''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

that ran until 2016 and was last published by the

Meredith Corporation Meredith Corporation was an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, that owned newspapers, magazines, television stations, and websites. Its publications had a readership of more than 120 million and paid circulation of more than ...

. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In 1891, it was published in Philadelphia by the Curtis Publishing Company. In 1903, it was the first American magazine to reach one million subscribers. In the late 20th century, the rise of television caused sales of the magazine to decline as the publishing company struggled. On April 24, 2014, Meredith announced it would stop publishing the magazine as a monthly with the July issue, stating it was "transitioning ''Ladies' Home Journal'' to a special interest publication". It became available quarterly on newsstands only, though its website remained in operation. The last issue was published in 2016. ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was one of the Seven Sisters. The name was derived from the Greek myth of the "seven sisters", also known as the

Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an Asterism (astronomy), asterism of an open cluster, open star cluster containing young Stellar classification#Class B, B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Tau ...

Early history

The ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was developed from a double-page supplement in the American newspaper ''Tribune and Farmer'' titled ''Women at Home''. ''Women at Home'' was written by Louisa Knapp Curtis, wife of the paper's publisher, Cyrus H. K. Curtis. After a year, it became an independent publication, with Knapp as editor for the first six years. Its original name was ''The Ladies' Home Journal and Practical Housekeeper'', but Knapp dropped the last three words in 1886.

Edward William Bok

Knapp was succeeded by Edward William Bok as ''LHJ'' editor in late 1889. Knapp remained involved with the magazine's management, and she also wrote a column for each issue. In 1892, ''LHJ'' became the first magazine to refuse patent medicine advertisements. In 1896, Bok became Louisa Knapp's son-in-law when he married her daughter, Mary Louise Curtis. ''LHJ'' reached a subscribed circulation of more than one million copies by 1903, the first American magazine to do so. Bok served until 1919. The features he introduced was the "Ruth Ashmore advice column", written by Isabel Mallon. In the 20th century, the magazine published the work of

muckraker The muckrakers were reform-minded journalists, writers, and photographers in the Progressive Era in the United States (1890s–1920s) who claimed to expose corruption and wrongdoing in established institutions, often through sensationalist publ ...

s and social reformers such as

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860May 21, 1935) was an American Settlement movement, settlement activist, Social reform, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of s ...

. In 1901, it published two articles about the early architectural designs of

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

. The December 1909 issue included a comic strip which was the first appearance of Kewpie, created by Rose O'Neill. Bok introduced business practices of low subscription rates and inclusion of advertising to offset costs. Some argue that women's magazines, like the ''Ladies' Home Journal'', pioneered the strategies
magazine revolution
. Edward Bok authored more than twenty articles opposed to

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

which threatened his "vision of the woman at home, living the simple life". He opposed the concept of women working outside the home, women's clubs, and education for women. He wrote that

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

would lead women to divorce, ill health, and even death. Bok solicited articles against women's rights from former presidents

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...

and Theodore Roosevelt (though Roosevelt would later become a supporter of women's suffrage). Bok viewed suffragists as traitors to their sex, saying that "there is no greater enemy of woman than woman herself."

Later history

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was a venue for the government to place articles intended for homemakers. The annual subscription price paid for the production of the magazine and its mailing. The profits came from heavy advertising, pitched to families with above-average incomes of $1,000 to $3,000 in 1900. In the 1910s, it carried about a third of the advertising in all women's magazines. By 1929, it had nearly twice as much advertising as any other publication except for the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

'', which was also published by the Curtis family. The ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was sold to 2 million subscribers in the mid-1920s, grew a little during the depression years, and surged again during post-World War II. In 1955, each issue sold 4.6 million copies, and there were approximately 11 million readers.

Seven Sisters

The ''Journal'', along with its major rivals, '' Better Homes and Gardens'', ''

Family Circle ''Family Circle'' was an American women's magazine that covered topics such as homemaking, recipes and health. It was published from 1932 until the end of 2019. Originally distributed at supermarkets, it was one of the " Seven Sisters," a grou ...

'', '' Good Housekeeping'', ''

McCall's ''McCall's'' was a monthly United States, American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. The publication ...

'', '' Redbook'' and ''

Woman's Day ''Woman's Day'' is an American women's magazine that covers such topics as homemaking, food, nutrition, physical fitness, physical attractiveness, and fashion. The print edition is one of the Seven Sisters (magazines), Seven Sisters magazines. ...

'', were known as the Seven Sisters, after the

women's colleges Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male s ...

in the Northeast. For decades, the ''Journal'' had the most circulation of the Seven Sisters, but it fell behind ''McCall's'' in 1961. In 1968, its circulation was 6.8 million, compared to ''McCall's'' 8.5 million. That year, Curtis Publishing sold the ''Ladies' Home Journal'' and the magazine '' The American Home'' to Downe Communications for $5.4 million in stock. Between 1969 and 1974, Downe was acquired by Charter Company. In 1982, it sold the magazine to Family Media Inc., publishers of ''Health'' magazine.

