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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
Nell Brinkley (1886-1944) was born in Denver, Colorado. In 1903, she dropped out of high school and began working as an artist for the Denver Times earning $7 per week. In 1907, William Randolph Hearst persuaded her to work as an illustrator for his newspaper.
Brinkley's line-drawn illustrations were published throughout newspapers and magazines. Unlike the "Gibson girls" which depicted the ideal feminine beauty in high society debutantes, the "Brinkley girls" depicted feminine curly-haired working women pursuing both careers and romantic relationships.
Behind her illustrations, Brinkley was a feminist. In a series called "Uncle Sam's Schoolgirls," Brinkley's illustrations were accompanied by her criticisms on women's working conditions, inequality in pay, and the housing crisis during World War I. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| 1907 | Nell Brinkley moves to New York and begins working as an illustrator for the New York Evening Journal. |
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| February 1916 | Nell Brinkley's illustrations are featured in the Pensacola Journal. |
| 1918 | Nell Brinkley creates the "Uncle Sam's Schoolgirls" series, which highlights various issues for women volunteers during World War I. |
| September 15, 1918- February 23, 1919 |
Nell Brinkley's fifteen-part series, "Golden Eyes and her Hero Bill" is published. This series is about a woman who enters World War I with her dog in order to save her boyfriend. |
| December 1, 1921 | Nell Brinkley publishes a Sunday series called "Betty and Bill - and their love through the ages." This series depicts the reincarnation of lovers throughout various eras, legends, and stories. |
| June 1924 | Nell Brinkley's illustrations are featured on the Hennefoam shampoo brand advertisements. |
| April 8, 1929 | Nell Brinkley predicts the 1930 style of the year for women will be "fifty fifty" -- modern in the day time and old-fashioned in the evenings. |
| October 21, 1944 | Nell Brinkley dies at New Rochelle Hospital after a long illness. |
