Nellie Bly began her career in journalism writing for The Pittsburg Dispatch from January 1885 to August 27, 1887. Listed below are the dates and titles for all of Nellie’s Dispatch articles, along with the descriptive summary provided for each at the beginning.
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A complete collection of all 81 articles Nellie Bly wrote for The Pittsburg Dispatch can be found in THE NELLIE BLY COLLECTION: Volume II – The Pittsburg Dispatch.
January 25, 1885 – THE GIRL PUZZLE
Some Suggestions on What to Do With the Daughters of Mother Eve. – THE OLD FIELDS OF LABOR OVERCROWDED. – How the Average Employer Discriminates Against Petticoated Workers. – THE ROAD AS SAFE AS THE FACTORY.
February 1, 1885 – MAD MARRIAGES
That Break Hearts Covered by Calico as Well as by Sealskin Sacques. – LOOSE MARRIAGES AND DIVORCE LAWS – Why the Roller Skate Resembles a Woman in More Ways Than One. – EQUAL RIGHTS ARE ALL WORKING GIRLS ASK.
February 8, 1885 – PERILOUS PATHS
Trod by Working Girls Who Prefer Adventure to Cheerless Homes. – THE LADY KILLER AND HIS VICTIM. – A Truthful Picture of Some of Pittsburgh’s Gaslight Scenes. – THE STREET CAR AS A VEHICLE FOR GOSSIP.
February 15, 1885 – OUR WORKSHOP GIRLS
Women’s Labor In Pittsburg – WHAT CAN BE SEEN AT THE BOLTWORKS. – How Delicate Hands Regulate Complicated Machinery and Manipulate Iron.
February 22, 1885 – OUR WORKSHOP GIRLS
Women’s Labor In Pittsburg – PRETTY FEMALES IN THE WIREWORKS – Strange Mechanical Contrivances Controlled by Fragile Forms and Lily-White Hands.
March 1, 1885 – OUR WORKSHOP GIRLS
Women’s Labor In Pittsburg – THE STORY OF A COMMON HINGE. – How Fair Females Fashion a Useful Article Out of Raw, Rough Iron.
March 8, 1885 – OUR WORKSHOP GIRLS
Women’s Labor In Pittsburg – THE FEMALE GLASS MANIPULATORS. – How Shapely Hands Put the Finishing Touches on Some Dainty Ware.
March 22, 1885 – OUR WORKSHOP GIRLS
Women’s Labor In Pittsburg – FAIR FEMALES IN A BITTERS FACTORY – How They Aid in the Manufacture of a Mixture Known All Over the World
March 29, 1885 – OUR WORKSHOP GIRLS
Women’s Labor In Pittsburg – NELLIE BLY INVESTIGATES THE WEED. – How the Pittsburg Toby and the Aristocratic Cigar Are Manipulated by Females.
April 5, 1885 – TREE PLANTING
To Be Encouraged in Pennsylvania After a Lapse of 200 Years, When – PENN WAS A PATRON OF FORESTRY. – Useful Hints for all Who Propose to Do Some Planting on Arbor Day. – ONLY A FEW VARIETIES THAT LIVE IN SMOKE.
April 12, 1885 – GARDEN GLORIES
The Posies of Our Great-Grandmothers Still Popular and Pretty as Ever. – SHRUBS THAT THRIVE IN THIS REGION. – How the Ivy Green Could be Utilized to Beautify The Smoky City. – WHEN AND HOW TO USE THE PRUNING KNIFE.
April 12, 1885 – OUR WORKSHOP GIRLS
A Chapter on Boots, Shoes, Slippers and Their Manufacture. – TYPES OF FAIR FEMALE WORKERS – Sketched From Life in Order to Show to the Word The Faces of PRETTY GIRLS AT WORK IN OUR FACTORIES.
April 16, 1885 – SCENES AMONG THE ROSES
Many Outsiders Coming In to Take a Look at the Beautiful Exhibit.
April 19, 1885 – A WOMAN’S DEVOTION
A Wife Discovers Her Husband, Who Has Been Missing Since the War. – THE SEARCH OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS – Rewarded by Her Finding Her Recreant Spouse Married to Another Woman. – THE FORSAKEN ENTERS SUIT FOR DIVORCE.
May 3, 1885 – HAND AND HEADWARE
Newest Fancies in Gloves and Hats, as Shown by Polite Shopkeepers
May 3, 1885 – THE ELECTRICAL AGE
Great Wonders of Electricity to be Realized Before Many Years.
May 3, 1885 – THE FLOWER GARDEN
Seasonable Suggestions for Amateur Posy Growers in City or Country. – HOW TO CHOOSE PLOTS AND SOW SEED – The Varieties That Can Be Planted at This Season Of the Year. – WHAT WILL THRIVE IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD
May 10, 1885 – A PRINCESS’ DRESSES
The Costumes Chosen by Beatrice, Who Will Soon Stand Before the Altar.
