In 1887, reporter Nellie Bly joined the staff of Joseph Pulitzer's New York newspaper The World with an exposé that set the city on fire. Her articles detailing the Dickensian conditions and suffering of patients at the insane asylum on Blackwell's Island ("Behind Asylum Bars" & "Inside The Mad-House") would shock and outrage readers, propelling massive change in the care of the mentally ill. Almost overnight, Nellie Bly became a person to be reckoned with.
In Vol. III of THE NELLIE BLY COLLECTION, we find Nellie pioneering the field of investigative journalism. Often going undercover, her follow-up articles would focus on hard-hitting topics such as the trafficking of unwanted infants, conditions of low-wage workers in factories and exposing a crooked lobbyist offering to bribe state politicians. Always a champion of women, Nellie additionally profiles the wives of presidential candidates and first ladies, and interviews Belva Lockwood, the first woman to appear on official ballots as a Presidential candidate.