Protest

In March 1970, feminists including

Susan Brownmiller Susan Brownmiller (born Susan Warhaftig; February 15, 1935 – May 24, 2025) was an American journalist, author, and feminist activist, best known for her 1975 book '' Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape'', which was selected by The New ...

held an 11-hour sit-in at the ''Ladies' Home Journal''s office, with some of them sitting on the desk of editor John Mack Carter and asking him to resign and be replaced by a woman editor. Carter declined to resign; he was allowed to produce a section of the magazine that August. Other activists continued the protests.

Redesign and circulations

In 1986, the

acquired the magazine from Family Media for $96 million. In 1998, the ''Journal'''s circulation had dropped to 4.5 million. The magazine debuted an extensive visual and editorial redesign in its March 2012 issue. Photographer Brigitte Lacombe was hired to shoot cover photos, with

Kate Winslet Kate Elizabeth Winslet (; born 5 October 1975) is an English actress. Primarily known for her roles as headstrong and complicated women in independent films, particularly period dramas, she has received numerous accolades, including an Ac ...

appearing on the first revamped issue. The ''Journal'' announced that portions of its editorial content would be crowdsourced from readers, who would be fairly compensated for their work. The magazine made the decision to end monthly publication and relaunch it quarterly. At the same time, the headquarters of the magazine moved from New York City to

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

. Meredith offered its subscribers the chance to transfer their subscriptions to Meredith's sister publications. The magazine had a readership of 3.2 million in 2016. Also in 2016, Meredith partnered with Grand Editorial to produce ''Ladies' Home Journal''. Only one issue was created.

Features

The American cooking teacher Sarah Tyson Rorer served as ''LHJ'''s first food editor from 1897 to 1911, when she moved to ''Good Housekeeping''. In 1936, Mary Cookman, wife of ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' editor Joseph Cookman, began working at the ''Ladies' Home Journal''. In time, she was named its Executive Editor, and she remained with ''LHJ'' until 1963. In 1946, the ''Journal'' adopted the slogan "Never underestimate the power of a woman", which it continues to use today. The magazine's trademark feature is "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" In this popular column, each person of a couple in a troubled marriage explains their view of the problem, a marriage counselor explains the solutions offered in counseling, and the outcome is published. It was written for 30 years, starting in 1953, by Dorothy D. MacKaye under the name of Dorothy Cameron Disney. MacKaye co-founded this column with Paul Popenoe, a founding practitioner of marriage counseling in the U.S. The two jointly wrote a book of the same title in 1960. Both the book and the column drew their material from the extensive case files of the American Institute of Family Relations in Los Angeles, California. MacKaye died in 1992 at the age of 88. Subsequent writers for the feature have included

Lois Duncan Lois Duncan Steinmetz (April 28, 1934 – June 15, 2016), known as Lois Duncan, was an American writer, novelist, poet, and journalist. She is best known for her Young adult fiction, young-adult novels, and has been credited by historians as a pi ...

and Margery D. Rosen. The illustrations of William Ladd Taylor were featured between 1895 and 1926; the magazine also sold reproductions of his works in oil and watercolor.

Editors

* Louisa Knapp Curtis (1889–1889) * Edward William Bok (1890–1919) * H. O. Davis (1919–1920) * Barton W. Currie (1920–1928) * Loring A. Schuler (1928–1935) * Bruce Gould and Beatrice Gould (1935–1962) * Curtiss Anderson (1962–1964) * Davis Thomas (1964–1965) * John Mack Carter (1965–1973) * Lenore Hershey (1973–1981) * Myrna Blyth (1981–2002) Part 1 of the article appears at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22386499/genetic_genius_part_1/ . * Diane Salvatore (2002–2008) * Sally Lee (2008–2014)

Other notable staff

* Cynthia May Alden * Mary Bass * Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd *

Kathryn Casey Kathryn Casey is an American writer of mystery novels and non-fiction books. She is best known for writing ''She Wanted It All'', which recounts the case of Celeste Beard, who married an Austin multimillionaire only to convince her lesbian lover ...

* Christine Frederick * Florence Morse Kingsley * Julia Magruder * Isabel Mallon * Helen Reimensnyder Martin * Jane Nickerson * Sylvia Porter * Eben E. Rexford * Gene Shalit * Mark Sullivan * Gladys Taber *

Dorothy Thompson Dorothy Celene Thompson (July 9, 1893 – January 30, 1961) was an American journalist and radio broadcaster. She was the first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany, in 1934, and was one of the few women news commentators broadc ...

Cover gallery

File:LadiesHomeJournal1902-07.jpg, July 1902 cover by George Gibbs File:Ladies home journal 1906 12 a0.jpg, 1906 Christmas cover File:Ladies Home Journal-Vol 30-seq 75.tif, February 1913 cover File:Ladies Home Journal 1900.jpg, March 1915 cover File:Ladies Home Journal March 1922.jpg, March 1922 issue illustrated by N. C. Wyeth

References

External links

*
''Ladies' Home Journal'' official site

Online archive
of the covers of many early issues. . {{Authority control Monthly magazines published in the United States Quarterly magazines published in the United States Defunct women's magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1883 Magazines disestablished in 2016 Meredith Corporation magazines Magazines published in Iowa Magazines published in New York City Mass media in Des Moines, Iowa