Old Homes, In a City of Perpetual Change

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The President and Fellows of Harvard College

"Old Homes, in a City of Perpetual Change": Women's Magazines, 1890-1916Author(s): Mary Ellen Waller-ZuckermanSource: The Business History Review, Vol. 63, No. 4 (Winter, 1989), pp. 715-756Published by: The President and Fellows of Harvard College

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MaryEllenWaller-Zuckerman

"Old Homes, in a City of PerpetualChange":Women'sMagazines,1890-1916

Althoughthe growthof inexpensive,widelydistributedmaga-zines that beganin the United States n the 1890s has been

noted, the roleplayedbymagazines irectedspecificallyowardfemalereadershas received ittle scholarlyattention.The fol-

lowing articleexaminescontents, personnel,and readershipand advertising,pricing, production,and distribution ech-

niques to demonstratethat the women's magazineswere

pioneersin many of these areas.

W Jhen journalist Charles Hanson Towne referred n 1926 to mass-

circulation women's magazines as "old homes, in a city of per-

petual change," his description resonated on both an objective and

apsychological

level. Born in the last decades of the nineteenth cen-

tury, by the 1920s these journals had proved their ability to endure

and innovate in an industry characterizedby rapid change. And because

the magazines had developed a close relationship with their audience,

many readersinvested them with the characteristicsof an old home:

familiarity, trustworthiness, security.Yet traditional accounts of the birth of mass-magazine publish-

ing have often overlooked the importance of the women's magazines.Historians have typically pointed to 1893 as the beginning of a "maga-

zine revolution," the startof a new eraof low-price, high-volume maga-zines subsidized by advertising revenues. In that year entrepreneurial

publisher S. S. McClure founded McClurs, chargingonly fifteen cents

an issue. In response, John BrisbenWalkercut the price of his general-

MARY ELLEN WALLER-ZUCKERMAN s visiting professorof marketingat McGill

University and associate professorof marketing at SUNY-Geneseo.This articleis part of a largerwork on the history of women's magazinesin the United

States. I amgrateful

to StevenTolliday

for his useful comments on an earlierdraftof this

manuscript.

I Charles Hanson Towne, Adventuresn Editing (New York, 1926), 190.

BusinessHirtoy Reiew 63 (Winter 1989): 715-756. ? 1989 by The President and Fel-

lows of Harvard College.








Mary Ellen Waller-Zuckerman716

interestmonthly Cosmopolitanrom twenty-fiveto twelve and one-half cents.CompetitorFrankMunseydroppedMunsey'so ten cents.

Thesepricedecreasesyieldedcorrespondingncreasesn circulation;Munsey's,orexample,rose from40,000 to 200,000 readersn ayear,reaching500,000 by 1895.2 This shift of the magazine ndustryawayfrom the older,qualityjournalssuch asHarper's,Atlantic,and Cen-

tury,which cost between twenty-fiveand thirty-fivecents an issue,to the inexpensive,generalmass-marketmagazineshas been seen asa watershed.

Lost in thisdescriptionare he roleplayedbywomen'smagazinesin pointingthe wayto this transformationndthe subsequent eader-

shipof women'smagazines n many aspectsof magazinepublishing.The groundwork or the magazineboom of the 1890s had been laid

by women's magazines n the previoustwo decades; hey prefiguredthe magazinerevolutionin price, promotional techniques,and cir-culation.3Pricesof women'smagazineshadlong beenrelativelyow,between fiveand fifteen cents. Advertisers ad sought theirpagesas

earlyas the 1870sand 1880s.These ournals njoyedcirculationshigherthan Munsey'sand the other general-interestmagazines.For exam-

ple,in 1891,Ladies'HomeJournalad a circulation f 600,000, Deline-ator393,000, and Woman'sHomeCompanionmore than 125,000.

Munsey's,requentlycited asevidenceof the "magazinerevolution,"had only 35,000 readers,and McClures did not yet exist. SaturdayEveningPost,one of the largestcirculators f the twentieth century,had not yet beenpurchased ythe CurtisCompanyand waslanguish-ing. EvenHarper's,one of the most successfulof the older, estab-lished journals,had a circulationof only 175,000 in 1891.4

Clearly,women'smagazineshad achievedlargecirculations arlier

thanothermass-marketournalsandhad moved into agrowthperiodby the 1890s.5Changespointed to as revolutionaryn the magazineindustryasa whole already xistedat a numberof women'sjournals,whereastutepublisherswere fastbuildingon establishedmarketingtechniques.No other group of magazines ncreasedas consistently

2 See Theodore Peterson, Magazinesin the TwentiethCentuy (Urbana, Ill., 1964), 13,14; and JamesWood, Magazinesin the UnitedStates(New York, 1949).

