The daughter of J.B. Dignam, a pioneer advertising agent in Chicago, Dorothy Dignam was exposed very early to the field in which she was to make her career. For her father's fashion journal, Dignam's Magazine, Dorothy wrote a children's column, “Cousin Dorothy,” when she was twelve years old.
After working for the Women's Press and the Chicago Herald from 1917 to 1918, she entered the advertising field. During the next ten years, Dignam wrote advertising copy for Vanderhoof and Company, and McJunkin Advertising Company, both Chicago firms. In 1929 she joined the staff of N.W. Ayer in Philadelphia, moving to the firm's New York office in 1939.
Dignam worked in advertising when there were few women in the profession. She was one of the first women to be employed in designing and composing advertising from a woman's point of view to appeal specifically to women. In particular, she worked extensively in areas such as cosmetics, clothing and textiles, and home appliances. In 1927 she went to Europe, visiting the trade fairs and surveying the general household situation and the possible market for American appliances. While in Europe, she was a correspondent for five American trade journals. During the 1930s, when significant numbers of women began to drive, the Ford Motor company hired Dignam to create advertising slanted for women, including preparation of a special driving manual.
In 1939 Harper's published Advertising Careers for Women, which Dorothy Dignam edited in conjunction with Blanche Clair. The book consisted of lectures presented to the Philadelphia Club of Advertising Women. Dignam also wrote the chapter on women's employment in advertising for How to Be a Successful Advertising Woman, a book published in 1948 for the Advertising Women of New York (AWNY). This book was based on lectures delivered as part of a class for prospective members of the profession sponsored by AWNY. In 1949, Dignam collaborated with Mary Lewis on The Marriage of Diamonds and Dolls, a History of Bridal Customs, 1947.
Dorothy Dignam retired in 1962 and died on March 10, 1988 in Houston, Texas.
