The archive contains published articles, drafts, notes for her books on various celebrities, ephemera and correspondence relating to her role as Royal Correspondent, tapes of interviews, and legacy equipment for playback. Three portable typewriters are also included.
Joan Reeder (1921-1997), journalist and Royal correspondent
This material is held atCardiff University Archives / Prifysgol Caerdydd
- Reference
- GB 1239 458
- Dates of Creation
- 1919-1993
- Name of Creator
- Language of Material
- English
- Physical Description
- 6.5m 15 boxes
Scope and Content
Administrative / Biographical History
Elizabeth Joan Armstrong was apprenticed aged 17 to the Western Morning News in Plymouth in 1938. When war broke out, she wrote about the experience of the blitz in Plymouth. She did not have her own by-line, but her stories were often sold to London papers and syndicated under the by-lines of well-known journalists. She married in 1941, becoming Joan Reeder. After the war, she worked for the Daily Mirror, soon becoming the first Royal correspondent for a national newspaper. In 1952 she was one of the first journalists to hear of the death of King George VI, reported on the Coronation of Elizabeth II the following year, as well as the Royal Tour, and was among those who broke the news about the love affair between Princess Margaret and Group Captain Townsend. In the early 1950s, she left the Mirror to take up a features editorship with Odhams Magazines. She specialised in ghost-writing for celebrities including Gracie Fields, Vanessa Redgrave, Margot Fonteyn, Sophia Loren, Ginger Rogers, Julia Andrews and Roger Moore. Some became books, while others were serialised in 'Woman' magazine and in the Ladies Home Journal in the United States.
Access Information
Access is available by prior appointment.
Acquisition Information
Reeder's daughter presented the archive to the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies in 2010, and the collection was subsequently transferred to Special Collections and Archives.
Note
Shelves 372-378, 389, F14-15.
Conditions Governing Use
This archive contains personal data regarding living individuals. This data is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018. Access to original documents is permitted upon completion of a Data Protection Declaration. Photography of original documents is not permitted.