In honor of the 30th anniversary of Women’s History Month and this year’s theme of Writing Women Back Into History, we wanted to take a moment to remember one of the greats: Marjorie Husted. Many of you probably recognize her by the fictional persona she helped create, Betty Crocker. Not only did Husted help create the first truly iconic domestic diva, she also voiced her in a weekly radio program called Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air which did a whole lot of what we do today: give cooking advice and tips, interview celebrities, share recipes, and share readers’ stories. The program lasted for over 20 years—may we be so lucky!

Husted started her career with Washburn-Crosby Co. in 1924, which was later merged with several other companies to form General Mills, the company that still uses the Betty Crocker name. She was a home economist who graduated from the University of Minnesota (where she was a Kappa Alpha Theta, for any of you Thetas who are readers!), and she was named Advertising Woman of the Year in 1949 by the Advertising Federation of America, one year before she helped published the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook (one of Vesta’s standbys!).

Betty Crocker was created to be an all-American homemaker who was both knowledgeable and caring. The Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook is full of entertaining tips as well as recipes and cooking basics. And it is still both knowledgeable and entertaining and certainly worth a read if you haven’t looked at it for a while. The Betty Crocker brand has clearly withstood the test of time!