May 10, 1885 – FEMININE FOOTGEAR
The Show, Unlike the Bonnet, Is Found to Exist in The Good Old Styles
May 10, 1885 – THE HOSE IN STYLE
Something About the Dainty Footgear Selected For Smoky City Belles.
May 11, 1885 – SOME LOVELY LACES
Latest Fruits of the Foreign and Domestic Looms and Delicate Finers.
May 16, 1885 – SATURDAY’S MARKET BASKET
How Much it Will Cost to Fill It – A Cheap But Nice Sunday Dinner
May 17, 1885 – DRESS JEWELRY
Some of the Latest Novelties for the Adornment of Fair Ladies.
May 17, 1885 – HINTS ABOUT HAIR
A Few Points Picked Up During a Short Talk with a Dealer.
May 17, 1885 – HOME OF THE BULBS
Pleasant Talk With a Gentleman From the Quaint, Low Country. – MINIATURE OCEANS OF PRETTY FLOWERS – How Hyacinths, Tulips and Crocuses are Cultivated In Holland. – AMERICA THE PARADISE OF THE POOR MAN.
May 17, 1885 – NEWEST NECKWARE
The Latest Novelties in the Collar, Scarf and Ruching Line.
May 17, 1885 – WRAPS FOR COOL EVENINGS
How the Darlings Can Keep Comfortable During This Changeable Weather.
May 23, 1885 – THE FAMILY MARKET BASKET
Freshest Stocks in the Stalls—A Plain Sunday Dinner for Eight People.
May 24, 1885 – CASEMENT COURTSHIP
A Pugnacious Romeo, a Lively Scrimmage and a Painting Juliet.
May 24, 1885 – KERCHIEF AND COLLARS
Styles Patronized by the Fashionable World – The Newest Novelties.
May 24, 1885 – THE ECONOMITES
Only Thirty Members of the Rich Community Survive Its Founder. – PLAIN WAYS OF A PLAIN PEOPLE. – Men and Women With Millions, but Who Have Never Handled a Penny. – A PEEP AT THE HOME LIFE OF THE SEOT
May 31, 1885 – A PLUCKY WOMAN
How Miss Ober, of Opera Fame, Has Stemmed The Tide and MADE A FORTUNE IN SIX YEARS. – Satisfied to Rest Under Her Own Vine and Fig Tree Henceforth. – A HAPPY FAMILY BEHIND THE SCENE
June 7, 1885 – A MUSICAL PRODIGY
Remarkable Gift Possessed by an Allegheny Lady – How She Averted a Panic.
June 7, 1885 – IN THE CHORUS
How an Allegheny Young Woman Enjoys Life Behind the Footlights. – PLEASURES AND PAINS OF CHORUS GIRLS – How Shrewd Managers Work Advertising Schemes And Gull the Public. – THE STAGE NOT SO BLACK AS IT IS PAINTED.
June 14, 1885 – THORNS AMONG THE ROSES
How Florists Must strive to Please Mourners, Lovers and Blooming Brides.
July 5, 1885 – HAY FEVER SOLACE
How the Gasping Snivellers May Find Rest During the Agonizing Season. – SEA AIR THE BEST ANTIDOTE. – A Yacht Fitted Out for a Long Cruise by a Pittsburg Sufferer. – SOME NEW LIGHT ON THE DREAD AFFLICTION.
July 12, 1885 – STYLE IN STORES
Some Dealers Who Snub the Poor and Cater To the Rich. – RULES THAT HAVE RUINED TRADE. – Others Wise Enough to be Civil to the Class Who Pay on the Spot. – A FEW HINTS OF PROFIT TO THE SHOPKEEPERS
July 19, 1885 – REAL ROMANCE
A Mansion Ever Ready for the Guests Who Never Come. – INSIDE AND OUT OF THE SCHENLEY HOME. – Palatings, Statuary and Bric-a-Brac in Endless Profusion. – A FAITHFUL SERVANT AMONG THE FAITHLESS.
August 23, 1885 – SINKING TO REST
Colonel William Sirwell, a Brave Soldier, Dying With Cancer – HIS CIVIC AND MILITARY RECORD. – How He Looked when in His Prime and How He Looks in an Invalid Chair. – STORY OF HIS LIFE FROM HIS FEEBLE LIPS.
September 6, 1885 – NELLIE BLY
Criticises City Folk, Attends an Alcoholic Séance and Sees a Dog Fight.
