Dear Mrs Griggs': The Precursor to Dear Abby
Oct 09, 2017
For 51 years, Ione Quinby Griggs answered readers’ personal questions in her column
in the Milwaukee Journal’s popular "Green Sheet." Readers sought her advice on everything from love and marriage
to religion and youthful rebellion, enabling her to produce six columns a week until
she was more than 90 years old.'Dear Mrs. Griggs': Women Readers Pour Out Their Hearts from the Heartland, by Genevieve
G. McBride and Stephen R. Byers, traces the career of Mrs. Griggs, from brash “girl
reporter” in Chicago through an astounding career as an advice columnist. The authors will present a program based on their book at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 9, at
the West Virginia Folklife Center. It is sponsored by The West Virginia Folklife Center,
the History Department, the Women’s Studies Colloquium, the Department of Journalism
and the Department of Language and Literature, all housed on the campus of Fairmont
State University. A reception will follow the presentation. Copies of the authors’ book will be available for purchase. It has been published
by Marquette University Press in the Diederich Studies in Communication and Media
under series editor Dr. Bonnie Brennen, the Lucius William Nieman Professor of Journalism.As Mrs. Griggs always wore a hat, everyone who wears a hat to the program will be
entered in a door prize drawing for a book giveaway. The event is FREE and open
to the public.To enhance this unique event, Dr. Beth Newcome, curator for the Masquers the Historic
Textile and Costume Collections under the auspices of the Gabor West Virginia Folklife
Center, has prepared a display of garments and accessories that would have been worn
by professional working women spanning American fashions from the 1920s thru 1980s.
Parking is available in the lot next to the Folklife Center.
