Abel, Barbara

Poem by Barbara Abel, October 16, 1952

Writer, editor, and public relations specialist Barbara Abel was born on January 5, 1895, in Elizabethtown, New York. She was the second daughter of Lucinda Pond and William H. Abel, who worked for the railroad in Chicago. Abel's mother journeyed from Chicago to Elizabethtown, the family's home in the Adirondacks, for the births of both Barbara and her sister. Barbara grew up in Chicago, but spent summers in Elizabethtown among extended family.

Educated in the public schools in Springfield, Illinois, and Kansas City, Missouri, Abel started college at Kansas University, then transferred to Northwestern University where she earned a B.A. in 1918.

Immediately after college, she worked for the Evanston, Illinois, News Index (1918-19) covering "deaths and women's clubs." In 1920 she became Publicity Secretary for the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago.

Abel joined the staff of the YWCA of the U.S.A. as managing editor of its magazine The Womans Press in July of 1925. She began her regular column "The Press Pussy" in January 1926. An extremely popular humorous look at the YWCA, it was a regular feature of the magazine until December 1944. In addition to this monthly column, Abel wrote a wide variety of pieces for the Womans Press, as well as many skits for use at meetings, conferences, and Conventions. She and her "dearest friend of decades standing," Florence Nichols, also regularly produced delightful cartoons on YWCA themes for the Womans Press.

Abel left the National Association in the fall of 1931 to become Publicity Director for the Metropolitan Chicago YWCA. In 1945 she returned to New York City to take the job of Public Relations Director for the Community Chests and Councils of the U.S.A. (CCC) where she edited their magazine Community and developed a similarly beloved column, "The Red Feather." Among her duties at CCC was drafting annual campaign kick-off speeches for the U.S. President and Vice President. She retired from CCC in 1960. One colleague wrote at her retirement, "Now I shall have to resign myself to uninspired and turgid prose, and I don't like the idea at all."

In addition to her work for the YWCA and CCC, Abel published "light verse" in The New Yorker and other "leading magazines," and wrote articles for the National Dairy Association.

In retirement, Abel and Nichols divided their time between Abel's summer house "Bob-up" in Elizabethtown, and a small New York City apartment where Abel took on the odd freelance writing project.

She died in Elizabethtown on May 22, 1966.

In a memorial tribute, Abel's friend and colleague Henry W. Kritzmacher, described Barbara as "among the elite who foresaw sophistication in a field where the blunt, outstretched hand was rampant." He characterized her work as "a pinnacle of creative writing art which etched its message in a concise, trenchant comment that tore away sham, and in a wry humor . . . sold by underselling, or spanked by patting fiery heads."

From the guide to the Barbara Abel Papers MS 596., 1925-1989, (Sophia Smith Collection)