With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Vance Packard
Journalism/Non-Fiction
1914 – 1996
Well-known journalist and writer.
- Biography/Description of Work
Vance Packard was born in 1914 to parents Philip J. and Mabel Case Packard, and after high school, in 1932, he attended Penn State where he majored in English. He graduated in 1936 and won a scholarship to Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism program. He received his master’s degree in 1937. He married Mamie Virginia Mathews, an artist, in 1938. Packard worked for The Boston Daily Record and then The Associated Press until 1942 when he joined American magazine. In 1956, American magazine folded and Packard took a job with Collier’s until it too folded at the end of that year. His first and one of his best-selling books, “The Hidden Persuaders,” was published in 1957, and gained him national attention. Packard died in 1996 at the age of 82.
- Sources view
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vance_Packard, http://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/13/arts/vance-packard-82-challenger-of-consumerism-dies.html, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/books/review/Greif-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsRt99AtmtQ
- Associated Resource(s)