Mary Hamman facts for kids

Mary Hamman (August 2, 1907 – November 18, 1984) was an American writer and editor. She was an editor for Pictorial Review, Good Housekeeping, Mademoiselle, as well as the modern living editor for LIFE and editor-in-chief for Bride & Home.

Biography

She was born in Baltimore, Maryland, a daughter of Johns Hopkins clinician, Dr. Louis Hamman.

She was one of a "trio of formidable and colorful women", the other two being Mary Letherbee, movie editor, and Sally Kirkland, fashion editor. Together they led the "back of the book" at LIFE and were given free rein by Ed Thompson as managing editor and later editor in chief. When Thompson went on to found the Smithsonian Magazine Hamman would often write the humor page inside the back cover.

Books edited

• The Mademoiselle Handbook: for the Girl With a Job and a Future, Hamman, Mary and the Editors of Mademoiselle. Whittlesey House., New York, 1946.
• Picture Cookbook by the Editors of LIFE, first published 1958, with second and third editions in 1959 and 1960.