Edward Robb Ellis

Edward Robb Ellis (February 22, 1911 – September 7, 1998) was a diarist and journalist who worked in New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Chicago, and New York City.

Born in Kewanee, Illinois, Ellis also worked as a newspaper reporter in Chicago and New York City. Ellis began his diary in 1927 as a teenager and wrote for more than 70 years, nearly every day totaling a volume for each year.

He is believed to be the most prolific known diarist in the history of American letters; his diary is estimated to total 22 million words. He was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the world's longest diary, until the journals of Rev. Robert Shields, crammed with minutiae of daily living to the tune of 37.5 million words, were revealed in 1994.

Ellis authored books on the Great Depression and New York City, as well as a study of suicide. According to his book A Diary of the Century, his diaries were bequeathed to the Fales Library at New York University after his death.

Edward Robb Ellis was born in 1911 in Kewanee, Illinois. He began writing his diary in 1927 as part of a bet with two other young men as to who could keep up a journal the longest. He continued writing until his death in 1998.

Determined to be a reporter, Ellis attended the journalism program at the University of Missouri and in 1934 took his first job as a professional reporter for the New Orleans Associated Press office. In this position he covered the events of the Great Depression and the political career of Huey Long. After two years in New Orleans, he moved to Oklahoma City and became a journalist for the Oklahoma City Times covering New Deal offices and programs. As part of this position he reported on the Oklahoma Federal Symphony Orchestra, which was funded by the Works Progress Administration. Through this assignment Eddie met and fell in love with the principal violinist, Leatha Sparlin. They married in 1939 and moved to Peoria, Illinois where he worked for the Journal-Transcript. The couple then moved to Chicago where Eddie worked for the Daily News. Their daughter Sandra Gail Ellis was born on December 28, 1942.

...
Wikipedia