January 25, 2005 Historian Susan Ware To Discuss Her Biography of Mary Margaret McBride on Feb. 22

Historian Susan Ware will discuss and sign her new book, “It’s One O’clock and Here is Mary Margaret McBride: A Radio Biography” (New York University Press, 2004), at the Library of Congress at 6 p.m., on Tuesday, Feb. 22, in the Montpelier Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are needed.

Part of the Center for the Book’s “Books & Beyond” author series, this event is co-sponsored by the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, which holds hundreds of programs broadcast by McBride, a prominent radio personality.

McBride (1899-1976) was a powerful force in radio during the latter part of the 1930s, through the 1940s and into the early 1950s. With a daily audience of nearly 6 million—most of whom were women—McBride’s talk show featured interviews with prominent people from all walks of life. She took a strong interest in the products she endorsed, personally testing each one before promoting it on the air. She received many awards and citations for her salesmanship, including being the only woman included in “America’s Twelve Master Salesmen,” published by B.C. Forbes & Son in 1952.

A former professor of history at New York University, Ware is a noted expert on 20th century American women and the editor of the most recent volume of “Notable American Women” (2004), which was prepared at the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, Harvard University. She was the chair of the Library of Congress’ Scholars Advisory Committee for “American Women: A Library of Congress Guide for the Study of Women’s History and Culture in the United States,” a 420-page resource guide, and wrote the introduction to the volume. Ware also has published books on women during the New Deal and the 1930s, biographies of Amelia Earhart and social reformer Molly Dewson, and a women’s history anthology.

Established in 1977 as a public-private partnership, the Center for the Book uses the resources of the Library of Congress to stimulate public interest in books and reading. For information about its activities and those of its affiliates in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, visit its Web site at www.loc.gov/cfbook.