3 Foragreement

see RichardOhmann,

"Where Did Mass Culture Come From? TheCase of Magazines," BerkshireReview16 (1981): 87, 88, 99.

4 Figureson magazinecirculation from N. W. Ayer,Ayer'sDirectoryPhiladelphia,Pa.),1981; and Peterson, Magazines, 60.

5 For more on this argument, see MaryEllen Waller(Zuckerman),"Development andInfluence of Popular Women's Magazines, 1890-1917" (Ph.D. diss., Columbia Univer-

sity, 1987).








Women'sMagazines/ 717

Table1

CirculationGrowthof the

BigSix Women's

Journals1895 1910 PercentGmwth

Ladies'HomeJournal 715,000 1,253,000 75%

McCall's 100,000 1,012,000 912

Delineator 550,000 763,000 39

Woman'sHomeCompanion 176,100 688,000 291

PictorialReview

(started 1899)364,777

GoodHousekeeping 55,000 237,167 331

Sources:1895 figures,Lord& Thomas,America'sMagazines;1910figures,N. W. Ayer,Ayer's

Dimrcty.

in both circulationand advertisingrevenues(see Table1). Favoredwith expanding udiences ndgrowingadvertisingevenues,publishersof women'smagazinesheldpowerfulpositions n the magazinendus-

try at the turn of the century,ahead of manygeneral-interestour-nals n the mass-marketmagazine ace.Thisearly tartassuredwomen's

magazinepublishersa lead in marketingtheir journalsin the firstdecadesof the twentieth century.

The lackof attention to the earlyactivitiesof the publishersofwomen'sjournalshas obscuredtheirpioneeringrolein areas uch as

promotion, product development,and attentionto customers.Outof theirinfancyby the 1890s, publishingcompaniessuch asCrowell,Curtis, Butterick,and McCallhadalreadymastered he manufactur-

ing and distribution techniques of mass circulation and wereexperimentingwith variousmarketingstrategies.For these compa-nies, sophisticatedpromotion andproductdifferentiationactics,aswell ascultivationof customers,offeredthe best wayto gaina com-

petitive edge.6The years1890-1916 provedcrucialfor competitorswithin the

women'smagazine ield as well asforthe general-interestublications;women's magazinesstartedafter the turn of the centurystood at adistinct

disadvantageo the earlierentrants. The

topten women's

magazinecirculators rom 1910 to 1960 had a mean founding date

6 For an analysisof tactics used by other industries of this period, see Alfred D. Chan-

dler, Jr., "The Beginnings of'Big Business' in American Industry,"BusinessHistoryReview23 (Spring 1959): 1-31.








Mary Ellen Waller-Zuckeman 718

of 1896. By 1915,80 percentof the women'sjournalsheadingcircu-lationliststhroughoutthe centuryhadcome into existence.7Progres-

sive Erawinnerssuch as Ladies'HomeJournal,Woman'sHomeCom-panion,andMcCall'sremainedgiants throughoutthe firsthalf of thetwentieth century,attestingto the importanceof their earlyroots.Historiansseekingexplanations oncerning he developmentof massmediatargetedat women need to begin their search n these years.

Those interested n advertising imed at women alsoshouldlookat the normsset between 1890 and 1916.A mutuallydependentandbeneficial ssociation roseduring heseyearsbetweenwomen'smaga-zines and the advertising ndustry.Although the balance of powerbetweenadvertisers ndpublishers hiftedover the courseof the cen-

tury, the initialattractionand manyof the patterns or the relation-

ship developedin this earlyperiod.8

Origins of Women's Magazines

Womenhave been able to buy magazinesedited especially or themsince the appearance f the Lady'sMagazine n 1792. Earlywomen's

magazinessuch as this one carrieda good deal of fashioninforma-tion, sentimental iction, and articleson etiquette, all targetedat anelite audience. Since these journalscontainedvirtuallyno advertis-

ing, the costsof manufacture nd distributionwerebornebyreaders,and only a few could affordsuch a luxury.The best-knowntitle oftheseearlyyearswasGodey'sady'sBook, journalof fashionand man-

ners,editedbythe indomitableSarah osephaHaleforladiesof leisure.Women'sjournals led the magazine industry in such practicesas

copyrightingmaterial,offeringa generous payscale to contributors,and using artwork.But they suffered rom the same obstaclesthatallmagazinepublishers aced n the earlynineteenthcentury: ackofinterested ndsufficiently ffluent eaders, istributionproblems,delin-

quent subscribers,and inadequatemeans of production.9

7 This measurementis not the number of magazinesfounded by that time; it is rather,a frequencymeasureof how manytimesajournalappeared.Forexample,LadiesHomeJournal,founded in 1883, counted 26 times in the sample of 260, since it was listed among the

top ten circulators n every yearfrom which the datawere collected. These figuresarede-rived from data collected from

Ayer'sDirectry,1910-60.

