{{short description|American lighting expert}} {{Infobox person | name = Myrtle Fahsbender | image = MyrtleFahsbender1928.png | alt = A young white woman with light hair cut in a wavy bob with a sidepart | caption = Myrtle Fahsbender, from the 1928 yearbook of the University of Illinois | birth_name = Myrtle Ernestine Fahsbender | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1907|1|12}} | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2001|5|1|1907|1|12}} | death_place = Freehold Township, New Jersey, U.S. | other_names = | occupation = Lighting expert | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse(s) = | relatives = }}
'''Myrtle Ernestine Fahsbender''' (January 12, 1907 – May 1, 2001) was an American lighting expert. She was director of home lighting at Westinghouse Electric Corporation, where she worked from 1936 until 1970.
==Early life and education== Fahsbender was born in Chicago, the daughter of Ernest Fahsbender and Sophia Carlberg Fahsbender. Her father was a barber, born in Germany, and her mother was born in Sweden. She graduated from the University of Illinois in 1929,<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 28, 1928 |title=Myrtle Fahsbender Heads Commerce Party for Women |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-illini-myrtle-fahsbender-heads/157811647/ |work=The Daily Illini |pages=9 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> with further studies at the Moser Business College in Chicago.<ref name=":0" /> She was a member of Kappa Delta sorority.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 29, 1931 |title=Benefit Chairman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-benefit-chairman/157815337/ |work=Chicago Tribune |pages=53 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
==Career== Fahsbender began her career as a stenographer. By 1942, she was director of home lighting in the lamp division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation in New Jersey.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Massee |first=Kate |date=December 26, 1942 |title=Women in War Work |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-women-in-war-workkate-m/157812636/ |work=Chicago Tribune |pages=9 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She retired from Westinhouse in 1970.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=May 4, 2001 |title=Myrtle Fahsbender of Freehold, 34 years with Westinghouse |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-star-ledger-obituary-for-myrtle-fahs/157815555/ |work=The Star-Ledger |pages=124 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Fahsbender gave talks and wrote articles about residential lighting, often aimed at women decorating or updating homes,<ref>Petty, Margaret Maile. "Threats and Promises: The Marketing and Promotion of Electric Lighting to Women in the United States, 1880s–1960s." ''West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture'' 21, no. 1 (2014): 3-36.</ref> or at professional decorators and landscape designers.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 7, 1955 |title=Woman Lighting Expert to Speak in City Tomorrow |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-times-woman-lighting-expert-to/157815448/ |work=The Daily Times |pages=10 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=November 19, 1961 |title=Myrtle Fahsbender to Discuss Lighting |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sunday-news-myrtle-fahsbender-to-dis/157814506/ |work=The Sunday News |pages=71 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=December 21, 1959 |title=Trim Your Tree the Expert Way to Save Trouble |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-notes-trim-your-tree-the-exper/157830827/ |work=The Daily Notes |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> For example, in 1939, she gave a lectures about the effects of blacklight on patterned fabrics.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 2, 1939 |title=Myrtle Fahsbender Gives Address on 'Black Light' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-myrtle-fahsbender-gives-address/157798667/ |work=The News |pages=52 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=March 1, 1939 |title=Lighting Specialist to Talk at School No. 25 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-call-lighting-specialist-to/157831154/ |work=The Morning Call |pages=8 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> During World War II, she presented ideas for home blackout procedures at the Chicago Lighting Institute, and to audiences of air raid wardens.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=April 23, 1942 |title='Don't Sit in Dark' is Blackout Rule |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chattanooga-daily-times-dont-sit-in-da/157817091/ |work=Chattanooga Daily Times |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Also during the war, she wrote an instructional booklet with photographs, on repairing frayed electrical cords and changing fuses.