists were experts and others interviewed sources. Many columns included letters from readers and allowed readers to respond to previous writers. These women and their work are important to understanding social and journalistic history.

Kimberly Voss, Ph.D., is a tenured professor of journalism and the journalism program coordinator in the Nicholson School of Communication and Media at UCF. Her research interests include women’s studies, women and the media, journalism history, food history, media law and social media. She has published more than 30 articles about women and journalism history, including those in American Journalism, Journalism History and Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly.

She is former chair of the history division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass communication.  She is currently a member of the Publications Board for the American Journalism Historians Association.