Josephine M. "Jo" Culbertson (''née'' Murphy; 2 February 1898 – March 23, 1956) was an American

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

player, teacher, theorist and writer. Josephine Murphy was born in

Bayside, New York Bayside is a neighborhood located in the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Queens. It is bounded by Whitestone, Queens, Whitestone to the northwest, the Long Island Sound and Little Neck Bay to the northeast, Douglaston, Queens, ...

(now in Queens), to parents John Edward Murphy and Sarah McCarthy Murphy. She worked as secretary to the

auction bridge Auction bridge was the first form of bridge in which players bid to declare a contract in their chosen trump suit or no trumps. It was first recorded as being played in Bath around 1904. The Bath Club and Portland Club met in 1908 and issued a s ...

authority Wilbur C. Whitehead in the early 1920s and married

Ely Culbertson Elie Almon Culbertson (July 22, 1891 – December 27, 1955), known as Ely Culbertson, was an American contract bridge entrepreneur and personality dominant during the 1930s. He played a major role in the popularization of the new game and was wide ...

in 1923 (divorced 1938). The Culbertsons developed and taught the Approach–Forcing system of bidding at auction and later at contract bridge, and founded ''

The Bridge World ''The Bridge World'' (TBW), the oldest continuously published magazine about contract bridge, was founded in 1929 by Ely Culbertson. It has since been regarded as the game's principal journal, publicizing technical advances in bidding and the pl ...

'' magazine in 1929. Some time later her name was Josephine Murphy Dillon. Culbertson was inducted into the

ACBL Hall of Fame This list is a compilation of contract bridge players, writers, administrators and personalities who have been recognized for their skills, achievements or contributions to the game as identified by various specific sources. People recognized by ...

in 1996.

Bridge accomplishments

Honors

* ACBL Hall of Fame, 1996"Induction by Year"
. ''Hall of Fame''. ACBL. Retrieved 2014-11-16.

Wins

North American Bridge Championships North American Bridge Championships (NABC) are three annual contract bridge, bridge tournaments sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November fo ...

(2) ** Vanderbilt (1) 1930 **

Spingold The Spingold national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Spingold is a knock-out team event that attracts the top contract bridge players in the world. T ...

(1) 1930

Runners-up

von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs The Von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). Usually called simply the "Life Master Pairs" or "LM Pairs", this is a six-ses ...

(1) 1930 **

Whitehead Women's Pairs The Whitehead Women's Pairs bridge championship is held at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championships, North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Whitehead Women's Pairs is a four-session Duplicate br ...

(1) 1930 **

Fall National Open Pairs The National Open Pairs was the first national bridge championship for open pairs and was held at the fall American Contract Bridge League The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) is a governing body for contract bridge in the United States, C ...

(1) 1928 **

(1) 1934 **

Reisinger The Reisinger national bridge championship is held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Reisinger is a board-a-match event. History The event is contested for the Reisinger Trophy ( ...

(1) 1935

References

External links

*
Women Stars
at the

World Bridge Federation The World Bridge Federation (WBF) is the international governing body of contract bridge. The WBF is responsible for world championship competitions, most of which are conducted at a few multi-event meets on a four-year cycle. The most prestigio ...

– with biographies
Culbertson

WorldCat search: Culbertson, Josephine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Culbertson, Josephine 1898 births 1956 deaths American contract bridge players American contract bridge writers Writers from New York City