Cecil Dorrian

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Cecil Inslee Dorrian was one of eighteen women whom the American Expeditionary Forces accredited as visiting war correspondents during World War I.[1][2] She wrote about the war in France and England for the Newark Evening News, beginning in 1914, and her work often ran on the front page.[1] When Dorrian died, in 1926, a front-page article in the Newark Evening News claimed that she had been “the first accredited American woman war correspondent to reach the battlefront in France in 1918.”[3]


Cecil Inslee Dorrian
Born(1882-09-20)September 20, 1882
New York, US
DiedAugust 18, 1926(1926-08-18) (aged 43)
Baltimore, Maryland, US

Early life[edit]

Dorrian was born September 20, 1882, in Troy, New York, to Joseph and Marie Dorrian.[4][5] Her father was a secretary to Edward Weston.[6] Dorrian attended Barnard College and graduated in 1905.[7] In the Barnard yearbooks Dorrian participates in activities from dance committee and theater, to basketball, journalism and pingpong.[7] In 1907 she accepted a job with the Ladies' Home Companion.[8] Sometime after this she worked as drama critic for the New York Tribune, also writing other pieces. [9][10] From 1912 to 1914, Dorrian wrote for the New York Tribune as a theater critic and European representative of the Oscar Morosco Theater Company.[11]

War correspondent[edit]

Dorrian began writing for the Newark Evening News as a war correspondent in 1914.[11] She wrote about the war in France and England for the Newark Evening News, beginning in 1914, and her work often ran on the front page.[1] When Dorrian died, in 1926, a front-page article in the Newark Evening News noted that she had been “the first accredited American woman war correspondent to reach the battlefront in France in 1918.”[12] In October 1918, while she and two other women war correspondents were touring a battlefront with the Press Department of the Foreign Office, their guide was killed by a hand grenade.[13] She went to the front lines with the 78th Division sending the News "a firsthand account".[14]

Captain Arthur Hartzell wrote of Dorrian, "Miss..Dorian writes more intelligently about the operations of the Army than any other woman correspondent if one judges her writing from a military viewpoint”.[1] Her articles for the Newark News were often weekly and often on the front page .[15]

Playwright[edit]

Dorrian wrote the play "The Age of Reason -- a Divorce Problem Play for Modern Children" .[16] It ran on Broadway from 1915 to 1916[17] and was published in Vanity Fair in July 1916.[16] It then played around the country with the Los Angeles Times calling it "a brilliant satire on divorce".[18]

Later work and death[edit]

Dorrian provided extensive international coverage for the Newark Evening News through the mid-1920s.[1] She died Aug 18, 1926 of pneumonia at a sanitorium near Baltimore, Md. with her mother by her side.[14][19]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Edy, Carolyn (2017). The Woman War Correspondent, the U.S. Military, and the Press, 1846-1947. Lexington Books. pp. 35–38. ISBN 978-1-4985-3927-2.
  2. ^ Edy, Carolyn (2019). "Trust but Verify: Myths and Misinformation in the History of Women War Correspondents". American Journalism. 36 (2): 242–251. doi:10.1080/08821127.2019.1602420. S2CID 197843479.
  3. ^ ""Death Comes to Cecil I. Dorrian: News's European Correspondent Saw Thrilling Events in Great War"". Newark Evening News. August 17, 1918.
  4. ^ "U.S. Passport Applications". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  5. ^ "26 Aug 1926, 4 - The San Francisco Examiner at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  6. ^ "Cecil I Dorrian Dies". Times Union. 1926-08-19. p. 30. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  7. ^ a b "Mortarboard | Barnard Digital Collections". digitalcollections.barnard.edu. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  8. ^ "Personal". Barnard Bulletin. 1907-09-25. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  9. ^ "12 Feb 1910, 10 - Sioux City Journal at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  10. ^ Editor & Publisher. Editor & Publisher Company. 1913.
  11. ^ a b "Inventory of the Cecil Dorrian papers". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  12. ^ "Death Comes to Cecil I. Dorrian: News's European Correspondent Saw Thrilling Events in Great War". Newark Evening News. August 17, 1918.
  13. ^ "Woman Killed by Grenade". Democrat and Chronicle. 1918-10-22. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  14. ^ a b "Miss C I Dorrian Dies". Trenton Times. 1926-08-19.
  15. ^ "Newark Evening News (search for "Dorrian")". Newark Public Library.
  16. ^ a b Dorrian, Cecil I. "THE AGE OF REASON | Vanity Fair | July 1916". Vanity Fair | The Complete Archive. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  17. ^ "The Age of Reason". Internet Broadway Database. Archived from the original on 2020-03-29.
  18. ^ "25 Jan 1917, 6 - Los Angeles Evening Express at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  19. ^ "Cecil I Dorrian Dies". Times Union. 1926-08-19. p. 30. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
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