8 MaryEllenWaller Zuckerman),"SellingMrs.Consumer:The Role of Women'sMaga-zines in the Development of Advertising,"Proceedingsfthe ThirdAnnual Histry ofMar-

ketingConfmnce(April 1987).9 Additional information on the women's magazines in the antebellum period can be

found in John Tebbeland MaryEllen Waller-Zuckerman, TheMagazinein Ameica (NewYork, 1991).









The post-Civil Waryears aw the beginningsof manynew publi-cationsdirectedat women. Theyfell into threecategories:mail-order

journals, ashionsheetspublishedbydresspatternmanufacturers,ndmagazineswhose contents were pastedtogether from clippingscutfrom otherjournalsandnewspapers.10hesenewcomersdifferedsig-nificantly romthe earlierwomen'sjournals uch asGodey's,eterson'sand Graham'sn their sources of financialsupport, size and class of

audience,andtechnological ophistication.Sixof the journals tartedin the last decades of the nineteenth centurybecame leaders n the

magazine ndustry.Knownas the "BigSix," thesemagazines oppedcirculation ists, attracted

advertisingdollars,and werefound in the

homes of thousandsof loyalreaders."l he BigSixwere Ladies'Home

Journal (1883-present), McCall's (1873-present), Delineator

(1873-1939), Woman's omeCompanion1874-1956), PictorialReiew

(1899-1939), and GoodHousekeeping1885-present).All these journalshad benefited from astute, experiencedpub-

lishers.When CyrusCurtis started he Ladies'HomeJournal n 1883in Philadelphiaas a supplement to his Tribune nd Farmer, e had

alreadyworkedfor more than ten years n advertisingand publish-

ing. Woman's omeCompanion,egunin 1874 as TheHome,wavereduntil the Springfield,Ohio, publishingfirm of Mast, Crowelland

Kirkpatrickoughtit in 1883. ThisfinanciallyoundcompanyalreadypublishedFarmandFireside,ndJohnS. Crowellwasan experiencededitor.GoodHousekeepig, tarted n 1885 byClarkBryan n Holyoke,Massachusetts,was one of severalpublications ditedby Bryan.When

Bryancommitted suicide in 1898, GoodHousekeepingeverted o the

PhelpsPublishingCompany,producersof other journals,and thencameto rest in 1911in the skillfulhands of the HearstCorporation.Delineatorounder EbenezerButterickwas publishingseveralotherjournalshatadvertisedpatternsor hiswell-established utterickCom-

panywhen he createdDelineatoror the samepurpose n 1873. Simi-

larly,McCall'smagazine,also started n 1873, was created o adver-tise the wares of entrepreneurial atternmakerJamesMcCall. Thefirmdeclined afterMcCall'sdeath in 1884, but businessmanJames

10For description of the origins and content of these journals, see Mary Ellen Waller

(Zuckerman),"The BusinessSideof MediaDevelopment:Women'sMagazines n the Gilded

Age," in Essaysn Economicnd BusinessHistory, d. Edwin J. Perkins(1989), 7: 40-59; and"Marketing and Women's Journals, 1873-1900," Business nd EconomicHistory,ed. Wil-liam J. Hausman (1989), 18: 99-108.

11Analysis of women's magazines from 1910 to 1960 shows that these six magazinesappearmost frequently in a listing of the top ten women's magazinesduring that fifty-yearperiod. The top ten magazinesfor eachyearwere derived fromAyr's Dimctoy,listingsfrom1910 through 1960; analysiswas done on the top ten listed for alternate, even years.









