Patricia S. McCormack papers, 1942-2011, bulk 1958-1989
Collection context
- Creator:
- McCormack, Patricia S., 1927-2017
- Abstract:
- Patricia Seger McCormack (1927-2017) was an American journalist for over fifty years, spending the bulk of her career with United Press International. The papers contain clippings, correspondence, research material, photographs, notebooks, notes, negative strips, awards, scrapbooks, and additional personal, financial, and legal files.
- Extent:
- 13 linear feet (27 document boxes, 1 tall oversized box, 1 flatbox, 1 record carton)
- Language:
- English
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains the papers of Patricia Seger McCormack and, in the main, relates to McCormack's career as a journalist, as represented by Series I-IV. There is a small series related to McCormack's personal life, which includes personal and professional files related to her husband, Donald, and son, Christopher. This series, Series V, also includes legal, financial, and tax documents, such as bills, budgets, checks, her marriage license, her mortgage, and information regarding family estates.
The collection primarily pertains to McCormack's career with UPI, which spanned from 1958 through 1989 but also includes materials related to her tenures at the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, the International News Service, and several local Connecticut newspapers, including The Advocate / Greenwich Time, Greenwich Citizen, Westport News, Fairfield Citizen, and Westport Magazine. The collection contains mostly clippings of McCormack's writing, both as advanced copies and as published articles. Since UPI was a news service, McCormack's articles appeared in a range of newspapers; on several occasions, the collection includes the same story published in different publications. While most clippings were written by McCormack, the collection also includes articles from her files that colleagues or other reporters wrote. In addition to clippings, the collection contains research material, notes, correspondence, and photographs related to her reporting.
The collection also includes other professional files, as represented by Series III. This subseries contains awards, job applications, speeches, and documents related to McCormack's legal disputes with UPI. Additional UPI files, including directories, stylebooks, and internal correspondence—including communication related to the news service's financial challenges—can be found in Subseries II.9.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Patricia "Pat" Seger McCormack was born to Anna and John Seger on June 11, 1927. A Pittsburgh resident, McCormack attended St. Wendelin High School and matriculated at the University of Pittsburgh in the fall of 1945. While in college, McCormack worked for the student newspaper, The Pitt News, covering campus news and writing columns. As a candidate for Senior Queen, McCormack also received some local press coverage during her final year at the University of Pittsburgh before graduating in 1949.
In the early 1950s, McCormack took her first professional journalism job at her local newspaper, the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, where she served as a staff writer and then Health Editor. While at the Sun-Telegraph, McCormack met her husband, Donald McCormack, who also reported for the publication. The couple married in 1951 and remained married for 48 years, until Donald died of a heart attack in 1999. McCormack left the Sun-Telegraph in 1956 to serve as the Medical Science Editor for the International News Service (INS). In January 1957, while working at INS, McCormack gave birth to her only child, Christopher. Christopher died from complications associated with cardiac arrest in 2020.
McCormack is best known for her reporting career at United Press International (UPI), which spanned from 1958 through 1989. McCormack joined the news service in 1958 after United Press merged with INS to form UPI. While at UPI, McCormack covered a range of topics, namely family life, marriage, parenting, health, science, technology, education, and fashion. Two of her most popular and longstanding columns were "Woman to Woman," directed at women readers, and "On Raising Children." During the 1970s and 1980s, McCormack wrote extensively on the women's movement, women in the workplace, and the latest research surrounding abortion, pregnancy, and family planning. Writing for a news service, her articles regularly appeared in local, national, and international publications. Throughout her tenure at UPI, McCormack received numerous awards for her reporting, and several organizations invited her to deliver talks about her career.
In 1985, McCormack filed a charge of discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She alleged unlawful employment practices at UPI, specifically related to gender and age discrimination, and subsequently claimed she experienced retaliation as a result of filing the charge. In 1989, she was dismissed from UPI as the news service downsized.
Following her departure from UPI, McCormack wrote for a collection of newspapers near her home in Westport, Connecticut, where she had lived since 1961. In the early 1990s, McCormack wrote for The Advocate / Greenwich Time before taking a hiatus from reporting at the end of the decade. McCormack resumed her journalism work in 2002 when she started writing for the Greenwich Citizen, where she remained until 2009. From 2009 through 2011, McCormack concurrently wrote for the Westport News and Fairfield Citizen, often publishing the same article in both newspapers. For all of these papers, McCormack covered local news as well as national issues with a Connecticut angle.
McCormack died at Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut on July 26, 2017.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least five business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
One box (originally un processed box 4), containing "Media kits, research materials, journalistic work products, "work documents," hearing transcripts, photos. 1950s-1980s," requires mold remediation and is not available for research use at this time. Otherwise, the collection has no restrictions.
Mold remediation was performed on the entire collection in 2014, and some boxes required additional remediation afterward. Although all materials can be used in the reading room, patrons that are sensitive to mold may still experience a reaction to materials that have been cleaned.
- Terms of access:
-
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
- Location of this collection:
- Before you visit:
- Researchers interested in viewing materials in the RBML reading room must book an appointment at least 7 days in advance. To make the most of your visit, be sure to request your desired materials before booking your appointment, as researchers are limited to 5 items per day.
- Contact:
- rbml@library.columbia.edu