Gertrude Battles Lane

Gertrude Battles Lane (December 21, 1874—September 25, 1941) was an American editor and was editor-in-chief of the Women's Home Companion from 1912 until 1941. According to the New York Times obituary, she was known as "the dean of magazine editors in this country". In her youth, she had moved to Boston, and was employed as a stenographer while she was also assisting with editing at The Boston Beacon, which was a small magazine. offered Lane a job as household editor at the magazine. The Bureau had offered advice to mothers on how to better their child's health. Lane was supportive of this movement, being concerned both for the health of children and also for eugenics reasons. The movement for better babies contests also had background in the eugenics movements of the time. In 1929, Lane was making an annual salary of $52,000.

In 1932, the Women's Home Companion published an editorial in favor of repealing the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Lane had felt the change to public opinion was obvious to take that step.

In 1939, Lane's salary was revealed to have been $52,000 a year, which few women at the time would have made.

Political activities Lane served in Hoover's U.S. Food Administration during the First World War, and this was the beginning of their political association. Lane was involved with Hoover's 1920 campaign to become president. Lane was a member of the Women's Republican Club in New York City in 1928 and had been the first to pledge to register one woman voter for his presidential election. During the Hoover Administration, Lane was a member of the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection, and a member of the White House Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership.