Biography of Ida Menervia Tarbell
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Biography of Ida Menervia Tarbell By: Brisey Villalobos Ida Tarbell was born on November 5, 1857, in Erie County, Pennsylvania, and died January 6, 1944, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Tarbell was the daughter of a small oil producer, and it became hard for him to maintain the oil production because of the rivalry of Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company monopoly. Tarbell was a victim witnessing the effect of Rockefeller’s monopoly, which would be important later in her life. When she graduated from Titusville High with honors, she then went to Allegheny College. She pursued studies in biology but also began to develop an interest in writing. When Tarbell graduated, she was the only woman in her class. She then took a teaching job in Poland, Ohio. After two years, she resigned from her post in pursuit of a writing career. When she retired, she later would become a managing editor for the Chautauqua newspaper, however, she wanted to go deeper and craved more knowledge. She moved to Paris and studied at the Sorbonne and University of Paris from 1891 to 1894. She would write magazine articles and with that, she would sustain herself. She was then hired by S.S McClure, organizer of McClure's Magazine and from 1894 to 1896 she became the associate editor of the American Magazine. She remained in that post until 1915. The History of the Standard Oil Company is a written series that was written by Tarbell, and is found in McClure Magazines. It was one of the most precise accounts that calls out a business’ use of monopoly and its unfair practices. Ida Tarbell is mostly known for this and as a result, people that soon followed after and before her were soon labeled ¨muckrakers¨. Her association with McClure ended in 1906, she then wrote for American Magazines that she co-owned and co-edited. Tarbell then put her time into lecturing in the Chautauqua circuit and wrote several well-known biographies, including eight books on Abraham Lincoln. Tarbell later was a member of numerous government conferences and a committee concerned with defense, industry, unemployment, and other issues. Ida then published her autobiography, All in the Day’s Work, in 1939. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ida-Tarbell https://www.biography.com/writer/ida-tarbell .