Margaret Thomas, First Female Staff Photographer at The Washington Post, Dies at 84
Margaret Thomas, the first female staff photographer at The Washington Post, has died at age 84 at her home in Hume, Virginia. Born in Moose Lake, Minnesota in 1941, she studied photography at Ohio University and earned an MFA in 1965. Less than seven months later, she joined the Post amid post-Civil Rights Act diversification. Initially confined to the darkroom for six months, she was mentored by Tom Kelley and later developed a technique of shooting from a low perspective learned from Margaret Bourke-White. Over 40 years, she covered riots, conflicts, summits, Watergate, and presidential politics, winning the White House News Photographers Association Photographer of the Year in 1987. After retiring, she earned a Ph.D. from UT Austin in 2007, with her archive at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. She married canoeist David Thomas in 1967; he died in 2021.
Key facts
- Margaret Thomas was the first female staff photographer at The Washington Post.
- She died at age 84 at her home in Hume, Virginia.
- Thomas was born in Moose Lake, Minnesota in 1941.
- She studied photography at Ohio University and earned an MFA in 1965.
- She joined the Post less than seven months after graduating.
- She spent her first six months on probation working in the darkroom.
- Thomas was mentored by fellow Minnesotan Tom Kelley.
- She used a low-perspective technique learned from Margaret Bourke-White.
- Thomas photographed riots, international conflicts, global summits, Watergate hearings, and presidential politics.
- She won the White House News Photographers Association Photographer of the Year award in 1987.
- She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007.
- Her archive is held at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.
- She married canoeist David Thomas in 1967; he died in 2021.
Entities
Artists
- Margaret Thomas
- Margaret Bourke-White
- Tom Kelley
- David Thomas
Institutions
- The Washington Post
- Ohio University
- University of Texas at Austin
- Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
- White House News Photographers Association
- Life magazine
- Moser Funeral Home
Locations
- Hume, Virginia
- Blue Ridge Mountains
- Moose Lake, Minnesota
- Potomac River