From the Dec. 30, 1913 edition (100 years ago today) edition of the Logan Republican:
One of the interesting things you notice in old newspapers is the way they reported things that are no longer covered in the current media -- in this case, a suicide. (For example, I once mentioned on this blog how the New York Times covered the suicide of someone named John Baker.)
But why would a newspaper in Logan, Utah, cover the self-inflicted death of a young woman more than 750 miles away in Long Beach, Calif.? Was there a local angle? Apparently not, as the victim was from Illinois, had gone to Northwestern University and now lived in California.
I think the comment that Ms. Pritchard "suffered a mental and physical breakdown as a result of her hard study" leads to the real answer. Utah, of course, is a stronghold of the Church of Latter Day Saints, and Mormon Doctrine, at least as late as 1966, indicated that a "woman's primary place is in the home, where she is to rear children and abide by the righteous counsel of her husband." Certainly the tone of this article serves that doctrine -- and a woman going to college does not.
You've come a long way, baby.
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| From page 1 of the Dec. 30, 1913, edition of the Logan Republican. |
One of the interesting things you notice in old newspapers is the way they reported things that are no longer covered in the current media -- in this case, a suicide. (For example, I once mentioned on this blog how the New York Times covered the suicide of someone named John Baker.)
But why would a newspaper in Logan, Utah, cover the self-inflicted death of a young woman more than 750 miles away in Long Beach, Calif.? Was there a local angle? Apparently not, as the victim was from Illinois, had gone to Northwestern University and now lived in California.
I think the comment that Ms. Pritchard "suffered a mental and physical breakdown as a result of her hard study" leads to the real answer. Utah, of course, is a stronghold of the Church of Latter Day Saints, and Mormon Doctrine, at least as late as 1966, indicated that a "woman's primary place is in the home, where she is to rear children and abide by the righteous counsel of her husband." Certainly the tone of this article serves that doctrine -- and a woman going to college does not.
You've come a long way, baby.
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