Tarbell, Ida Minerva (1857-1944), an American author, led in the muckraking movement of the early 1900’s that attacked dishonesty in politics and business. Her History of the Standard Oil Company (1904) exposed the practices of some corporations and strengthened the movement for outlawing monopolies. She also wrote biographies of Napoleon I and Abraham Lincoln and an autobiography, All in the Day’s Work (1929).
Ida Tarbell was born in Erie County, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 5, 1857. She graduated from Allegheny College and studied in Paris. Between 1883 and 1915, she was successively associate editor of The Chautauquan, McClure’s Magazine, and American Magazine. She died on Jan. 6, 1944.
