Mary Catherine Phillips
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Short description|American consumer advocate and author (1903–1981)}}
{{infobox writer
| pseudonym = M. C. Phillips
| birth_date = 1903
| death_date = {{death year and age|1981|1903}}
| education = Wellesley College
| occupation = Consumer advocate, author
| notable_works = Skin Deep. The Truth About Beauty Aids – Safe and Harmful
}}
Mary Catherine Phillips (1903–1981) was an American consumer advocate, author, and member of the Board of Directors of Consumers' Research in Bowerstown, New Jersey. She tested consumer beauty products, promoted safety for cosmetics, and wrote Skin Deep. The Truth About Beauty Aids – Safe and Harmful.{{cite web |last1=Williams |first1=Gregory L. |title=An Inventory to the Records of Consumers' Research, Inc., 1910–1983, bulk 1928–1980 |url=http://www2.scc.rutgers.edu/ead/manuscripts/consumers_introf.html |publisher=Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries |date=January 1995}}{{cite web |author=Alice Paul Centennial Foundation |title=Site #22: Consumers' Research, Mary Catherine Phillips (1903–1981) |url=https://www.state.nj.us/dep/hpo/WHTrail_Book.pdf |page=24 |publisher=New Jersey Historic Preservation Office |date=2005 |via=New Jersey Women's Heritage Trail |oclc=70587105 }}
Career
File:89 Bowerstown Road, Bowerstown, NJ.jpg offices in Bowerstown, New Jersey]]
Phillips was hired by Consumers' Research in 1932. Her main area of work was testing consumer beauty products. She was a member of the Board of Directors from 1934 to 1980. In 1934, she wrote the book, Skin Deep. The Truth About Beauty Aids – Safe and Harmful, about the cosmetics industry, using her initials, M. C. Phillips.{{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=M. C. |title=Skin Deep. The Truth About Beauty Aids – Safe and Harmful |date=1934 |publisher=The Vanguard Press |location=New York |oclc=1002151}} The book was described as "entirely frank and fearless" in a review by The New York Times.{{cite news |title=SKIN DEEP. The Truth About Beauty Aids – Safe and Harmful. By M. C. Phillips. Illustrated. 254 pp. New York: The Vanguard Press. $2. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/12/09/archives/skin-deep-the-truth-about-beauty-aids-safe-and-harmful-by-mc.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 9, 1934}} It was a best seller that year and provided support for the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act passed in 1938.{{cite book |last1=Peiss |first1=Kathy |title=Hope in a Jar: The Making of America's Beauty Culture |date=2011 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-08-1220-574-9 |page=198 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=treG8BAnJcwC&pg=PA198}} She later wrote the sequel, More Than Skin Deep, in 1948.{{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=M. C. |title=More Than Skin Deep |date=1948 |publisher=R.R. Smith |location=New York |oclc=1456565}}
In 1935, workers at Consumers' Research complained about working conditions, formed a union chapter, and subsequently went on strike. The Board of Directors, including Phillips, rejected negotiations and accused the workers of being Communists. The workers then formed a new company, Consumers Union, now known as Consumers Reports.
In the first issue of Consumers' Digest by Consumers' Research, January 1937, she was the associate editor.{{cite journal |title= Consumers' Digest |journal=Consumers' Digest |date=January 1937 |volume=1 |issue=1 |url=https://archive.org/details/co1937nsumersdigesteastrich/page/n7/mode/2up |publisher=Consumers' Research, Inc.}} She wrote the magazine article Face Powders in 1938.{{cite journal |last1=Phillips |first1=M. C. |title=Face Powders |journal=Consumers' Digest |date=October 1938 |volume=IV |issue=4 |pages=32–36 |url=https://archive.org/details/consumersdigest1938eastrich/page/n293/mode/2up}} In January 1939, she was the editor of the magazine, now published by the Consumers' Institute of America.{{cite journal |title=Consumers' Digest |journal=Consumers' Digest |date=January 1939 |volume=V |issue=1 |url=https://archive.org/details/consumersdigest1939newyrich/page/n7/mode/2up |publisher=Consumers' Institute of America, Inc.}}
Personal life
Phillips was born in either Clifton or Upper Montclair, New Jersey, in 1903. In 1924, she received a bachelor of arts degree from Wellesley College.{{cite book |title=Wellesley College Bulletin: Calendar 1924–1925 |date=November 1924 |publisher=Wellesley College |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=g7ZGAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PA143 143] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g7ZGAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA163}} In 1932, she married Frederick J. Schlink, co-founder of Consumers' Research. She died in 1981.
Works
- {{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=M. C. |title=Skin Deep: The Truth About Beauty Aids – Safe and Harmful |date=1934 |publisher=The Vanguard Press |location=New York |oclc=1002151}}
- {{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=M. C. |last2=Schlink |first2=F. J. |author-link2=Frederick J. Schlink |title=Discovering Consumers |date=1934 |publisher=John Day Company |location=New York |oclc=29014354}}
- {{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=M. C. |title=More Than Skin Deep |date=1948 |publisher=R. R. Smith |location=New York |oclc=1456565}}
- {{cite book |last2=Phillips |first2=M. C. |last1=Schlink |first1=F. J. |title=Meat Three Times a Day |date=1946 |publisher=R. R. Smith |location=New York |oclc=621527}}
- {{cite book |last2=Phillips |first2=M. C. |last1=Schlink |first1=F. J. |title=Don't You Believe It!! |date=1966 |publisher=Pyramid |location=New York |oclc=4619318}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Find a Grave}}
- {{cite web|title=Mary Catherine Phillips – Consumers' Research |url=https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=94693 |publisher=The Historical Marker Database}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Mary Catherine}}
Category:Consumer rights activists
Category:Wellesley College alumni
Category:20th-century American women writers