Aileen Ryan

Aileen Ryan with students at Mount Mary College

Aileen Ryan, the women's editor at the Milwaukee Journal, was an early supporter of the fashion program at Mount Mary College. She taught a class in Fashion Writing for the Newspapers during the first semester of the program (fall 1965) and continued to teach courses in following years (see letters below).

Section on Aileen Ryan from Mount Mary College fashion design program brochure 1965-1966

A section in Mount Mary's 1965-66 brochure for the new fashion design program highlights Ryan's qualifications as a newspaper woman and notes her status as "Dean of the newspaper fashion press."

The dress Ryan is wearing in the brochure's photo has connections to Mount Mary College as well. The fabric was designed by Sister Remy Revor based on a historic Milwaukee design and the ensemble was created on designer Rosalie Macrini's receipt of an award from Mount Mary in the mid-1960s. Ryan wore it to accept the Pro Urbe Civic Award from Mount Mary in 1965. Furthermore, it was the first official donation to Mount Mary's Historic Costume Collection (now the Fashion Archive), thanks to Ryan's generosity and support of the program's efforts to provide hands-on opportunities for its students. The ensemble has been digitized for inclusion in the Digital Fashion Archive (Object ID #2003.03.11.abc).

Pro Urbe Civic Award Dinner program 1965

The brochure above mentions Ryan's receipt of Mount Mary's Pro Urbe award "in recognition of her outstanding contributions in the field of fashion journalism." The 1965 Pro Urbe Civic Award Dinner program (to the left) also states that Mount Mary was "privileged to establish the Aileen Ryan Chair of Fashion Design," honoring Ryan's impact on "the areas of manufacture, retailing, consumer interest and education." Sister John Francis Schuh gave a speech at that dinner (see transcript below) that described the history of Mount Mary College, its relationship with the surrounding community, and Ryan's contributions to the school. She ended by remarking on Ryan's "dynamic leadership in the Community" and bestowing the Pro Urbe Medal on Ryan for "Distinctive Community Service."

Speech by Aileen Ryan accepting the 1965 Pro Urbe Civic Award

In her acceptance speech for the 1965 Pro Urbe Civic Award (to the right), Ryan discussed "sharing my practical knowledge with Mount Mary in the new course in fashion design" and highlighted the importance of fashion as a "highly practical" field. She said that "Students will discover eventually that some of them are philosophers, angels of mercy, ambassadors of good will abroad and hardheaded managers of their own fashion salons," and she praised and thanked the Heritage Milwaukee manufacturers who joined her in "telling the world about our own at home fashion industry."

Aileen Ryan (center) and two unknown women

Sister John Francis Schuh and Aileen Ryan corresponded around other events and activities related to the new fashion design program and Ryan's job at the Milwaukee Journal as well. See below for letters from February and March 1967 (click on each image to see it up close).