Jane Grant (May 29, 1892 – March 16, 1972) was a New York City journalist who co-founded The New Yorker with her first husband, Harold Ross.

Life and career

Jane Grant was born Jeanette Cole Grant in Joplin, Missouri, and grew up and went to school in Girard, Kansas. Grant originally trained to be a vocalist. She came to New York City at 16 to pursue singing, but fell into journalism when she joined the staff of The New York Times in the society department. She soon worked her way into the city room as a reporter and became close friends with the critic Alexander Woollcott. As a journalist for the Times (its first full-fledged woman reporter), she covered women's issues, questioning public figures about their views on the status of women and interviewing women who worked in traditionally male professions. She wrote for the Times for 15 years.

During World War I Grant, who was also a talented singer and dancer, talked her way onto a troopship to France by joining the entertainment with the YMCA. She joined the American Red Cross and entertained soldiers during shows in Paris and at camps. In France, Woollcott introduced her to the future "Vicious Circle" members, including Harold Ross. Grant and Ross married in 1920. The "Vicious Circle" later became the Algonquin Round Table. She returned to the Times after the war.