Chrysler's “Most Beautiful Engineer”: Lucille J. Pieti in the Pillory of Fame

Abstract

The case of Lucille Pieti, a technical writer at Chrysler, serves as a discipline-specific illustration of some of Rossiter's (1995) generalizations about women scientists and engineers after World War II. Like other women with engineering degrees, Pieti emerged from college with high hopes, only to find herself consigned to one of the traditional ghettos for women scientists and engineers: technical communication. Her case is unusual, however, because she became a national celebrity.

Notes

¹Cortelyou and Campbell are mentioned by Rossiter (1995), but Young is not. On Cortelyou, see “Ethaline” (1958). On Campbell, see Swent (1989). On Young, see Verniel & Douglas (1996). I am preparing studies of the careers of Young and Cortelyou.

²On McElwee, see Malone (2009).

³It is not clear whether Pieti was the first woman to receive a BSME at Wayne University. In a letter to the W. L. Maxon Corporation, New York, on Oct. 19, 1944, the dean of Wayne University's College of Engineering wrote, “We have graduated not more than five women in [Mechanical and Electrical Engineering] within the last ten years” (Carr, 1944, p. 1).

⁴On Zook, see Lola (2005).

⁵Cf. Gould (1964), pp. 70–72.

⁶On Miklowitz, see USM (2002).

⁷I have already mentioned Pearl Young at NACA and Campbell at NOTS. In e-mail correspondence, McElwee (2007) told me that the person in charge of the reports section at Sylvania circa 1950 was a woman. Also in e-mail correspondence, Chambliss (2008) told me that the head of her editorial group at General Atomic Corporation in 1959 was Bernice “B. Z.” Johnson. The other women supervisors, in order, were Lucie D. Connolly at LASL (see “In memoriam,” 1965), Ruth Nordin at SCS (see Helms, 1992), and Marian Fineman at Dugway (see Parkins, 1962).

⁸On Dolly Dahle, owner of Publishing Production Service in L. A., see Malone (2008a). I am preparing a longer study of her life and career. On Rosalie and Ernestine Kohn, owners of Rosern Publications and Procedures in Chicago, see “Tidings” (1963). On Lydia Kenny, owner of Transworld Language Service in Washington DC, see Gray (1953). Kenny (née Lindner) was a World War II pilot.

⁹For examples of this reputation depicted in art, see McCreery (2000).

¹⁰This statement is based on my analysis of Pieti's weekly expenditure reports. She was required to keep track of her daily expenses and submit a detailed report to Chrysler each week. I obtained copies of these reports from the Milne family. The information in Table 1 also comes from these reports.

¹¹The five scripts I read at Yale's Beinecke Library on March 26, 2009, are located in Ycal.Mss. 266, Box 379, folders 4–8.

¹²On Dorothy Green Saxner, see Schmeh (1965) and Saxner (1989).

¹³On Chemical Engineer Virginia Sink (1913–1986), see Rossiter (1982), p. 261.

¹⁴While in California, Pieti had served as the “theme girl” of Safe Driving Day, December 15, 1954, in Los Angeles (“Trio,” 1954, p. 3).

¹⁵This is the same person who had written an article about Pieti for Good Housekeeping. See Montgomery (1955).

¹⁶Though very rare, the inaugural issue of the Technical Publishing Society's Technical Communications can be found in the Library of Congress (one copy) and the archives at STC's headquarters (two copies). Karen Bergen, historian of STC's Los Angeles chapter, also has a copy of the issue.