Journalism Newsletters of late haven’t carried much news about graduates from the 1920s and earlier. In the 1998 edition, for instance, only two reported in—Kathryn (Ayers) Proper of Monterey, Calif., class of 1926, and Nielsine H. (Hansen) Gehrke of Little Sioux, class of 1928. Since then, only Gehrke has submitted a report. Her life story was featured in the 2001 edition and, as of 2003, she was still answering “present!”

But that doesn’t mean graduates from the early years of what was then the Technical Journalism Department in the College of Agriculture haven’t made their mark. As late as the early 1940s, the typewriter-composed editions of the forerunner of present-day journalism Newsletters thrived on news of alums, and many from the early years reported in.

Here are some excerpts from one of those editions more than a half-century ago:

"Leslie E. Troeger, 1906, is editorial director of the National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work in Chicago. He received his master’s degree from Iowa State in 1916.”

"In addition to serving as advertising manager of the Ingersoll Rand Co. at Phillipsburg, N. J., G. W. Morrison, ’10, also is president of the Compressed Air Magazine Co.”

"R. L. Hurst, 1912, is vice president of Batten, Barton, Burstine & Osborn Inc., national advertising agency, and manager of the company’s San Francisco office.”

"Hailed as a leader in the field of agricultural journalism, James G. Watson , 1913, president, editor and part-owner of The New England Homestead farm magazine, was awarded a medal in April by the Massachusetts Society of Promotion of Agriculture for his services to the livestock industry of New England. Watson … has been listed in Who’s Who in America the past few years. Following in his father’s footsteps, son Donald Scott Watson has been a freshman in agricultural journalism at Iowa State this past year.”

"Glen A. Ellis, 1914, continues his work in the weekly newspaper field as editor and co-publisher of The Pioneer-Republican at Marengo, Iowa. After serving as county agent in Indiana and Iowa for 16 years, he purchased the Marengo paper with his brother, Harold, 1921.

"As Western advertising sales manager of Meredith Publishing Co., Des Moines, which publishers Better Homes and Gardens and Successful Farming, J. P. Evers, 1916, is in charge of nine advertising salesmen covering Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, as well as St. Louis, Mo., and Louisville, Ky.”

"Still utilizing her home economics journalism training, Leonore Dunnigan Freeman, 1916, is home economics writer and consultant for several magazines and other publications. She lives in Chicago.”

"Eugene Butler, 1917, serves as editor and vice president of the Progressive Farmer in Dallas, Texas.”

"E. Glen Kirkpatrick, 1917, is associate editor of the Farm Journal in Philadelphia, Pa.”

"One-time editor of the Agriculturist Leo S. Richardson, 1917, is now chief of the Section of Information, Bureau of Dairy Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C.”

And the list goes on.

Year after year the journalism Newsletter has heralded the achievements of graduates, whether from a Department of Technical Journalism, a Department of Journalism and Mass Communication or, now, as the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication.

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