Next week’s SMK is like nothing you’ve seen here. I’m going to introduce you to a person who made a significant contribution to American arts and letters, but has gone uncredited or barely acknowledged.
I don’t want to spoil anything in advance, but I’ll offer you three clues:
You may have this contribution in your home.
This person has never been the subject of a full-length biography.
There's a connection to Frances Perkins, the first woman to serve in a president’s cabinet.
I should leave it on this maddening note, but I’ve spent too many pandemic nights watching What’s My Line?, a game show that ran from 1950 to 1967 in which celebrity panelists try to guess a contestant's occupation. Ask me open ended questions below and I’ll offer clues throughout the week.
I’ll send a signed paperback edition of You Never Forget Your Firstto the first person who gets the person’s identity right — an offer I’m fairly certain I won’t have to make good on. Prove me wrong!
Enjoyed your column about Grant very much, whom I knew about due to our mutual admiration for Lucy Stone. Did I miss the connection to Frances Perkins?
Is the significant contribution mechanical? ( Ps this is fun...if it was more real time I would ask question after question that I would want you to answer yes)
I went down a women’s history rabbit hole. My guesses are Gertrude Tendrich or Leona Chalmers. Not sure if my “theme” is on track, but this led me to some interesting reading all the same.
Take a Guess: What’s My Name?
Enjoyed your column about Grant very much, whom I knew about due to our mutual admiration for Lucy Stone. Did I miss the connection to Frances Perkins?
Is the item potentially in my home something i would purchase just once or something that I would regularly replenish/ use up/ consume?
Hedy Lamar?
Is the item potentially in my home NOT a book?
Is it Jane Grant, co-founder of the New Yorker?
Is it a woman?
I have a guess. Did this person often publish under a pseudonym with the initials BC?
I am new to this game so is this the right kind of question, but in what part of the home would this contribution be found?
Julia Child?
I think you are referring to Mary Harriman Rumsey, the founder of the Junior League, whose members have published many cookbooks.
Is the significant contribution mechanical? ( Ps this is fun...if it was more real time I would ask question after question that I would want you to answer yes)
Is the mystery person an author?
are they bigger than a breadbox?
How many guesses do we get? LoL
Did this person often use a pseudonym?
Zerna Sharp?
Agnes White Tizard?
Clare Booth Luce?
Lillian Gilbreth?
Did this person give advice?
Margaret Knight?
I went down a women’s history rabbit hole. My guesses are Gertrude Tendrich or Leona Chalmers. Not sure if my “theme” is on track, but this led me to some interesting reading all the same.
Beulah Henry?
In a h/t to your pandemic binge, Is the contribution I may have in my house bigger than a bread box?
Fannie Farmer?