author
Leona A. (Leona Alford) Malek
1878–1951
A lively early-20th-century writer on homemaking, food, and everyday thrift, she turned practical domestic advice into a public career that reached readers and radio listeners alike. Her work captures a moment when household management was being treated as both a skill and a serious profession.
1 Audiobook
The Business of Being a Housewife A Manual to Promote Household Efficiency and Economy
by Leona A. (Leona Alford) Malek
About the author
Born in Chicago in 1878, Leona Alford Malek built a varied career as a writer, editor, home economist, and radio personality. She also wrote under the name Jean Prescott Adams and was one of the women associated with the widely used "Prudence Penny" byline, which helped bring household advice and food writing to a broad audience.
Her books and articles focused on practical living—budgeting, cooking, and running a home efficiently. That straightforward approach is especially clear in The Business of Being a Housewife, where she presents domestic work as thoughtful, organized labor rather than something casual or invisible.
Malek remained active in journalism and women's professional circles, including the Illinois Woman's Press Association. She died on March 20, 1951, but her writing still offers a vivid window into the concerns, expectations, and everyday ingenuity of American home life in her era.