Ellis, Estelle (1919-2012)

Person

Dates

Existence: 1919-2012

Biography

Estelle Ellis was born on November 12, 1919 in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Hunter College in 1940, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a minor in Journalism, Ellis began a career in publishing. Ellis was crucial in the founding of Seventeen magazine in 1943, assisting Helen Valentine with design and advertising for the magazine. In 1958, Ellis founded Business Image, Incorporated, a creative marketing firm that stressed the importance of market and product positioning. Her company worked primarily with Condé Nast publications but other businesses, such as Yves Saint-Laurent Fragrances, Evan-Picone, AT&T, and Scoville, hired Business Image as well.

Beginning in the mid-1960s, Ellis began working with the Fashion Institute of Technology, creating programs and fundraising campaigns to help with financial support. During the 1990s, Ellis focused on writing, co-authoring At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live With and Care for Their Libraries (1995), At Home with Art: How Art Lovers Live With and Care for Their Treasures (1999), and The Booklover's Repair Kit: First Aid for Home Libraries (2000). Estelle Ellis passed away on July 12, 2012.

General Context

The Estelle Ellis Collection at the Smithsonian Institution: https://sova.si.edu/record/NMAH.AC.0423

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:

Lester Gribets interview, 1986 November 19, 1986 November 19

Item

Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.3.4

Scope and Contents This conversation covers very little of Lester Gribetz' life and career at Bloomingdale's. There is a brief intro in which Gribetz lays out his professional trajectory from trainee under Martin S. Traub to his role in merchandising. Like most of Traub's employees at Bloomingdale's, Gribetz praises Traub as a boss and as a person. He describes him as exciting, challenging, enlightened, and demanding. Gribetz attributes Traub's high standards to keeping workers excited and motivated. Traub is...

Dates: 1986 November 19

Found in: Special Collections and FIT Archive / Academic Affairs records / Gladys Marcus Library records / Special Collections and FIT Archive / FIT oral histories collection / The Bloomingdale's interviews, 1986 November 5-1987 January 16

Terry Schaefer interview, 1986 November 21, 1986 November 21

Item

Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.3.7

Scope and Contents This conversation takes place only a few weeks after Schaefer had joined Bloomingdale's as the Vice President of Marketing. Schaefer gives a quick recap of the previous 13 years of his career before talking about his thoughts on his new boss, Marvin S. Traub, as well as his new position at Bloomingdale's. Coming from first a marketing background and then, briefly, a retail background, Schaefer discusses the importance of retailers being fully aware of what people are reading, wearing,...

Dates: 1986 November 21

Filtered By

Subject: Food X