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Photograph credit: James E. Purdy; restored by Adam Cuerden
Ida Tarbell (November 5, 1857 – January 6, 1944) was an American writer, journalist, biographer and lecturer. One of the leading muckrakers of the Progressive Era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, she pioneered investigative journalism. Her best-known exposé was of the Standard Oil Company, run at the time by oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller. This inspired other journalists to investigate and write about trusts, large businesses that (in the absence of strong antitrust laws in the 19th century) attempted to gain monopolies in various industries. She also wrote biographies of businessmen Elbert Henry Gary, chairman of U.S. Steel, and Owen D. Young, president of General Electric.