Ottley took charge n 1893, returning he company(andthe maga-zine)to asoundfinancialfooting.Finally,Pictorial iew,theyoungest

of the majorwomen's journals,was begun in 1899 by still anothersuccessfulpatternmaker,WilliamAhnelt. Ahnelt'sbusiness,andthePictorialReview, rospered,particularly fterArthurVancetook overthe editorialchair of the magazine n 1908.12

Magazines in the ProgressiveEra

The foundersof thesewomen'sjournalsshrewdly ook advantage f

an economicand socialenvironment avorableo thepublishingndus-try.In the decadesfollowingthe CivilWar,advancesn printing ech-

nology and methods of mass production and distributionallowed

entrepreneurial ublishers o print, sell, and distributemagazines nnumberspreviouslyunimagined.Favorablepostalrateswereenacted,andurbanizationand industrializationransformedmarkets, urningnationalmagazinesnto a vitaladvertisingutlet. As Americansgainedmore leisure ime and becamemoreliterate, heyturnedto magazinesforrelaxation ndeducation.Whereas n 1865

only700

publicationsexisted,by 1885 that numberhad more than quadrupled o 3,300;

by 1890 it had risento over4,400. Between 1890 and 1905, circula-tion of monthly periodicalsrose from 18 to 64 million per issue.13

By 1900 there were fifty nationalmagazines,and their numbercontinued to rise n the early wentiethcentury.Fromthe 1890suntilthe UnitedStatesentered he FirstWorldWar n 1917,magazinepub-lishersexpanded heiroperations,buildingon technological nd finan-cial nnovations.Bythe end of the 1910s,mass-circulationmagazines

were aninstitutionin the livesof most Americans.The new nationalmagazinesweregenerally haracterizedbylow price,highcirculation,abundantadvertising,and content appealing o populartastes.14Ineach of these areas,women's journalswere among the leaders.

The low priceof magazines tenor even fivecentsanissue)placedthem within reach of an increasingnumberof Americans,most ofwhom belonged o abroadlydefinedmiddleclass.(Working-classeo-

12

Waller,"Business Side of Media

Development."13Forstatisticson the magazineindustry, see Herbert Casson, "The Wonders of Maga-zine Making," Woman'sHome Companion,Sept. 1904, 8, 9; FrankPresbrey,TheHistoyand DevelopmentfAdvetising (New York, 1929), 488; John Tebbel, The AmericanMaga-zine: A CompactHistory New York, 1969), 124; Peterson, Magazines;and Frank Luther

Mott, A Histry of AmericanMagazines (Cambridge,Mass., 1938), 4: 5.14 For more on these features, see Peterson, Magazines, 13, 14.









pie, both male and female, as well as most immigrantsand blacks

usuallycould not afford he new massmagazines,even at the lower

prices;when such individuals saw the magazines,it was generallythrough "passedalong" copies.)Women'smagazinepublishershadbeenamongthe first o pricetheirwarescheaplyand to targetmiddle-classreaders.

Maazine circulations eachedunprecedentedheightsbythe earlytwentiethcentury. n part,thisgrowthresulted romthe loweredpricesand fromthe massproductionand distributiontechniquesadoptedby the industry.Whereascirculationsof 100,000 and 200,000 hadbeenconsidered

largebefore1890,

bythe turnof the

centurynational

magazineswereattemptingto break he one million mark. It was awomen'smagazine, he Ladies'Home ournal, hat was the firstto do

so, with its February1904 issue.15

Advertisingheld akeyposition in the structureof magazinepub-lishing.Advertising evenuewasnecessaryo keep pricesdown so cir-culationcouldstayup and to paythe growing eesdemandedbycon-tributors.Women'smagazinesattractedlargeamounts of advertisingdollarsbecauseof theirhugecirculations,he attributes f theirreader-

ship (primarilyemales,chargedwith purchasing or the home), andtheir publishers'aggressive fforts to acquireadvertisingaccounts.Ladies'Home ournal,McCalls, WomansHomeCompanion,ndDeline-atorallappearedn a listingof top advertisingmediapublishedat theturn of the century.16

Finally, editors popularized the contents of their magazines,broadeningand improvingthe editorialpages, makingtheir entire

productmore diverse.Such expansionreflectedan awareness f theinterests f the magazines'middle-classudienceas well asthe predilec-tions of the editors.The newlyavailableadvertisingdollarswereusedto attracttalentedcontributors.None expandedand improvedthecontents of theirpublicationsmoresuccessfullyandenduringly hanthe editorsof the women's journals.17

Ladies'HomeJournalpublisherCyrusCurtisand editor EdwardBok were the firstto combine all these elements. Curtisdevelopeda magazineof wide circulation, ow price,nationaldistribution,and

high-volumeadvertising.By 1900, Ladies'Home ournalneareda mil-lion in circulation,a

readershipargerhan that claimed

by anyother

15 This excludes mail-orderjournals such as Comfort,often not considered magazinesbut advertisingsheets, distributed at low or no cost to readers.