September 13, 1885 – NELLIE BLY
Discovers One Good Old Gentleman Who Deserves a Monument. – A STUDY AT THE BRIDGE TOLL GATE. – How Some Debtors Try to Avoid the Gaze of Those Who Have Been WAITING FOR THEM TO SETTLE LITTLE BILLS.
September 20, 1885 – NELLIE BLY
Talks About a Feminine Freak and Goes with the Girls to a Ball Game.
September 27, 1885 – NELLIE BLY
Suggests a Female Y. M. C. A. – Hard to Believe One’s Own Eyes
October 11, 1885 – NELLIE BLY
Gets a Kind Word from a Mother Who Believes That – WORKING GIRLS NEED HELPING HANDS. – The Blue-Stockings Overhauled for Abusing the Poor Man.SOME KIND WORDS FOR A NOBLE CHARITY.
October 17, 1885 – NEW RUBBER NOVELTIES
The Latest Ideas in Garments Built for the Rainy Season of the Year.
November 21, 1885 – NURSERY STORIES
Some Specimen Grafts Obtained from Reliable Tree Agents.
November 22, 1885 – 50,000 BUTTERFLIES
INSECT LIFE IN ALL IT’S BEAUTY. – Bright Hued Creatures From Every Land Beneath the Sun. – AN HOUR IN REV. HOLLAND’S MUSEUM.
November 29, 1885 – WOMAN’S CROWNING GLORY
Nellie Bly Hunts Up Some Points About Hair and the Way to Cultivate It.
January 24, 1886 – THEIR NOBLE WORK
How The Charitable Monuments in the Cities Were Reared and Fostered by SELF-SACRIFICING CHRISTIAN LADIES. – Suggestions Dropped by Members of the Sewing Societies of the Long Age – LED TO SHELTERING HOMES FOR THE ORPHANS
February 21, 1886 – NELLIE IN MEXICO
She Finds a Great Many Odd Things to Write About. – THE FATE OF FEMALE CORRESPONDENTS. – Scanty Dresses the Prevailing Style inthe Country and Small Towns. – MARRYING INTO PERPETUAL SLAVERY.
February 24, 1886 – NEWS FROM MEXICO
Nellie Bly Throws New Light on the Indians – The Mexican Band Disbands.
February 27, 1886 – FRESH FROM MEXICO
The Body of an Allegheny County Man, Killed in a Railroad Wreck, HORRIBLY MUTILATED BEFORE BURIAL. – Pope Leo Bestows on the First Image Ever Blessed on This Continent. – INTERESTING PERSONAL NOTES AND GOSSIP.
March 7, 1886 – NELLIE IN MEXICO
Random notes Gathered From the Streets of the Ancient City. – PEEPS AT THE LIVES OF THE LOWLY. – Meat Markets Established on the Backs of Rickety Old Mules. – AMUSING SCENES, AS WELL AS SAD.
April 1, 1886 – JOURNALISM IN MEXICO
Interesting Gossip About Newspaper Writers and Others in the City of the Montezumas.
April 17, 1886 – A NOTE FROM NELLIE BLY
April 18, 1886 – NELLIE IN MEXICO
Love and Matrimony in the Sunny Latitude of Dusky Cupids. – HOW YOUNG LOVERS PLAY BEAR. – Odd Ceremonies Connected With the Tying of the Marriage Knot. – SOMBER MONUMENTS TO DEPARTED WIVES.
