The ''Ladies' Magazine'', an early
women's magazine
This is a list of women's magazines from around the world. These are magazines that have been published primarily for a readership of women.
Currently published
*'' 10 Magazine'' (UK - distributed worldwide)
*'' Al Jamila'' (Saudi Arabia)
*''All ...
, was first published in 1828 in
Boston, Massachusetts. Also known as ''Ladies' Magazine and Literary Gazette'' and later as ''American Ladies' Magazine'', it was designed to be American, and named to separate itself from the ''
Lady's Magazine
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''The Lady's Magazine; or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to Their Use and Amuseme ...
'' of London. The magazine was founded by Reverend
John Lauris Blake
John Lauris Blake (December 21, 1788 – July 6, 1857) was an American clergyman and bestselling author. He is best known as the author of the '' General Biographical Dictionary''.
Life
He was born on 21 December 1788 in Northwood, New Hampshire ...
, Congregational minister and headmaster of the Cornhill School for Young Ladies, who desired to set a model for American womanhood.
It is thought to have been the first magazine to be edited by a woman; from 1828 until 1836, its editor was
Sarah Josepha Hale
Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (October 24, 1788April 30, 1879) was an American writer, activist, and editor of ''Godey's Lady's Book''. She was the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Hale famously campaigned for the creation of the ...
. As editor, Hale hoped she could aid in the education of women, as she wrote, "not that they may usurp the situation, or encroach on the prerogatives of man; but that each individual may lend her aid to the intellectual and moral character of those within her sphere".
''Ladies' Magazine'' was acquired by
Louis Antoine Godey
Louis Antoine Godey (June 6, 1804 – November 29, 1878) was an American editor and publisher. He was the founder of ''Godey's Lady's Book'' in 1837, the first successful American women's fashion magazine.
Biography
Godey was born to Louis and Ma ...
in 1836. In 1837 it merged with the ''Lady's Book and Magazine'' published in Philadelphia by Godey and better known by its later name, ''
Godey's Lady's Book
''Godey's Lady's Book'', alternatively known as ''Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book'', was an American women's magazine that was published in Philadelphia from 1830 to 1878. It was the most widely circulated magazine in the period before the Civil ...
''. Hale moved from Boston to Philadelphia to edit the new, combined magazine.
[Entrikin, Isabelle Webb, ''Sarah Josepha Hale and godey's Lady's Book,'' Philadelphia, 1946 ]
References
Further reading
* Mott, Frank Luther. A History of American Magazines. (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1938–68.)
* Price, Kenneth M. and Susan Belasco Smith, eds. Periodical Literature in Nineteenth-century America. (Charlottesville, VA : University Press of Virginia, 1995.)
External links
* Hathi Trust
''Ladies' Magazine'' Boston : Putnam & Hunt, 1828–1829.
19th century in Boston
1820s in the United States
1830s in the United States
Cultural history of Boston
Defunct women's magazines published in the United States
Magazines established in 1828
Magazines disestablished in 1837
Magazines published in Boston
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