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 6 Collections and/or Records:
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.3.8
Scope and Contents
This interview covers broad subjects including women in the retail industry, family work balance, and the evolving role of the department store. The majority of the conversation concerns Bloomingdale's CEO at the time, Marvin S. Traub, with whom Barbara Bass worked closely. Bass talk about Traub's strong relationship with his wife, his high energy, his excellent listening skills, and his long-range style of thinking. Bass describes Traub as being pragmatic, and credits this as the reason why...
Dates:
1987 January 16
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.3.20.4.9.3.11
Scope and Contents
In this conversation, Marvin S. Traub talks about his start at Bloomingdale's, and details his first seven positions at the company. He describes the Bloomingdale's customer as being someone who is interested in change and forward fashion, someone who "likes different things at different times" and who expects Bloomingdale's to alert them to the newest trends. Traub expresses his pride at helping to develop the careers of some of the industry's influential designers and executives and...
Dates:
1987 January 16
sub-sub-sub-series
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.9
Scope and Contents
Conducted by Estelle Ellis in the late 1980s into the early 1990s, this is a series of oral history interviews of executives who worked for Saks Fifth Avenue throughout the 20th century. Interviewees discuss the goals of the store's president, Adam Gimbel, others they worked with, and the fashion retail industry, and the various experiences they had while working for Saks Fifth Avenue.Interviewees include: Arnold Aronson, Bill Berta, Mel Jacobs, Allan R. Johnson, Paul...
Dates:
1989 January 26 - 1990 June 3
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
sub-sub-sub-series
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.3
Scope and Contents
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:
1986 November 5-1987 January 16
