Inga Rundvold papers
Collection
0011-MMC-LAB
Inga Rundvold (1920-2004) was one of Washington's early television personalities with a series of daytime programs in the 1950s and 1960s. She was a columnist for the Washington Times-Herald from 1945 to 1950 before moving to television with a 30-minute daily program called Inga's Angle on WNBW-TV, which later became WRC-TV. As the show's producer and writer, she gradually changed its format, mixing beauty and exercise segments with appearances by political leaders and Hollywood celebrities traveling through the area. Rundvold continued for more than 17 years on local television with similar programs such as Afternoon with Inga and Today with Inga (a companion to NBC’s Today show). She later became a freelance travel reporter. She produced a series of 30-minute foreign travel television programs titled Let's Go Places and wrote travel articles for the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and other newspapers.
The collection spans the years 1942 to 1974 and contains correspondence, newspaper and magazine clippings, photographs, promotional materials, press releases, artifacts, and other items.
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14.25 Linear Feet
1 Items
7 Videocassettes : umatic
The Inga Rundvold Papers spans the years 1942 to 1974 with the bulk of the material from the early 1950s thru to the mid-1960s. The collection includes correspondence, newspaper and magazine clippings, magazines, videotapes, artifacts, photographs, promotional materials, press releases, and other items.
Inga Rundvold (1920-2004) was an American broadcaster largely recognized as the First Lady of Washington, DC, television.
Though born in Nordfjord, Norway, Rundvold grew up in the Washington, DC, area. After graduating from Montgomery Blair High School, Rundvold enrolled in several business courses at George Washington University and later secured a job as a private secretary. But soon, Rundvold pursued a second career as a fashion model.
Originally taking modeling jobs only on her lunch hour, one of Rundvold's early assignments included posing with an exhibition on plastics for the US Department of Commerce. Later, she would move further up the modeling ladder and she would achieve national notice when she was one of three women who modeled the first official uniform for the US WACs.
In 1940, Rundvold joined the Harry Conover Modeling Agency and moved to New York to further pursue her modeling career. She returned to Washington in 1945 and was soon chosen to write a daily fashion column, "Beauty Forever," for the Washington Times-Herald newspaper. Rundvold's photo appeared everyday beside her byline, and as a gimmick for the column, Inga was photographed everyday for five years in a different hat. Rundvold joined WRC-TV (DC's NBC affiliate) in 1950. During her 17 years with the station, she would act as originator, producer, writer, researcher, promoter and host of such programs as "Inga's Angle," "Today with Inga," "Afternoon with Inga" (broadcast from the Sheraton Park Hotel), and "Beauty School." Her telecasts were a mix of fashion and beauty tips combined with cooking segments, exercise segments, and decorating and marriage advice, as well as one-on-one interviews with celebrities and experts in various fields. Over the years Rundvold interviewed such show biz personalities as Bob Hope, Carol Channing, Danny Kaye, Milton Berle and such political figures as the Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.
Along with being omnipresent on the DC airwaves, Rundvold was active throughout her career in community affairs. She chaired the annual Cherry Blossom Festival for several years and worked on behalf of the March of Dimes and other causes. In 1961, Rundvold "lent" her face to the US Information Agency to be used for a character in a cartoon called "Visit to America."
In the late 1960s, Rundvold created, produced and hosted the show "Let's Go Places," which aired over WRC on Sunday mornings. A travelogue series, it featured Inga and her family traveling to such faraway places as the Philippines, Iceland, and Yugoslavia.
Rundvold married prominent DC attorney Lester J. Hook in 1943. He died in 1981. They had one child, a daughter, Ingrid. In 1984, she married John J. Kuhn, who passed away in 1997.
Rundvold died in 2004.
Organized as thirteen series:
The Inga Rundvold Papers was donated to the Library of American Broadcasting, University of Maryland Libraries by Inga Rundvold in several installments beginning in 1996.
Part of the Special Collections and University Archives