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She was significantly involved in the World War I version of the Victory Garden which was apparently home food preservation and recipes for meatless and wheatless meals. This is a program I had not previously heard about but it helps explain why victory gardens did so well: it wasn't the first time this type of model was used to help address shortages etc during a major conflict.
For anyone interested in the history of women's work and household technology, I highly recommend the book More work for mother.
> Still, he remained smooth enough to flirt in Morse code, even proposing by tapping out the question.
Now that says something about Mina Miller and the education she received! At least it does if Edison didn't have to immediately explain what he was doing.
I showed this article to my wife, and she said: I think many people, especially now, would view her perspective as behind the times. But for women who do want to stay in the home, she's very inspiring. I choose to live as a home executive and it's the way that I am happiest.
This post deserves a more appealing title - her name alone doesn’t really tell users anything about the article’s content.
Something like “Mina Miller Edison, America’s first Home Executive” or “Straddling An Era: the life of Edison’s Partner & America’s Home Executive, Mina Edison”
(*I am not a copy writer)
> Mina Miller Edison, America’s first Home Executive
That doesn't tell me noticeably more than just her name does. It says that she was the first example of something I have never heard of.
> Straddling An Era: the life of Edison’s Partner & America’s Home Executive, Mina Edison
That's much better, it makes it clear that the Edison name is not merely a coincidence. At least it's better for me and I suspect that Edison the inventor is familiar to more people around he world than "Home Executive" whatever that is.
Still, you have piqued my interest; now I'll try to find out what one is.
for sure - given that she invented/popularized the term, I think it's a fun hook to let people's curiosity about the meaning lead them to read the article - but there's probably a more masterful way of crafting that hook.
> Straddling An Era: The Life of Iconic Inventor Thomas Edison’s Steadfast Partner & America’s First Self-Styled Home Executive, Mina Edison
Too wordy.
Shit you know what, maybe this is a job for ChatGPT - what if I just ask it to make my title shorter
> "Straddling An Era: The Life of Mina Edison, Thomas Edison's Partner"
No mention of Home Executive though. What if I just ask it to title the article?
> "Mina Edison: The Brain Behind the Wizard of Menlo Park"
Eh, but that kind of implies she was the one with the science smarts, not Edison - which isn't really what we're going for. I do kinda like the cheeky reference to Edison 'the wizard of menlo park' without explicitly mentioning Thomas Edison.
> "Beyond the Wizard: How Mina Edison Revolutionized the American Household"
That's actually interesting. Still not perfect, but does seem like a 'better' title than just her name.
This was posted two days ago -
On HN, reposts are fine if an article hasn't had significant attention yet.
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
Thank you, I didnt know.