May 9, 1886 – NELLIE IN MEXICO
Visit to the Celebrated Floating Gardens Of La Viga – A PARADISE IN PLACID WATERS. – How Customs Officers Encourage Laziness and Enrich Themselves – ODD SCENES IN A TRULY TROPICAL SPOT
May 23, 1886 – NELLIE IN MEXICO
Strange Sights Witnessed in the Capital City During the Lenten Season. – A BRILLIANT FEAST OF FLOWERS – Picturesque Religious Ceremonies and a Sudden Joyous Transformation Scene. – BLOODY WORK AT A SUNDAY BULL FIGHT
May 30, 1886 – NELLIE IN MEXICO
Quaint Scenes During the Annual Feast of The Gamblers – ODD GAMES AND GENUINE GAMESTERS – Palaces Reared In Tropical Retreats to Lure The Fortune-Hunters. – POLICEMEN WHO PITTY THE PULQUE-SOAKED
June 20, 1886 – NELLIE IN MEXICO
From Vera Cruz to Jalapa on a Tramway With Mule Power. – QUAINT SCENES IN THE LAND OF NOD. – Pen Picture of a Tropical Paradise Full of Flowers and Lovely Women. – HOW A YANKEE GIRL CAN HOLD HER OWN
June 23, 1886 – MEXICO AS IT IS NOW
Nellie Bly Throws New Light on the Country and Its People. – AMERICAN’S HAVE A HARD ROW TO HOE. – How Alleged Mexican Editors Hoodwinked Their American Brothers. – WHY A WARRANT WAS ISSUED FOR HER ARREST
June 27, 1886 – THE EDEN OF MEXICO
Nellie Bly Paints Pretty Pictures of the Sights in Old Cordoba. – A PARADISE OF FRUIT AND POSIES. – She Discovers an Intelligent Race of Indians Whose Women are Beauties. – HISTORY OF MAXIMILIAN’S AMERICAN COLONY
July 4, 1886 – WITH YELLOW FEVER
Nellie Bly Faces the Plague and Prowls Around Vera Cruz. – FRESH FACTS ABOUT THE FATED CITY. – How Afflicted People Can Successfully Combat the Dread Disease. – A VISIT TO THE OLD SEA-GIRT CASTLE
July 6, 1886 – NOTES FROM MEXICO
Interesting Odds and Ends Picked Up in the City by Nellie Bly. – INDIANS MUST WEAR WOOLEN TROUSERS. – One of the Most Attractive Places in Mexico to be Wiped Out. – ANOTHER MEXICAN BAND TO VISIT US
July 11, 1886 – A MEXICAN ARCADIA
A Visit to the Beautiful Valley of Orizaba, The Garden of the Republic. – SCHOOLS, CHARITIES AND INSTITUTIONS. – Streams as Clear as Crystal and Natural Wonders Unsurpassed. – TUBS AND WASHBOARDS UNKNOWN UTENSILS
July 18, 1886 – WONDERS OF PUEBLA
A City of Miracles, Grand Old Churches and Devout Mexicans. – WONDERFUL AND ANCIENT STRUCTURES – Full of Quaint and Rich Relics of the Olden and Golden Time. – HOW MEXICANS SOMETIMES DISPENSE CHARITY.
July 25, 1886 – WONDERS OF MEXICO
The Pyramid of Cholula as it Was and as It is To-day. – THE STATED OF PUEBLA A PARADISE. – Mountains of gems, Forests of Wonderful Woods and Gardens of Gold. – SOME QUEER STORIES OF MEXICAN MEANNESS
August 1, 1886 – LIGHT ON MEXICO
How the Poor Majority is Ground Down by the Rich Majority – PRESIDENTS MADE BY A SELECT FEW – How Gonzales Pocketed the Surplus and Drew a Big Lottery Prize – DIAZ AFRAID OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PARTY
August 8, 1886 – MEXICO’S DISGRACE
Finds a Climax in a Press Subsidized and – Subdued by the Government. – REPORTERS VERY RARE BIRDS IN MEXICO. – Editors Who Tell the Truth Go to the Gallery Reserved For Them in Jail. – AND NELLIE BLY NEARLY LANDED THERE, TOO
August 15, 1886 – ABOUT TWO PASOS
Only a River Separates Them, But They Have Hardly a Thing in Common. – CUTTING’S ILL-CHOSEN BATTLEFIELD. – The Black Hole of Calcutta Not Much, If Any, Worse Than a Mexican Prison. – CUTTING’S CASE NOT THE FIRST OF ITS KIND
August 22, 1886 – MEXICO’S SOLDIERS
The Greasers Have Fighting Material Which Must Not be Despised. – CONVICTS MAKE UP THE RANK AND FILE. – Six Thousand Outlaws, Called Rurales, Form a Splendid Calvary Force. – WHY DIAZ MIGHT WELCOME AN AMERICAN WAR
August 29, 1886 – MEXICAN ODDITIES
Strange Street and Store Signs that Perplex The Observant Tourist. PRETTY CONCEITS IN THE SHOW LINE. – Quaint Legends Attached to the Naming of Prominent Thoroughfares. – THE GHASTLY TALE OF DON JUAN MANUEL
September 10, 1886 – SOME MEXICAN LAWS
That Might be Copied With Profit by Citizens of the United States. – STREET AND POSTAL CONVINIENCES. – Polite P. O. D. Officials and the Most Heartless Postal Thieves in the World. – WHY AMERICANS ARE CALLED GRINGOS
September 19, 1886 – MEXICAN MANNERS
How Lessons in Courtesy Are Not Lost Upon Infants. – STREET AND PARLOR ETIQUETTE. – A Quaint Sign Language That Saves Much Shouting And Whistling. – ODD CUSTOMS OF A POLITE PEOPLE
August 21, 1887 – WOMAN JOURNALISTS
Views of Leading Editors as to Their Availability To Work in Gotham. – MR. DANA IS DEVOID OF PREJUDICE, But, Like Dr. Hepworth, Colonel Cockerill and Others, Prefers the Man. – ONE EDITOR WHO FAVORS THE FAIR SEX
