By LISA FISCHER
J Alumni News staff
Eileen Wirth
Eileen Wirth’s new book is a love letter to women in Nebraska journalism. She said she is eager to tell their stories.
“I want moderns to realize how much they contributed and what amazing and fascinating people women like Elia Peattie, Rheta Childe Dorr and Bess Furman Armstrong were,” Wirth said. “They are an inspiration to me.”
Wirth, who has been a journalist for more than 40 years, is chair of the journalism department at Creighton University in Omaha.
While on sabbatical from Creighton University last spring and summer, she decided to write a book about something she was familiar with and passionate about: women in journalism.
At summer’s end, she signed a contract with the University of Nebraska Press for a book with the preliminary title “From Pioneers to Partners: First 100 years of Nebraska Women in Journalism.” She hopes the book will be published in 2011.
Wirth’s own journalism career began in the ’60s when she wrote for the Daily Nebraskan. In the early ’70s, she was a reporter at The Omaha World-Herald.
At the World-Herald, while Wirth covered social services, Bud Pagel was assistant city editor.
“Bud is one of my heroes,” Wirth said. “He’s the best writing coach I ever had.”
Pagel, now an emeritus professor of the J school, said Wirth broke some traditions in the newsroom.
“The addition of women in the newsroom was important because it brought a new perspective,” Pagel said.
Most of Wirth’s job at the World-Herald involved writing human interest features and covering a wide range of social services such as housing, welfare and nonprofit agencies.
Ruth Brown, an associate professor of advertising at the J school, has been friends with Wirth since 1966, when they took their first writing class together.
“She’s always been a good writer,” Brown said. “She’s a pretty amazing woman in my book.”
Brown, the current president of Nebraska Press Women, said Wirth’s new book will be motivational for young women when they see how far their gender has come in journalism.
Wirth said her book is designed to be a “love letter to the remarkable women associated with Nebraska journalism.” She intends to dedicate the book to her role model and mentor, Dr. Wilma Crumley, former associate dean of the J school, who died on May 21, 2009.
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