Writing for a newspaper wasn't considered "ladylike," and a fake name provided a veil of respectability between writer and public. When she returned, she was again assigned to the society page and promptly quit in protest. Watch Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story on Lifetime Movie Club. How many siblings did Zora Neale Hurston have? [67], A fictionalized account of Bly's around-the-world trip was used in the 2010 comic book Julie Walker Is The Phantom published by Moonstone Books (Story: Elizabeth Massie, art: Paul Daly, colors: Stephen Downer). Her time was 72 days 6 hours 11 minutes 14 seconds. And much of this has to do with her firsthand account of life in an insane asylum. She was the daughter of Michael Cochran and Mary Jane Kennedy Cochran (second wife). Well never share your email with anyone else, Nellie Bly became a star journalist by going undercover as a patient at a New York City mental health asylum in 1887 and exposing its terrible conditions in the, Bly looked for work to help support her family, but found fewer opportunities than her less-educated brothers. Nellie Bly left New York for France on November 14, 1889. After leaving the school, she moved with her mother to the nearby city of Pittsburgh, where they ran a boarding house together. How many siblings did Rachel Carson have? After her ten-days-in-a-madhouse stunt and her circumnavigation of the globefeats that would make her a household nameshe went on to do many other things. Engraving. The majority of her writings were literary works. She is also well-known for making a trip around the world for a record 72 days, beating a fictitious record that had been set by . Bly later enrolled at the Indiana Normal School, a small college in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where she studied to become a teacher. History 101: Nellie Bly. Elizabeth Cochran (she later added a final e to Cochran) received scant formal schooling. University of Chicago Library, Special Collections Research Center. She also prioritized the welfare of the employees, providing health care benefits and recreational facilities. In 1887, Bly stormed into the office of the, Blys six-part series on her experience in the asylum was called. How many siblings did August Wilson have? Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads, Name: Nellie Bly, Birth Year: 1864, Birth date: May 5, 1864, Birth State: Pennsylvania, Birth City: Cochran's Mills, Birth Country: United States. MLA Norwood, Arlisha and Mariana Brandman. Cochrane rode on ships and trains, in rickshaws and sampans, on horses and burros. Just two years after reviving her writing career, on January 27, 1922, Bly died from pneumonia in New York City. Ten Days in a Mad-House is a book by American journalist Nellie Bly. Following her superlative success with the Blackwell expose, she continued with her investigative series of work, exposing improper treatment in New York jails and factories, corruption in state legislature and so on. These changes included a larger appropriation of funds for the care of mentally ill patients, additional physician appointments for stronger supervision of nurses and other healthcare workers, and regulations to prevent overcrowding and fire hazards at the city's medical facilities. She used the pen name Nellie Bly, which she took from a well-known song at the time, Nelly Bly. Bly was a popular columnist, but she was limited to writing pieces that only addressed women and soon quit in dissatisfaction. world attention to journalist Nellie Bly with his Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The column, which appeared in The Dispatch on February 1, 1885, was bylined "Nellie Bly.". Nellie Bly Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Achievements After her return, she toured the country as a lecturer. Within her lifetime, Nellie Bly published three non-fiction books (compilations of her newspaper reportage) and one novel in book form. What does that mean, and how did her writing contribute to reform efforts on a variety of issues? As few copies of the paper survived, these novels were thought lost until 2021, when author David Blixt announced their discovery, found in Munro's British weekly The London Story Paper. How many siblings did Queen Elizabeth I have? Between 1889 and 1895, Nellie Bly also penned twelve novels for The New York Family Story Paper. