From the Archives: Meet Mary McFadden, Duluth’s first full-time female reporter

This week’s dive into the archive retrieved a gem in honor of Women’s History Month: Heidi Bakk-Hansen’s portrait of Duluth journalist Mary McFadden, “an intrepid young woman who made her way to the Zenith City to find success and fame during those heady times, only to disappear from the collective consciousness within a generation.” Besides straight reporting of the news, McFadden wrote about politics, women’s suffrage, issues involving the iron mining industry, and nature, often describing the beauty of the western Lake Superior Region. Her work would later bring her to Europe as a correspondent during the first world war. There’s so much to McFadden’s remarkable story, and you can read ow Heidi tells it HERE.

Mary McFadden, from a 1907 image from the Duluth News-Tribune, quality compromised by microfilm conversion. Images of McFadden are rare. (Image: Zenith City Press)