Tarbell's History
Ida Tarbell had a father working in the oil industry and noticed a change in his oil business. However at that time, she wasn't able to distinguish her father's failure and the power of the Standard Oil Company. She entered Allegheny College, majored in biology, and then returned to Titusville, where she had lived before college, and studied science. However, Tarbell wanted to do more for the public and so she set off of France to work on a book about women of the French Revolution. She came back to Titusville again after awhile, but soon after, she was recruited to work for Samuel McClure and to become an editor of his magazine. First, she was assigned to write a biography of Abraham Lincoln, in which she completed with tireless research and fact-checking. As soon as she was done with the biography, Tarbell was much interested in writing about the Standard Oil Trust and shared stories of how it affected her family and hometown with John Philips, a partner of McClure. Philips convinced Tarbell to do further research on the Standard Oil Company and soon a series of articles written by her was all over McClure's magazine. The news spread about the expose of the Standard Oil Company and the audience were convinced to make a change in the ways of John D. Rockefeller, the chairman of Standard Oil(People).
Ida Tarbell in her younger days.