A Change of Scenery, but Not of Purpose, on This Column's Long Journey

"Good morning, Government department workers!" That's how the first Federal Diary column began, on Nov. 29, 1932.

"Here we'll meet daily and read the news off the beaten path pertaining to Federal employees," George D. Riley wrote. "And here we'll learn what our neighbors in the other Government departmental buildings are doing."

It's been that way ever since. The Diary appeared on Page 4 of The Washington Post that day. Over the years, the column has appeared throughout the newspaper, from A14 to D21 to F13. Tomorrow, the Diary moves again.

After nearly six years anchoring Page 2 of Metro news, the column will take up residence on Page 4 of the Business section, where it will appear Monday through Friday. The move is part of an effort by Post editors to find space for new features and make it easier for readers to find their way through the newspaper. The Diary is, first and foremost, a workplace column and will make a good fit in Business, which also covers the world of work.

Although the Diary is moving, its focus and content won't change. Federal employees and retirees have been among The Post's most loyal readers through the decades, providing constant support and feedback for the column.

From its start, the Diary sought to be required reading for people interested in the federal community. In the early years, Diary columnists moved easily through government hallways, picking up news and gossip.

"People make news," Riley said in the inaugural column. "The more people the more news. That is The Washington Post's reasoning."

Almost a year after The Post launched the column, it was in court, fighting to keep "The Federal Diary" from being used as the title of a column in another Washington newspaper. Riley had jumped to the competitor, apparently for a pay raise, and had tried to take the column title with him.

Morgan Baker took over the Diary and, in 1933, sponsored the "Federal Diary Popularity Contest." Readers turned in 48,890 ballots, voting "Miss Beulah Myles and Francis O. Panneton the most popular woman and man in Federal service." Their photos ran on Page 1. Myles worked for the Veterans Administration and Panneton in the General Accounting Office. As the most popular feds, they won an all-expenses-paid trip to Chicago to see the Century of Progress Exposition.

In the 1930s, Riley wrote about the Dynamite Bowling League in the Prohibition Bureau, and Baker covered the Leatherneck League of golfers and the Federal Bridge Club, a group of cardplayers who met at a place called the Federal Clubhouse.

But the Diary also has been a serious endeavor, reflecting the tensions between career civil servants and political appointees, reorganizations and the fallout of scandals and blunders.

In the fall of 1939, The Post hired Alfred Friendly to write the column and cover the burgeoning defense mobilization story. (Later, Friendly served as a senior editor in the newsroom and won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage in 1967 of the Six-Day War.)