Perhaps the best local newspaper reporter at the turn of the century wrote for the Bulletin and published a column as simply “Mme. Annette.”  Her frequent columns included lively interviews with early settlers, visits to local sites such as the underground coal mine and county jail, activities of local clubs and literary groups, fashion, social issues such as women’s suffrage and poverty, and more.

Research suggests that this mystery woman may have been a Mrs. Annette or Anna Ferguson of 212 ½ E. Washington St. In the 1900 census, she is reported as a childless 40-year-old widow born in Iowa in 1860.  Her columns appeared in the Bulletin from late 1898 through late 1900.  Her work life before and after that remains a mystery for now.

This collection includes copies of many of Mme. Annette’s articles in the Bulletin plus limited research into her identity.  The collection also includes a listing of all published articles thus far identified including many that are not in this collection.