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Date accessed. NASA on The Commons, via flickr, Home / Modernizing America, 1889-1920 / Modern Womanhood / Life Story: Nellie Bly. From France she went to Italy and Egypt, through South Asia to Singapore and Japan, then to San Francisco and back to New York. Kroeger, Brooke. In 1895, Elizabeth retired from writing and married Robert Livingston Seaman. How many siblings did Dorothy Height have? Lutes, Jean Marie. Who Was Nellie Bly and What Was She Famous For? - WorldAtlas She only attended one year of boarding school, because the financial burden placed on the family following her father's death forced her to quit school. How many siblings did Frances Hodgson Burnett have? New-York Historical Society. Unable to maintain the land or their house, Bly's family left Cochran's Mill. Nellie Blys Book: Around the World in Seventy-two Days (1890) was a great popular success, and the name Nellie Bly became a synonym for a female star reporter. Cochran's Mills, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Burrell Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story, An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster, "She went undercover to expose an insane asylum's horrors. Nellie Bly Baker - Wikipedia Her trip around the world in 72 days brought her even further fame. Wanting to write pieces that addressed both men and women, Bly began looking for a newspaper that would allow her to write on more serious topics. Ten Days in a Mad-House - Wikipedia Madden offered her an opportunity to write another column, and after she submitted her column on how divorce affects women, he hired her for the newspaper (giving her the pseudonym Nellie Bly). In 1887, at age 23, reporter Nellie Bly, working for Joseph Pulitzer, feigns mental illness to go undercover in notorious Blackwell's Island a woman's insane asylum to expose corruption, abuse and murder. Combine Elizabeth Cochranes life story with the life stories of, Connect Elizabeth Cochranes work to that of fellow muckraker, Elizabeth Cochrane was one of many Americans who fought to eradicate what she perceived as the evils of modern life. [19] When Mexican authorities learned of Bly's report, they threatened her with arrest, prompting her to flee the country. Answer and Explanation: Nellie Bly had 14 siblings (10 half-siblings; 4 full blooded siblings). She breathed her last on January 27, 1922 at St. Mark's Hospital in New York City due to pneumonia. In an effort to accurately expose the conditions at the asylum, she pretended to be a mental patient in order to be committed to the facility, .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}where she lived for 10 days. Activist journalists like Elizabethcommonly known as muckrakerswere an important part of reform movements. How many siblings did Lucretia Mott have? The high point of Cochranes career at the World began on November 14, 1889, when she sailed from New York to beat the record of Phileas Fogg, hero of Jules Vernes romance Around the World in Eighty Days. Although several newspapers turned down her application because she was a woman, she was eventually given the opportunity to write for Joseph Pulitzers New York World. Similar reportorial gambits took her into sweatshops, jails, and the legislature (where she exposed bribery in the lobbyist system). Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City. How many brothers and sisters did Harriet Tubman have? How many siblings did Althea Gibson have? The investigative nature of her articles and her cry for womens rights issues did not go too well with the editors of the newspaper who pushed her into the so-called women's pages to cover fashion, society, and gardening. How many siblings did Eleanor of Aquitaine have? How many brothers and sisters did Jimmy Carter have? However, after his death, the family . She was far and away the best-known woman journalist of her day. How many siblings did Sojourner Truth have? Her mother remarried but divorced in 1878 due to abuse. 1893-1894. The story of Nellie Bly, a female journalist who willingly got herself admitted to an insane asylum in 1890s New York so she could write about the experience and expose the injustices. [43][44], In 2019, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation put out an open call for artists to create a Nellie Bly Memorial art installation on Roosevelt Island. Nellie Bly gained international stardom for her world tour stunt that multiplied her fame. After the company suffered losses from embezzlement, Bly returned to journalism and reported from Europe during World War I. Elizabeth Cochran Seaman (born Elizabeth Jane Cochran; May 5, 1864 January 27, 1922), better known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist, who was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days, in emulation of Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg, and an expos in which she worked undercover to report on a mental institution from within. She was satisfied to know that her work led to change. Blys literary success proliferated when she turned the fictional tale of Jules Vernes 1873 novel Around the World in Eighty Days, into reality. All rights reserved. This article was most recently revised and updated by, 8 of Nellie Bly's Most Sensational Stories. Lib. Nellie Bly managed to circumnavigate the world in just 72 days, eight less than Jules Verne's fictitious hero, Phileas Fogg, who inspired the feat. 1985.212. Bolstered by continuous coverage in the World, Bly earned international stardom for her months-long stunt, and her fame continued to grow after she safely returned to her native state and her record-setting achievement was announced. Unfortunately, Bly did not manage the finances well and fell victim to fraud by employees that led the