During the current observance of Journalism Education Week, one of the major pioneers should be remembered and honored for the way she helped alter the face of the field in which she excelled.

She was Ida M. Tarbell (1857-1944), described by many historians as an “investigative journalist par excellence.” Tarbell was the sole woman in Allegheny College’s Class of 1880. Arthur L. Lowrie of the Allegheny Class of 1955 calls her the first great woman journalist and adds: “She set an example that today’s practitioners would do well to emulate. A relentless pursuit of all the facts and fairness in presenting them marked her writing throughout her career. She also refused to exploit her professional accomplishments for monetary gain or celebrity status.”

How rare are such journalists in this celebrity-laden day and age? Tarbell belongs in any hall of fame that might also include the likes of Katharine Graham, Barbara Walters and the indefatigable Nellie Bly.

Tarbell’s most famous work, “The History of the Standard Oil Company,” has been called by some historians “the most important business book ever written.” According to Lowrie of Allegheny College, Tarbell revealed after years of painstaking research the illegal means used by John D. Rockefeller to monopolize the early oil industry. Yet she interspersed in her condemnation of Standard’s illicit practices praise for Rockefeller’s enormous accomplishments in organizing and stabilizing a volatile industry.

Tarbell had many opportunities to capitalize on her reputation as one of the nation’s most respected and courageous journalists. For example, she rejected the pleas of suffragettes to endorse their causes because they contradicted her own feelings about the roles of women. In late 1916, she turned down President Woodrow Wilson’s offer to make her the first woman on the Tariff Commission. The president believed she had written more common sense about the tariff than anyone of any gender. She put off preparing her autobiography until she was 80 years old and, wrote Lowrie, “even then it was a work of such modesty and self-effacement that it added little to her popularity.”

One of the many lasting effects of her investigative journalism included the 1911 U.S. Supreme Court decision to break up the Standard Oil Trust. One hundred years ago, in 1905, the oil trust was running roughshod over many, including local and state governments. Kansas legislators were taking a number of steps to try to cope with the “Standard invasion.” Ida Tarbell paid visits to Kansas to discuss matters with officials, and among her admirers was the Lawrence Daily World, a predecessor of the Journal-World. The World consistently cited and condemned Standard irregularities and crookedness and fully supported efforts to cope with and derail the Rockefeller juggernaut.

Analyst Arthur Lowrie took note of disturbing trends for journalism in our era and offered this evaluation of what has happened following the initial purity of Ida Tarbell’s pioneering efforts. Wrote Lowrie, “Investigative journalism has become the contemporary journalist’s path to fame and fortune and the competition is fierce. Success in uncovering misdeeds by the rich and powerful can mean instant fame, TV talk shows and perhaps a movie. With such rewards, the temptation is great to exaggerate the sin, omit relevant facts and follow only those leads that may confirm an evil deed. Such lapses will go unnoticed by most readers and ignored by those who celebrate scandal and enjoy higher profits.”

That was not the route traveled by the inimitable Ida Tarbell and we should be grateful that many people still strive to match her standards. No Journalism Week should pass without comment on her many accomplishments.