Rittenhouse, Mignon.
Biographical Statement
Mignon Rittenhouse was born in New York City on February 19, 1904. She was the daughter of George, a Baptist minister, and Catherine Meisser Rittenhouse. On January 24, 1931 Rittenhouse married writer and editor Horace Albro Woodmansee. Together they had two children.
Rittenhouse attended Wheaton College from 1922 to 1924. After leaving college she served for twelve years as a reporter and feature writer for the Brooklyn Eagle. During that time she briefly worked as a movie columnist for the Morning Telegraph. In 1935 she began her career as an editor, first with Dell Publishing and then, for roughly twelve years with Fawcett Publications. Additionally, she spent some time working for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and king of slapstick comedy Mack Sennett.
Rittenhouse’s first book, The Amazing Nellie Bly, was published in 1956, later republished in 1977. She followed this with Seven Women Explorers in 1964. An operetta, The Magic Keys of Christopher Columbus, was published in 1971. Her poetry found its way into the pages of Good Housekeeping, Today's Woman, and other poetry magazines. Rittenhouse died in Bayside, New York in 1988.