Item Info

Creation Date: 6/28/1929
Historic Street Address: 1300 NJ-73, Palmyra, NJ
Historic Street Address: PA Route 73-NJ Route 73
Media Type: Photographic Prints
Source: Print and Picture Collection
Notes:

Born Elizabeth Malcolm, in 1898, in Lynchburg, VA, this intrepid “stunt reporter” went by the name of Vivian Shirley, when reporting for Philadelphia’s Evening Public Ledger, from the late-1920s until 1933.  Her student degrees from Longwood University (Farmville, VA) and the University of South Carolina prepared her for an academic and literary career, and she did teach and publish poetry and other writings; but she became popular for her adventurous reporting in the Ledger, willing to try anything to make a story interesting.

The caption for this 1929 photograph in the Ledger reads:  "FROM ONE STATE TO ANOTHER--that's the new Palmyra-Tacony Bridge.  And Miss Vivian Shirley helped hasten its completion by driving rivet in span, which will give motorists, when completed, another route from Philadelphia to Atlantic City." 

It should be noted that in 1932, Shirley’s stunts were curtailed by the Ledger, due to concerns that they endangered the paper’s insurance.  Shortly thereafter, in 1933, she married her editor, Harry Nason.  They moved to New York, where he became an editor for the New York Post, and she did freelance reporting and radio spots for a decade or so.  Shirley died in 1987, at the age of 89, her name appearing in an obituary as Vivian Hinternhoff.

Geocode Latitude: Geocode Longitude:-75.041963
Geocode Latitude:40.010737

Creator Name: Evening Public Ledger - Photographer