Thirty years ago in 1994, Brooke Kroeger wrote what the AAHS considers the definitive biography of Nellie Bly titled Nellie Bly, Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist. Brooke visited Apollo & Armstrong County during her research for the book and spoke at an AAHS Banquet one year. She is a journalist, professor emerita at NYU, and the author of six books, the latest of which is Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism, published by A.A. Knopf in May 2023. It explores how women have fared in American journalism’s most competitive and highly valued bastions, the ones men have dominated in the 180 years since mass media began.
On Saturday, May 4, Brooke returned to Apollo and presented a wonderful program about Nellie’s adventures both as a journalist and author, and as a traveler, not only “Around The World”, but to Mexico and Austria. The audience appreciated the stories and enjoyed Nellie’s birthday cake afterwards (Nellie’s birthday is May 5, 1864).
We appreciate the Remake Learning Days for the Event Host Award to help make this program possible.
Many thanks to Bill Naser of Naser’s Food, Apollo for the delicious birthday cake!
Apollo Area Historical Society 