16Presbrey,Histmy,481.

17 For discussion of the attributes and philosophies of the editors of women's journalsin this period, see Waller, "Popular Women's Magazines," chap. 2.









Edward Bok ? As the pioneering editor of the Ladies'HomeJournal, Bok expanded the

magazine's ontent, readership, nd advertising. Photographreproduced rom EdwardBok,TheAmericanizationof EdwardBok [New York, 1921], frontispiece.)

magazine.ButtheJournaldid not standalonein its success,anexcep-tional creatureof its editor and publisher.Delineator,McCall's,andWoman'sHomeCompanion ere also firmlyestablishedby 1900, asPictorialReview nd GoodHousekeepingould be by the outbreak ofthe First

World War.Otherkindsof magazineswereavailableo readersduring he yearswhen the newwomen'sjournalsweregaining trength.Qualitymaga-zines such as Scribner's, arper's,AtlanticMonthly,and the Centurypublishedarticlesand fiction of a highliterarytandard ora relativelyelite audience.Mail-order ournalssuch as Comfort, eople's iteraryCompanion,ndVickery'sireside isitorloodedhomes,servingprimar-ily as advertising atalogs.Farmmagazines uch asFarm ournalandFarmandFiresideervedanimportantsegmentof the populationand

wereearlyfavoriteswith advertisers.Religiousmagazines, llustratedweeklies,the earlywomen'sjournalssuch as Godey's ady'sBookandPeterson's,nd the hugely popularrouth'sCompanionll drew reader-

ship. Bythe end of the century, nexpensivegeneral-interestournals(both monthlies likeMunsey's nd McClure's ndweeklies ike Satur-









dayEveningPost,Harper'sWeekly,nd Collier's) ainedaudiences.The women's journals were distinguished from these others

because their publishersand editors employed a combination ofinnovativemarketing actics sooner than the competitors.The suc-cessfulearlyuse of aggressive romotionalploys, low price,targetingof a mass(largelyemale)marketeager or theirproduct,andappreci-ation of advertising evenuemeritsthese individualsand theirpubli-cationsrecognition njournalismhistoryaspioneers.The mail-order

journalsalso used a low-pricestrategy o gain high circulation,and

they werefinancedby advertising evenue.But they failed to securethe

big advertisers,nd most readers

provedunwillingto

paymuch

forthe papers.The qualitymonthlies such asHarper's, cribner's,ndthe Centuryradually cceptedadvertising, ut bythe turn of the cen-

tury theywereexperiencingdifficultiesattractingadvertisers ecausetheir targetedaudience was so small.Moreover, hey maintainedaneditorialaloofness,a distance rom theirreaders,unlike the intimacyestablishedmost successfullyby the women'sjournals.18The generalmassmagazines, uch asMunsey's,McClures,andEverybody's,ainedlargecirculationsater han the women's ournals,wereunableto draw

advertisers s consistently,were less responsive o their readers,andultimatelywere not aslong-lived.Even successfulgeneralweeklies ike

SaturdayEveningPostand Collier'sdid not hit their strideuntil theend of the firstdecade of the twentieth century.

A closer ook at the operationsof the majorwomen'smagazines,the individualswho ranthem, and the peoplewho readthem in the

yearsbetween 1890 and 1916 helps explainthe prosperityof these

journals.

Product: The Magazines

Magazinesunderwentmany changesbetween 1890 and 1916:theyincreasedn size,the qualityof theirprint improvedgreatly,and theircontents becamemore diversified.

Improvementsn technologyandproductionin the printindus-

trywerenecessarypreconditions or the appearance f mass circula-tion magazines.Technological evelopmentsncludeduse of the rotarypress,stereotypeplates,and photoengraving.19 hese advancesgave

'8 Arthur John, TheBest Yearsof the Century:RichardWatsonGilr, Scribner'sMonthlyand CenturyMagazine, 1879-1909 (Urbana, Ill., 1981).

'9 Ohmann, "Mass Culture"; and Peterson, Magazines.








Mary Ellen Waller-Zuckman/ 724

anadvantageo the new publishersaimingforlargeaudiences.Print-

ing innovationsreduced the cost of publishing,and allowedlarger

runsof issues to be printed n a shorteramount of time. Sincemanyprintingexpenseswerefixed,this structureavored he publisherwiththe highest volume circulationover which to spreadthe costs.

