Ida M. Tarbell

1
Ida M. Tarbell

• A Muckraker
• Cynthia Conway
• Lit 2380
• Professor Jane A. Jones

2
Muckrakers

• One who spreads real or alleged scandal about
  another (usually for political advantage)
• Ida Tarbell, John S. Phillips, Lincoln Steffens
• American people were indifferent to public
  questions
• In 1905 her articles marked the height of the
  vindictive personal attacks (Hidy et al. 703)

3
Her Life

• November 5, 1857 (Erie County, PA)
• Author and journalist
• 1880 Graduates from Allegheny College, Meadville,
  Pennsylvania
• 1883 Joins the staff of The Chautauquan
• 1893 Joins McClures Magazine
• 1904 History of the Standard Oil Company
• 1936 1936 The Nationalizing of Business,
  1878-1898
• 1944 died January 6 in Bridgeport, Connecticut of
  pneumonia in hospital. Buried in Titusville

4
Her Works
5
The History of Standard Oil

• hatred of privilege primary privilege
• It helped make history
• Initiated the questioning of Americas values
  regarding business
• Her solution to the cause of malaise was not
  capitalism but an open disregard of decent
  ethical business practices by capitalists
• It focused attention upon the alleged
  misdemeanors of the giant in the oil industry.
  (Hidy et al. 676)

6
Criticism

• A fearless unmasking of moral criminality
  masquerading under the robes of respectability
  and Christianity Arena
• The contention that Standard Oil cut to kill
  was definitely exaggerated. (Hidy et al. 469)
• Hardly anybody alive has read it from beginning
  to end, all 815 pages the book is probably the
  greatest work of investigative journalism ever
  written (Weinberg)

7
All in a Days Work

• Go ahead, and they will get you in the end, I
  was told by more than one who had come to the
  conclusion either from long observation or from
  long sufferingEven my father said, Dont do it,
  Ida

8
The Nationalizing of Business

• It is reminiscent of the earlier work only as
  distant rumble of thunder signals the surely
  departure of a recent storm. (Tomkins 147)
• It overviews the changes in American business
  from 1878 1898
• Includes rise of labor, population changes, farm
  problems, change via railroads.

9
Feminism

• Her stand showed her conservatism. her innate
  impulse to create the new order by extending
  rather than eliminating the old one. (Tomkins
  100)
• The American Woman November 1909 May 1910
• Demonstrates the women had not truly been
  overshadowed by men in America but had been
  coequals with them in developing American
  civilization. (Tomkins 101)

10
Remembrance

• Many articles and facsimiles
• Her landmarks
• Her stamp
• October 7, 2000 Introduction into the National
  Womens Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York

11
Resources

• Hidy, Ralph W. , and Muriel E. Hidey. Pioneering
  in Big Business 1882-1911. 1st ed. New York
  Harper Brothers , 1955.
• Tomkins, Mary E. Ida M. Tarbell. Boston Twayne
  Publishers, 1974.
• Weinberg, Steve. "Ida Tarbell, Patron Saint."
  Columbia Journalism Review 40 (2001). 08 Dec 2005
  lthttp//web3.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/2
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