Dates
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 5 Collections and/or Records:
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.3.9
Scope and Contents
This conversation has three main components: first, Tomchin discusses his work in the home furnishings department, consolidating the department into one cohesive collection under the guidance of a fashion director, similar to the structure of the clothing departments. This allowed the department to present more fully developed design ideas to the customer, encouraging the customer to work as her own decorator, just as the fashion departments allowed her to be her own stylist. Next, Tomchin...
Dates:
1986 November
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
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.3.12
Scope and Contents
As Bloomingdale's VP of Executive Recruitment and Development at the time of this interview, Margaret Hofbeck describes the department store's lengthy training program and how it affects the staffing at higher levels. Hofbeck details the steps that a new hire must take to grow in merchandising and she credits the immediate hands-on training to be what sets Bloomingdale's apart from other stores, in regards to training. Hofbeck talks about her earlier work in advertising and how she was hired...
Dates:
1987 January 16
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.3.13
Scope and Contents
From the sub-sub-sub-series:
This series consists of 14 oral history interviews, which discuss the history of Bloomingdale's, President Marvin Traub, as well as the store's current status and future plans. Interviews were conducted between November, 1986 and January 1987 by Estelle Ellis.
Dates:
1987 January 16
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
