Nellie Bly circa 1890

Nellie Bly was the pseudonym (pen name) of Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman (1867-1922)

She began investigative journalism at age 23.  She is considered to be the first Investigative Journalist.

She wrote about the plight of working girls in factories, the everyday lives of Mexican people, the life in New York's mental institutions where she went undercover to expose the corruption and mistreatment of the inmates.

She went undercover to expose the abuse of the mentally ill by pretending to be insane

In 1889, she set a record for traveling around the world in 72 days, alone using trains, steamships, rickshaws, horses and donkeys

 eBook Cross-Link: Investigative Journalists and Whistleblowers

 Biography

Nellie Bly from PBS American Experience

Nellie Bly from the National Women's History Museum's Young and Brave: Girls Changing History

• This short and simple biography of Elizabeth Cochrane gives students an understandable text that incorporates different self portraits of Elizabeth's life and accomplishments.

Obituary: Nellie Bly, Journalist, Dies of Pneumonia, The New York Times (January 28, 1922)

Nellie Bly's 151st Birthday Google Doodle (May 5, 2015)

 Multimedia Resources

Nellie Bly Makes the News:  An Animated Documentary about the Investigative Journalism Pioneer Who Paved the Way for Women in Media

Nellie Bly Documentary
This video portrays a biography of Elizabeth Cochrane through a voice speaking about her life as well as showing different newspapers and photos.

Blackwell's Island Insane Asylum, 1893

Illustration from the book, 1887

 Primary Sources

Ten Days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly

Ten Days in a MadHouse Movie Trailer (2016)


Undercover Reporting: Nellie Bly of the New York World


Nellie Bly 1887: Exposing the Treatment of Those with Mental Illness

eBook  Around the World in Seventy-Two Days

Around the World in 72 Days--And She Forgot the Camera from the Women Traveling Together website.

How 1880s Technology Made it Possible for Two Women to Travel Around the World in Under 80 Days. Business Insider (October 7, 2023).

American journalist Elizabeth Bisland during her Around the World race against Nellie Bly

•  The story of Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's race around the world.