missamerica

Another photo or her ran in the South Bend news-times., September 11, 1921, First Section, Image 1 with the caption: "One thousand beauties passed in review before 150.000 people at the Atlantic City pageant. In that thousand none was more beautiful than Margaret Gorman, of Washington, according to a committee of judges headed by Howard Chandler Christy. She was awarded tie Golden Mermaid, a trophy valued at $5,000. She also won the bathing beauty contest." chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87055779/1921-09-11/ed-...

"Margaret Gorman (August 18, 1905 – October 1, 1995) was the first Miss America, from the year 1921." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Gorman

Thanks @b-59! Great additional info find in Chronicling America! Will update the record accordingly.

The Wikipedia page for her seems to be missing the second "l" which appears in her last name in the annotation by the photographer in this Bain photo. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Malcomson She appears with and without the "l." The Miss America page www.missamerica.org/organization/history/ has a picture with "Malcolmson" as written by the photographer on the Bain copy. But the entry for 1924 at the right has "Malcomson." www.findagrave.com/memorial/18807692/ruth-schaubel does not have a gravestone for her, but the gravestones for her father and mother use "Malcomson."

Thanks swanq. I'm pretty sure she spelled her name "Malcomson". I found census records spelling it that way and some other articles about her, including a short interview from the 1980's spelling it that way.

Helmar Liederman of New York filed suit against the contest directors, Armand T. Nichols and Harry L. Godshall, Sr., for $150,000 due to their refusal to allow her to enter the national competition as "Miss Alaska" because she was a married woman, despite being authorized to compete by a newspaper in Juneau, Alaska. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_America_1923 I added her to Wikidata: www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q97952548

Helmar Liederman from New York took part in the Miss America 1922 pageant as "Miss Alaska". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_America_1922 The reason why she was barred in 1923 seems to be that the Alaskan newspaper that accredited her was not authorized to do so - and she presumably never was in Alaska, s. Perth Amboy evening news. [volume], September 13, 1923, FINAL EDITION, Page 5, col. 3 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85035720/1923-09-13/ed-... and - www.seniorvoicealaska.com/story/2016/08/01/columns/the-fi... - www.anchoragepress.com/news/arctic-venus-the-first-miss-a...