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McCarroll |first=Marion Clyde |date=May 17, 1943 |title=FIx It This Way |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-waukesha-county-freeman-fix-it-this/157815922/ |work=The Waukesha County Freeman |pages=5 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She studied domestic lighting fashions in six European countries in 1951,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Richards |first=Alice |date=December 3, 1951 |title=U.S. Not Too Bright with Lighting Designs |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-journal-u-s-not-too-bright/157815026/ |work=The Atlanta Journal |pages=23 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and made a national lecture tour in 1956.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=January 15, 1956 |title=Myrtle Fahsbender to Conduct Home Lighting Clinic Wednesday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/abilene-reporter-news-myrtle-fahsbender/157811874/ |work=Abilene Reporter-News |pages=38 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
In 1948, Fahsbender was the first woman elected to a directorship in the Illuminating Engineering Society, and the second woman to be named a fellow of the society.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 14, 1954 |title=Woman is Elevated as Society 'Fellow' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/press-of-atlantic-city-woman-is-elevated/157816913/ |work=Press of Atlantic City |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In 1951, she was the first American woman delegate and presenter at the International Commission on Illumination, a gathering of lighting engineers in Stockholm.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 17, 1957 |title=200 Attend Opening of Home Buyer Series |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sunday-news-200-attend-opening-of-ho/157816346/ |work=The Sunday News |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In 1963, she received the first Salute to Women in Electrical Living award, from the New York chapter of the Electrical Women's Round Table, and the New York State Department of Commerce.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Soloway |first=John |date=June 11, 1963 |title=Jersey Business |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-star-ledger-jersey-businessjohn-sol/157806307/ |work=Star-Ledger |pages=21 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
==Publications== * "Keeping the Blackout Outside Your Home" (1942, pamphlet)<ref name=":1" /> * ''Residential Lighting'' (1947, a textbook)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Walton |first=Clarence |date=September 24, 1947 |title=Book Markers |work=Ledger-Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/ledger-star-book-markersclarence-walton/157806003/ |pages=8 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fahsbender |first=Myrtle |url=https://archive.org/details/residentiallight0000myrt |title=Residential Lighting |date=1947 |publisher=D. Van Nostrand Company |others=Internet Archive}}</ref> * "An Evaluation of Methods and Fixtures Used for Bathroom Mirror Lighting" (1947, with Beryle Priest)<ref>Fahsbender, Myrtle, and Beryle Priest. "An Evaluation of Methods and Fixtures Used for Bathroom Mirror Lighting." ''Illum. Engg'' 42 (1947): 999-1024.</ref> * "Better See-Ability" (1952, booklet)<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 18, 1952 |title=Booklet Guide on Home Light |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-booklet-guide-on-home-light/157831933/ |work=Daily News |pages=67 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> * "'Light' Work for Your Eyes" (1952)<ref>Fahsbender, Myrtle. [https://virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=SPT19521001.1.24&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------- "'Light Work for Your Eyes"] ''Southern Planter'' (October 1952): 24-25; via Virginia Chronicle.</ref> * "The Forecast is a 'Light' Christmas" (1956)<ref>Fahsbender, Myrtle. [https://adamselectric.coop/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/1956_12Dec_AdamsOutletWEB.pdf "The Forecast is for a 'Light' Christmas"] ''Adams Outlet'' 5(10)(December 1956): 4-5.</ref>
==Personal life== Fahsbender was engaged to marry Ernest V. Goller in 1933.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 10, 1933 |title=Myrtle Fahsbender, E. V. Goller, Arrange September Wedding |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-illini-myrtle-fahsbender-e-v/157814734/ |work=The Daily Illini |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She died in 2001, at the age of 94, in Freehold Township, New Jersey.<ref name=":2" />
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fahsbender, Myrtle}} Category:1907 births Category:2001 deaths Category:University of Illinois System alumni Category:Westinghouse Electric Company Category:Lighting designers Category:Lighting engineers Category:Kappa Delta Category:20th-century American engineers Category:20th-century American women engineers Category:21st-century American engineers Category:21st-century American women engineers