firm to declare bankruptcy. Nellie Bly married manufacturer Robert Seaman in 1895. "Bly, Nellie (1864-1922), reporter and manufacturer. Her New York debut, at age 23, was a harrowing two-part expos of the Woman's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's (now Roosevelt) Island for which she had feigned insanity and fooled a battalion of Bellevue doctors and curious reporters from competing papers to get inside. She had several siblings and half-siblings. [57], Bly has been the subject of two episodes of the Comedy Central series Drunk History. In 1885, Bly began working as a reporter for the Pittsburgh Dispatch at a rate of $5 per week. It was for the Dispatch that she began using the pen name Nellie Bly, borrowed from a popular Stephen Foster song. Her report was compiled into a book, Ten Days in a Mad-House (1887), and led to lasting institutional reforms. New York, Nellie Bly Press, 2017. Astronaut Ellen Ochoa, mission specialist, carries her son Wilson Miles-Ochoa following the STS-96 crew return at Ellington Field. Two years later, Bly moved to New York City and began working for the New York World. Bly crafted a fiery rebuttal that grabbed the attention of the paper's managing editor, George Madden, who, in turn, offered her a position. American National Biography. https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/learn/women-forging-way/nellie-bly-around-the-world, Ten Days in the Madhouse. A Celebration of Women Writers. Nellie Bly biography for kids - Lottie.com Journalist Nellie Bly began writing for the Pittsburgh Dispatch in 1885. Portrait of Nellie Bly. Her investigation of conditions at an insane asylum sparked outrage, legal action, and improvements of the treatment of the mentally ill. She also interviewed and wrote pieces on several prominent figures of the time, including Emma Goldman and Susan B. Anthony. on New Yorks ills, such as corruption in the state legislature, unscrupulous employment agencies for domestic workers, and the black market for buying infants. [35], That same year, Iron Clad began manufacturing the steel barrel that was the model for the 55-gallon oil drum still in widespread use in the United States. Also around this time, she retired from journalism, and by all accounts, the couple enjoyed a happy marriage. When Robert died in 1904, Elizabeth briefly took over as president of his companies. She is often confused with the journalist Nellie Bly (1864-1922). Activist journalists like Elizabethcommonly known as muckrakerswere an important part of reform movements. Her report of the horrifyingly appalling conditions prevailing inside the asylum was an eye-opener for the general public and authorities alike. Life Story: Elizabeth Cochrane, aka Nellie Bly (1864-1922) World-Traveling Journalist and Muckraker The story of an investigative journalist who used her career to shed light on the horrors of urban life and break gender stereotypes. [citation needed] Julia Duffy appeared as Bly in the July 10, 1983 Voyagers! For the same, she feigned insanity to get into the asylum and have a first-hand experience of the treatment meted out to patients. In 1904, when her husband died, Bly took over the reign of the company. A misogynistic column in the daily, The Pittsburgh Dispatch, prompted her to pen a fiery rebuttal to the editor under the pseudonym Lonely Orphan Girl. Such was the impression of her writing that it won her a full-time employment with the newspaper. What was nellie blys favorite color? [4][5][6] Her father, Michael Cochran, born about 1810, started out as a laborer and mill worker before buying the local mill and most of the land surrounding his family farmhouse. In 1887, Bly relocated to New York City and began working for the New York World, the publication that later became famously known for spearheading "yellow journalism." How many siblings did Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton have? Michael Cochran began his career in the mills outside Pittsburgh, until he was able to earn enough to buy the mill. [48], Bly was the subject of the 1946 Broadway musical Nellie Bly by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen. Bly later compiled the articles into a book, being published by Ian L. Munro in New York City in 1887. On May 5, 2015, the Google search engine produced an interactive "Google Doodle" for Bly; for the "Google Doodle" Karen O wrote, composed, and recorded an original song about Bly, and Katy Wu created an animation set to Karen O's music. She was arrested when she was mistaken for a British spy. How many sisters did Ernest Shackleton have? As she became a teenager, she wanted to portray herself as more sophisticated, and she dropped the nickname and changed her surname to "Cochrane". How many siblings did Sophie Germain have? How many children did Anne Hutchinson have? It was no mere armchair observation, because Bly got herself committed . siblings: Harry Cummings Cochrane. His farm, mill, and the surrounding area became known as "Cochran's Mill" (part of a suburb of Pittsburgh). Elizabeth hoped the massive newspaper industry of New York