Brown, Helen Gurley

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Editor; Advertising copywriter; Journalist; Author; Secretary.

Born Helen Gurley in Green Forest, Arkansas, 1922. She graduated from Woodbury Business College (Los Angeles) in 1941 and worked as a secretary and, later, as an advertising copywriter. She married editor and film executive, David Brown in 1959. She published her controversial best seller, Sex and the Single Girl (1962) and became editor of Cosmopolitan, formerly a failing general-interest magazine, in 1965. Brown dramatically raised the circulation and advertising revenue of Cosmopolitan by converting it to a sex-suffused women's magazine. In 1997, she stepped down as editor and became editor-in-chief of international editions of Cosmopolitan. Brown's other books include Sex and the Office (1964); Having It All (1989); The Late Show (1993); The Writer's Rules (1999); and a memoir, I'm Wild Again (2000).

From the description of Papers, 1938-2001 (ongoing) (bulk 1961-1990). (Smith College). WorldCat record id: 49516981

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Brown, David, 1916-. David Brown papers, 1934-2006. Univerisity of Wyoming. American Heritage Center.
referencedIn Johnny Carson Papers, 1970-1992 Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
creatorOf Brown, Helen Gurley. Papers, 1938-2001 (ongoing) (bulk 1961-1990). Smith College, Neilson Library
creatorOf Mitford, Jessica, 1917-1996. Papers, 1949-1973 (bulk 1961-1973). Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
creatorOf Lehman, Ernest, 1915-2005. Papers, 1931-1990, (bulk 1954-1967). Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
creatorOf Cousins, Margaret, 1905-1996. Papers, 1921-1973. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
correspondedWith Bennack, Frank A. person
associatedWith Bernard Geis Associates. corporateBody
associatedWith Brown, David, 1916- person
associatedWith Carson, Johnny, 1925-2005. person
associatedWith Cousins, Margaret, 1905-1996. person
associatedWith Hearst Corporation. corporateBody
correspondedWith Koch, Ed, 1924- person
associatedWith Lehman, Ernest, 1915-2005. person
associatedWith Mitford, Jessica, 1917-1996. person
associatedWith National Abortion Rights Action League corporateBody
correspondedWith Pogrebin, Letty Cottin person
associatedWith Reynolds, Burt. person
correspondedWith Taylor, Elizabeth, 1932-2011 person
correspondedWith Walters, Barbara, 1931- person
Place Name Admin Code Country
New York (N.Y.)
New York (State)--New York
United States
Subject
Advertising
Celebrities
Journalism
Periodicals
Secretaries
Sex in mass media
Single women
Women
Women editors
Women executives
Women in advertising
Women in mass media
Women in the professions
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1922-02-18

Death 2012-08-13

Americans

English

Information

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SNAC ID: 28093198