''McClure's'' or ''McClure's Magazine'' (1893–1929) was an American illustrated monthly periodical popular at the turn of the 20th century. The magazine is credited with having started the tradition of

muckraking 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 ...

journalism ( investigative, watchdog, or reform journalism), and helped direct the moral compass of the day. The publishing company briefly got into the film business with McClure Pictures.

History

Founded by S. S. McClure (1857–1949) and

John Sanborn Phillips John Sanborn Phillips (1861–1949) attended Knox College in Illinois, where he worked on the student newspaper and met S. S. McClure. After earning an associate's degree, he entered Harvard College as a junior, and graduated in 1885, magna cum ...

(1861–1949), who had been classmates at Knox College, in June 1893. Phillips put up the

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

7,300 () needed to launch the magazine. The magazine included both political and literary content, publishing serialized

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s-in-progress, a chapter at a time. In this way, ''McClure's'' published writers including

Willa Cather Willa Sibert Cather (; born Wilella Sibert Cather; December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including ''O Pioneers!'', ''The Song of the Lark (novel), The Song of the Lark'', a ...

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...

, Herminie T. Kavanagh,

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

Jack London John Griffith London (; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors t ...

Lincoln Steffens Joseph Lincoln Steffens (April 6, 1866 – August 9, 1936) was an American investigative journalist and one of the leading muckrakers of the Progressive Era in the early 20th century. He launched a series of articles in '' McClure's'', called " ...

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

, and

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

. At the beginning of the 20th century, its major competitors included ''

Collier's } ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...

'' and 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 ...

''. Examples of its work include

Ida Tarbell Ida Minerva Tarbell (November 5, 1857January 6, 1944) was an American writer, Investigative journalism, investigative journalist, List of biographers, biographer, and lecturer. She was one of the leading muckrakers and reformers of the Progre ...

's series in 1902 exposing the monopoly abuses of

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the List of richest Americans in history, wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest people in modern hist ...

Standard Oil Company Standard Oil Company was a corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founded in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller. The ...

, and

Ray Stannard Baker Ray Stannard Baker (April 17, 1870 – July 12, 1946) (also known by his pen name David Grayson) was an American journalist, historian, biographer, and writer. Biography Baker was born in Lansing, Michigan. After graduating from the Michigan ...

's earlier look at the

United States Steel Corporation The United States Steel Corporation is an American steel company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It maintains production facilities at several additional locations in the U.S. and Central Europe. The company produces and sells steel products, ...

, which focused the public eye on the conduct of corporations. From January 1907 to June 1908, ''McClure's'' published the first detailed history of

Christian Science Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices which are associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes in ...

and the story of its founder,

Mary Baker Eddy Mary Baker Eddy (née Baker; July 16, 1821 – December 3, 1910) was an American religious leader and author, who in 1879 founded The Church of Christ, Scientist, the ''Mother Church'' of the Christian Science movement. She also founded ''The C ...

(1821–1910) in 14 installments. The articles were later published in book form as '' The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science'' (1909). In 1906 three staffers left to form ''

The American Magazine ''The American Magazine'' was a periodical publication founded in June 1906, a continuation of failed publications purchased a few years earlier from publishing mogul Miriam Leslie. It succeeded '' Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly'' (1876–1904) ...

''. Shortly thereafter ''McClure's'' found itself in financial trouble, in part because a publishing plant the company was building for a planned cost of $105,000 () ultimately cost over three times that amount. Advertising revenue had also fallen. By 1911 S.S. McClure had lost control of the company, and was forced to sell the magazine to creditors. In 1916 the magazine published the ''First McClure Automobile Year Book'', with the specifications and pictures of over 100 different major manufacturers of passenger and commercial vehicles. The magazine was re-styled as a women's magazine and ran inconsistently in this format, with publication paused from October 1921 to February 1922, September 1924 to April 1925, and February 1926 to May 1926. Issues from July 1928 were published under the name ''New McClure's Magazine''; the last issue was in March 1929, after which the magazine was taken over by ''

The Smart Set ''The Smart Set'' was an American monthly literary magazine, founded by Colonel William d'Alton Mann and published from March 1900 to June 1930. Its headquarters was in New York City. During its Jazz Age heyday under the editorship of H. L. Men ...

''.

McClure Pictures

Filmography

*''The Seven Deadly Sins'' (1917), a series *''The Fighting Roosevelts'', renamed '' Our Teddy'' after the death of

Teddy Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York politics, including serving as ...

*''Mother''

Writers and editors

Staff

* Witter Bynner *

* Burton J. Hendrick * Will Irwin * S. S. McClure *

* Mark Sullivan *

William Allen White William Allen White (February 10, 1868 – January 29, 1944) was an American newspaper editor, politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement. Between 1896 and his death, White became a spokesman for Middle America (United States), ...

* Marion Hamilton Carter *

* George Kibbe Turner

Other contributors

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

* Stephen Crane *

* Herminie T. Kavanagh *

* Bruno Lessing *

* Georgine Milmine *

Frank Norris Benjamin Franklin Norris Jr. (March 5, 1870 – October 25, 1902) was an American journalist and novelist during the Progressive Era, whose fiction was predominantly in the naturalism (literature), naturalist genre. His notable works include ''M ...

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst (; Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was a British political activist who organised the British suffragette movement and helped women to win in 1918 the women's suffrage, right to vote in United Kingdom of Great Brita ...

* Marjorie Pickthall (1900s–1910s) * Frank Crane (1861–1928), Presbyterian minister, speaker, and columnist *

References

External links

"The Staff Breakup of ''McClure's Magazine''"''McClure's Magazine''
at

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''McClure's Magazine''
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''McClure's Magazine''
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''McClure's Magazine''
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, misc. volumes (scanned books original editions)
''McClure's Magazine''
at The

Modernist Journals Project The Modernist Journals Project (MJP) was created in 1995 at Brown University in order to create a database of digitized periodicals connected with the period loosely associated with modernism. University of Tulsa, The University of Tulsa joined in ...

: 117 cover-to-cover, searchable issues from February 1900 (issue 14.2) through December 1910 (issue 36.2) that include original wrappers, contents pages, and advertising. PDFs of these issues may be downloaded for free from the MJP website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mcclure's Monthly magazines published in the United States Defunct political magazines published in the United States Defunct literary magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1893 Magazines disestablished in 1929 Defunct magazines published in New York City Progressive Era in the United States