Jane Cunningham Croly (December 19, 1829 – December 23, 1901) was a British-born American author and journalist, better known by her pseudonym, Jennie June. She was a pioneer author and editor of women's columns in leading newspapers and magazines in New York. She founded the

Sorosis Sorosis Club rules in 1869 Sorosis was the first professional women's club in the United States. It was established in March 1868 in New York City. History The club was organized in New York City with 12 members in March 1868, by Jane Cunningham ...

club for women in New York in 1868 and in 1889 expanded it nationwide to the

General Federation of Women's Clubs The General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), founded in 1890 during the Progressive Movement, is a federation of over 3,000 women's clubs in the United States which promote civic improvements through volunteer service. Many of its activities ...

. She also founded the

Woman's Press Club of New York City The Woman's Press Club of New York City (WPCNYC) was an American professional association for women journalists and authors. Located at 126 East 23rd Street, in Manhattan, the organization was founded by Jane Cunningham Croly in Manhattan in Novem ...

Early life

Jane Cunningham was born in England, the daughter of a Unitarian minister, Reverend Joseph Cunningham, and his wife Jane Scott. The family emigrated to the United States when Jane was twelve. The family first lived in Poughkeepsie, New York, and later in

Southbridge, Massachusetts Southbridge is a city in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 17,740 at the 2020 census. Although Southbridge has a city form of government, it is legally known as the Town of Southbridge. History The area was in ...

Professional career

Jane first became interested in journalism while a student; she started by editing the school newspaper. Later, she edited and published the newspaper for her brother's church. By 1855, she had moved to New York to seek journalism work. Some sources say it was there she first used the pseudonym "Jennie June". Other sources say that "Jennie June" was a childhood nickname, given to her by a family friend when Jennie was twelve years old. After unsuccessfully applying to several newspapers, she was hired by ''Noah's Sunday Times'' (often erroneously reported as ''The New York Times''); this was a publication edited by

Mordecai Manuel Noah Mordecai Manuel Noah (July 14, 1785, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – May 22, 1851, New York) was an American sheriff, playwright, diplomat, journalist, and utopian. He was born in a family of Portuguese Sephardic ancestry. He was the most importa ...

. At ''Noah's'', she wrote a regular women's column, focusing on such traditional subjects as fashion, cooking and the arts. She later recalled this time as challenging since few newspapers wanted to hire a woman, and if they did, it was only in the topics of "women's interests". There was great resistance from male editors about hiring a woman to cover news or do serious reporting outside of what was considered women's sphere. As a result of her journalism career, she met her husband, fellow journalist and editor for the New York Herald, David G. Croly. They were married on

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February 14, 1856. They had three daughters, Minnie, Viola and Alice, and one son, Herbert David.

Herbert Croly Herbert David Croly (January 23, 1869 – May 17, 1930) was an intellectual leader of the progressive movement as an editor, political philosopher and a co-founder of the magazine ''The New Republic'' in early twentieth-century America. His pol ...

went on to a career in journalism, becoming editor of '' The New Republic'' magazine. She later told interviewers that thanks to her husband, her career in journalism advanced. He hired her at ''New York World'', and her career progressed from then on. While most women were expected to abandon their career after marrying, Jennie June continued to work, and did so after having children. She was the editor of ''Demorest's Magazine'' from 1860 to 1887. This magazine was devoted to women's fashions, and Jennie became known as an expert in the subject, widely quoted in other publications. She was later the editor of the ''Cycle Magazine'' (which she founded) and also the ''Home-Maker Magazine''. Her columns were often syndicated on women's pages throughout the United States.

Feminist

Croly was a pioneer feminist, dedicated to the betterment of her sex. She called for more efficiency in women's dress and ridiculed bloomers as bizarre. She insisted that women's finest work was to be "the caretakers, the homemakers, the educators of children". Croly sympathized with the women's suffrage movement but was not active in it. She strongly supported equality and equal rights, giving special emphasis to new careers for middle-class women such as secretary, bookkeeper, nursing and department store clerk, in addition to traditional roles of teaching. Schlesinger argues that "Croly's lasting contribution to the progress of American women was her insistence that sex be submerged in competent performance". She told American women that financial independence and economic equality was as or more important than the right to vote. She called the first congresses of women in 1856 and 1869, organized

in 1869; it was an organization that advocated for greater acceptance and more professional opportunities for women. It did not concern itself with politics or women's suffrage. Jennie June told the press that she envisioned the club, (whose name is a Greek botanical term for a kind of tree that yields various kinds of fruits and flowers) as a salon where women could gather and exchange ideas, enjoy literature, and discuss the arts. She later organized its successor, the

) in 1890; she also founded the New York Woman's Press Club in 1889 and became its first president. Early meetings were held in her home.

Final years

In her later years, Jennie June Croly was often referred to in the press as the "Mother of Women's Clubs", a term that was also mentioned when newspapers reported on how she became ill in the summer of 1898. She suffered a serious fall and broke her hip; her close friend Ellen Demorest, for whose fashion magazine she once worked, also became ill around that same time, suffering a stroke. It seems that she never entirely recovered and, in 1900 announced that she was retiring from newspaper and club work. She made a trip back to England, to see the country of her birth after so many years away and, after returning to New York, she died of heart failure, on December 23, 1901, at the age of 72. In 1994, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.National Women's Hall of Fame
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Works

* ''For Better or Worse'' (1875) * ''Jennie Juneiana: Talks on Women's Topics'' (1864) * ''Cookery-Book for Young Housekeepers'' (1866) * ''Knitting and Crochet'' (1885) * ''Thrown on Her Own Resources'' (1891) * ''History of the Woman's-Club Movement in America'' (1898 and 1900)

References

External links

Jane Cunningham Croly
at the General Federation of Women's Clubs * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Croly, Jane Cunningham 1829 births 1901 deaths American magazine editors American women journalists American motivational writers Women motivational writers American feminists English emigrants to the United States 19th-century American women writers Women magazine editors