item 11 - Marvin S. Traub interview, 1987 January 16

Born on April 14, 1925 in New York City, Marvin S. Traub was a key figure in the retail industry of the mid to late 20th century. He is best known for turning Bloomingdale's Department Store into an upmarket, fashion forward cultural center and taking it from a $65 million dollar business in 1950 to a billion dollar business in 1987. Before starting at Bloomingdale's, Traub graduated from Harvard's undergraduate college and then Harvard Business School. Traub also served in WWII and in 1948 he married his wife, Lee (n

Estelle Ellis was born on November 12, 1919 in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Hunter College in 1940, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a minor in Journalism, Ellis began a career in publishing. Ellis was crucial in the founding of Seventeen magazine in 1943, assisting Helen Valentine with design and advertising for the magazine. In 1958, Ellis founded Business Image, Incorporated, a creative marketing firm that stressed the importance of market and product positioning. Her company worked primarily with Condé Nast publications but other businesses, such as Yves Saint-Laurent Fragrances, Evan-Picone, AT&T, and Scoville, hired Business Image as well.

Beginning in the mid-1960s, Ellis began working with the Fashion Institute of Technology, creating programs and fundraising campaigns to help with financial support. During the 1990s, Ellis focused on writing, co-authoring At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live With and Care for Their Libraries (1995), At Home with Art: How Art Lovers Live With and Care for Their Treasures (1999), and The Booklover's Repair Kit: First Aid for Home Libraries (2000). Estelle Ellis passed away on July 12, 2012.