by Autumn Lorimer Linford
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08821127.2022.2026195
When stunt reporter Elizabeth Cochran, better known as Nellie Bly, encircled the globe in a 72-day dash in late 1889, she became a national celebrity. Riding the wave of her fame, merchandisers across the country put her name and face on all types of products, from a night lamp to flower varieties to a woman’s hat. This material culture study of Bly-branded merchandise between 1889 and 1922 suggests this ephemera contains insights into the culture which produced them and shows that while traditional gender roles pervaded society throughout the height of Bly’s fame, both sexes recognized women’s increasingly growing agency and economic power. While it may not have been socially acceptable for most middle-and upper-class white women to take on public roles outside the home, the success of Bly merchandise suggests that women’s purchasing power enabled them to live vicariously through other women, like Bly, who did.