Current
Project: Journey from the Star
In 1918, when hundreds of thousands of American men donned uniforms to go "over there," American women were given the unprecedented opportunity to work in professions that had previously been dominated by males. Prior to the war, female news reporters had, for the most part, been relegated to fashion columns, sob-sister pieces, and “stunts” – the latter epitomized three decades earlier by the famous Nelly Bly. However, during the First World War women reporters proved themselves just as capable of producing front page material as the men they replaced. Journey from the Star is the story of one of America's first and most successful "front page girls."
Ruth Finney started her career in 1918 with the fledgling Sacramento Star. In 1922, she was promoted to City Editor, and she was one of the first of her gender to hold that position at a California newspaper. Just one year later, she was chosen by Scripps-Howard News Service to represent that firm’s Western newspapers in Washington D.C. She was, at the time, one of only eight women to hold press credentials for the House and Senate Press Galleries.
In her 1936 book, Ladies of the Press, author Ishbel Ross called Ruth Finney "that rare and practically undiscoverable creature--the perfect woman reporter." Ross described Ruth as having intellectual vigor, masked behind quiet feminism. "She is retiring and contemplative by habit" Ross said, "but dauntless in her work."
Journey from the Star is the story of Ruth Finney’s road from reluctant cub reporter for a small California newspaper to distinguished Washington correspondent for one of America's premier news-gathering organizations. It is also the story of her journey from a childhood of near-poverty to a life of politics, parties, and praise in Washington's exclusive Georgetown social circle.
A complete formal proposal for Journey from the Star is available to prospective agents & publishers through this web site in the form of a password-secured PDF document. Simply request the password by email, then download and open the PDF file and save it to your hard drive. All requests will be vetted to assure the legitimacy of the source, so be sure to include sufficient qualifying information.