City would be more open-minded to a female journalist and left Pittsburgh. Faced with such dwindling finances, Bly consequently re-entered the newspaper industry. Nellie Bly had 14 siblings (10 half-siblings; 4 full blooded siblings). Christina Ricci starred as Bly and Transparent's Judith Light played the role of the head nurse. Nellie Bly - Wikipedia At a time when women reporters were generally restricted to womens page reporting, Bly covered wider issues beyond just gardening or lifestyle and concentrated on slum life and other important topics. Bly died of pneumonia at the age of 57 in 1922. Elizabeth Cochran was born on May 5, 1864 in Cochrans Mills, Pennsylvania. no. She used the pen name Nellie Bly, which she took from a well-known song at the time, Nelly Bly. Bly was a popular columnist, but she was limited to writing pieces that only addressed women and soon quit in dissatisfaction. [28] Bly's journey was a world record, though it only stood for a few months, until George Francis Train completed the journey in 67 days.[31]. How many siblings did Lucretia Garfield have? When Elizabeth Cochran began in journalism in 1885, it was considered inappropriate for a woman to write under her own name. She recounted her adventures in her final book, Around the World in 72 Days. Bly not only accepted the challenge, she decided to feign mental illness to gain admission and expose firsthand how patients were treated. The reporter known as Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran in Cochran's Mills, Pennsylvania, where her father was a mill owner and county judge. [55], Anne Helm appeared as Nellie Bly in the November 21, 1960, Tales of Wells Fargo TV episode "The Killing of Johnny Lash". Following her marriage, she retired from journalism and became the president of her husband's Iron Clad Manufacturing Company. Ten Little-Known Facts about Nellie Bly - Tonya Mitchell In 1911, she returned to journalism as a reporter for the New York Evening Journal. She moved to New York City in 1886, but found it extremely difficult to find work as a female reporter in the male-dominated field. But Bly held the record for only a few months before it was broken by businessman George Francis Train who completed the journey in 67 days. A fireboat named Nellie Bly operated in Toronto, Canada, in the first decade of the 20th century. [20], In 1893, Bly used the celebrity status she had gained from her asylum reporting skills to schedule an exclusive interview with the allegedly insane serial killer Lizzie Halliday.[25]. 1750. [46] The Girl Puzzle opened to the public in December, 2021. Michael Cochrans rise from mill worker to mill owner to judge meant his family lived very comfortably. Updates? During her travels around the world, she went through England, France, Brindisi, the Suez Canal, Colombo, the Straits Settlements of Penang and Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division Washington, D.C. During World War I, she traveled to Europe as the first woman to report from the trenches on the front line. Elizabeths writing career started abruptly and unintentionally. Bly was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran (she later added an "e" to the end of her name) on May 5, 1864, in Cochran's Mills, Pennsylvania. How many children did Abigail Adams have? How many siblings did Queen Victoria have? When Bly was six, her father died suddenly and without a will. For the first 20 or so years of her life, Nellie Bly was known not as Nellie, nor as Elizabeth Jane Cochran, which was her birth name, but as "Pink," due to her fondness for the color, according to New World Encyclopedia. At the . Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran on May 5, 1864 in Cochran's Mill, Pennsylvania. Her sharply critical articles angered Mexican officials and caused her expulsion from the country. What are nellie blys siblings names? - Answers How many siblings did Queen Liliuokalani have? [14] Her second article, "Mad Marriages", was about how divorce affected women. She had circumnavigated the globe, traveling alone for almost the entire journey. Now Nellie Bly is getting her due", "Young and Brave: Girls Changing History", "Into the Madhouse with Nellie Bly: Girl Stunt Reporting in Late Nineteenth-Century America", "Nellie Bly's Lessons in Writing What You Want To", "Ten Days in a Madhouse: The Woman Who Got Herself Committed", George Francis Train, The Bostonian Who Really Was Phileas Fogg, "Almost 100 Years After Her Death, Nellie Bly Is Back", "Nellie Bly, journalist, Dies of Pneumonia", "Industries Business History of Oil Drillers, Refiners", "Nellie Bly, Girl Reporter: Daredevil journalist", "Marching for the Vote: Remembering the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913", "Elizabeth Jane Cochran National Women's Hall of Fame", "Four Accomplished Journalists Honored on U.S. Postage Stamps", "Nellie Bly Marguerite Higgins Ethel L. Payne Ida M. Tarbell March Women's History Month Lady Journalists on Postage Stamps", "Amanda Matthews of Prometheus Art Selected to Create Monument to Journalist Nelly Bly on Roosevelt