author
Marie Mattingly Meloney
1883–1943
A pioneering magazine editor and journalist, she helped turn popular periodicals into lively forums for public service, science, and modern life. She is especially remembered for leading the American campaign that raised funds to buy radium for Marie Curie.
1 Audiobook
Better Homes in America: Plan Book for Demonstration Week October 9 to 14, 1922
by Marie Mattingly Meloney
About the author
Born in Bardstown, Kentucky, Marie Mattingly Meloney built a remarkable career in journalism at a time when few women held that kind of influence. She worked as a reporter while still young and later became an editor at major magazines, including The Delineator and This Week. In public life she was often known as Mrs. William B. Meloney, and friends called her “Missy.”
Meloney had a gift for connecting journalism with causes that mattered. One of her best-known achievements was organizing the campaign that helped purchase radium for Marie Curie in the 1920s, bringing science, philanthropy, and publicity together in a memorable way. She was also active in housing reform and moved in important political and cultural circles, including a friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt.
Remembered as a skilled editor, organizer, and public-minded communicator, she left her mark not just on magazines but on the wider civic life of her era. Sources consulted during this conversation agree that she died in 1943, though they differed on her birth year, so that detail is best treated with care.