Island, Press Release", "Monument honoring journalist Nellie Bly opens: "This installation is spiritual", "New York Press Club Announces its 2020 Journalism Award Winners", "Fearless Feminist Reporter Nellie Bly Hits the Big Screen", "Judith Light hopes 'The Nellie Bly Story' will prompt mental health discussions", "All the Real-Life Scary Stories Told on American Horror Story", "Ladyghosts: The West Wing 2.05, 'And It's Surely to Their Credit', "Nellie Bly Goes Undercover at Blackwell's Island", "What Girls are Good For: Happy birthday Nellie Bly", "What Girls Are Good For - A Novel Of Nellie Bly", "Author: There's gold in them thar southern Black Hills", "The Mad Girls of New York: A Nellie Bly Novel", "New Book Gives Rebel Girls The Bedtime Tales They Deserve", "Round the world with Nellie Bly The Worlds globe circler", "Adventurer's Park Family Entertainment Center Brooklyn, NY", "The nautical adventures of the Trillium ferry in Toronto", "Ann Arbor Native David Blixt Discovered a Cache of Long Lost Novels by Journalist-Adventurer Nellie Bly", "American Woman Imprisoned in Austria; Liberated When Identified by Dr. Friedman", 10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1601472, "Nellie Bly: Pioneer journalist extraordinaire", "Dislocating the Masculine: How Nellie Bly Feminised Her Reports", Library of Congress "Nellie Bly: A Resource Guide", The Daring Nellie Bly: America's Star Reporter, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nellie_Bly&oldid=1141296960, Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York), Indiana University of Pennsylvania alumni, Pennsylvania state historical marker significations, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from January 2023, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2020, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Elly Cochran, Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, and most commonly known as Nellie Bly as her pen-name, Information, photos and original Nellie Bly articles at, This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 09:53. Chicago- Norwood, Arlisha and Mariana Brandman. How many children did Catherine of Aragon have? It was there that she added an e to her last name, becoming Elizabeth Jane Cochrane. Her image was used on everything from playing cards to board games. He later became a merchant, postmaster, and associate justice at Cochran's Mills (which was named after him) in Pennsylvania. PDF The Sibling Society Robert Bly - Spenden.medair.org Brief Life History of Jonathan J Madden immediately offered her a job as a columnist. How many siblings did Marie Antoinette have? Unable to maintain the land or their house, Blys family left Cochran's Mill. [70], The Nellie Bly Amusement Park in Brooklyn, New York City, was named after her, taking as its theme Around the World in Eighty Days. How many brothers and sisters did George Washington Carver have? Though New York World continuously covered her travel diaries, it was later in 1890 that Bly published a book about the experience, titling it Around the World in 72 Days. Chien-shiung Wu (1912-1997), professor of physics at Columbia University, 1963. Nellie Bly PBS: American Experience, Accessed 23 March 23, 2017 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/world/peopleevents/pande01.html, Life Story: Elizabeth Cochrane, aka Nellie Bly (1864-1922), Women & The American Story, New-York Historical Society Library and Museum, https://wams.nyhistory.org/modernizing-america/modern-womanhood/nellie-bly/. How many siblings did Ruth Bader Ginsburg have? Bly's expos, published in the World soon after her return to reality, was a massive success. Amid their grief, Michael's death presented a grave financial detriment to his family, as he left them without a will, and, thus, no legal claim to his estate. [16] Cochrane originally intended that her pseudonym be "Nelly Bly", but her editor wrote "Nellie" by mistake, and the error stuck. [68], Bly is one of 100 women featured in the first version of the book Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls written by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo. How many sisters did Martha Washington have? She also became renowned for her investigative and undercover reporting, including posing as a sweatshop worker to expose poor working conditions faced by women. She began her career in 1885 in her native Pennsylvania as a reporter for the Pittsburgh Dispatch, to which she had sent an angry letter to the editor in response to an article the newspaper had printed entitled What Girls Are Good For (not much, according to the article). Once examined by a police officer, a judge, and a doctor, Bly was taken to Blackwell's Island. How many siblings did Rosalind Franklin have? Her mother was from a wealthy Pittsburgh family. Collection of the New-York Historical Society. Popularly known by her pen name Nellie Bly, Elizabeth Cochran was an American journalist and writer who was a pioneer in the field of investigative journalism. Nellie Bly tied the nuptial knot in 1895 with the millionaire manufacturer Robert Seaman.