Printingshopsbeganusingmass-productionechniques,suchas

assembly ines, conveyorsystems,and timed productionscheduling.Developmentof the rotarypressresulted n productionat ten timesthe ratepreviouslyachievedbythe older flatbedpress.The new pressalsomadereproductionof art worksimplerandcheaper.Previously,

reproductionsadbeen

engraved yhand,an

expensiveprocess.Pho-

toengravingowered he cost.20Bythe endof the centuryamulticolor

rotarypresshad been perfectedby R. H. Hoe, and the CurtisCom-

pany nstalled he firstone in 1908. The perenniallypopularpicturescould now be printedand the magazinesstill sold at a pricewithinreachof largenumbersof consumers.

Although other magazines targetedat the mass market also

employedthese innovativeprocesses o producethe necessary argeruns,threeof the companiespublishingwomen'smagazines ioneered

in this technologicalrevolution,actually nstalling he most modernmachinery n their own printing plants (facilitiesnot alwaysowned

bythe generalmass-marketmagazines).Curtis, Crowell,and Butter-ickallpurchased he latesttechnologyandalsoexpanded heirprint-ing plants to keep up with demand for their products.

The CurtisCompanybuiltanewprintingplant n 1895in responseto high subscriptionrequests orLadies'HomeJournal.21After Curtis

acquiredSaturday veningPost n 1897, anotherbuilding,needed tohouseadditionalprintingmachinery,waspurchased y 1900. In 1901,

atrade ournalnoted that the CurtisCompanyowned aprintingplantthat includedforty-ninepressesandtwenty-onebindingandcuttingmachineswith a dailycapacity f 25,000 copies.These machineswerecustom-madefor Curtis.22Ladies'HomeJournalwas the firstmaga-zine to use colorprintingandalso nnovatedn the use of two-, three-,

20 In addition to the new photoengraving process,inexpensiveglazed paperlowered thecost of

makingillustrationsfrom

photographs.See Kathleen

Brady,Ida Trbell: Portrait

ofa Muckrker (New York, 1984), 65.21 See "A Few Things We Have Done," LadiesHomeJournal,Nov. 1908. See alsoSalme

Steinberg, Reformern the MarketplaceBaton Rouge, La., 1979), 12, 17.22 Pfitable Advertising,Dec. 1901. The article noted that the building was "modern

in everyparticular. t is constructed entirelyof iron, steel, and brick, is seven stories high,and provides a space of 1,000 feet on each floor."









11

I(h t RltI, -II, .t !'t ( (0,\i^:,\"O CO", Pt Il:n::DELI.t-1A"

Ladies' Home Journal, 1896 * Begun in 1883, the Journalwas one of the most success-

ful of the "Big Six" women's magazinesat the turn of the century.PublisherCyrusCurtisand his staffworked to make their publication the first to surpassone million in circula-tion. (Curtis Publishing Company, 1896.)









and four-colorprinting.23Another, largerbuilding was begun on

IndependenceSquaren Philadelphian 1909 andcompleted n 1911.

Thus, as Curtispublicationsexpanded,the companyacquiredaddi-tional plantand machinery o keepup with circulationand to offerreaders ttractivemagazinesn a timelyfashion.CyrusCurtis nsistedon keepinghisplantandoffices n Philadelphiao hold downexpenses.In the 1920s,following he leadof others,the CurtisCompanymovedsomeeditorial ndadvertisingffices o New YorkCity,leavingbehindthe printingand distribution facilities.

Similarly,he CrowellCompany,publisher f Woman's omeCom-

panionand Farmand FiresideandeventuallyAmericanMagazineand

Collier's), adalsoenlarged ts plantby the end of the century,mak-

ing room for more editorialpersonnelas well as new printingand

bindingmachinery.Expandingon the originaloffice on WestHighStreet n Springfield,Ohio, the companymadeperiodicadditions rom1880 through 1903. CrowellCompanyalso bought one of the first

high-speed rotarypresses.24The successof Woman'sHomeCompanionropelled hese expan-

sions. A promotionalpamphletpublishedin 1903 noted that new

machineryusing the latesttechnology was necessarybecause of theincrease n the Companion'sirculation rom 75,000 in the 1880s to

450,000.25 Additions to the Crowellpressroom n 1903 were"espe-ciallyconstructed orthe particulareeds of thispublication theCom-

panion], n order o producethe finest results n printing."26By 1900the magazines,previously olded by hand, were pressed nto shapebya machinecapableof processing25,000 magazinesa day.By 1912,the CrowellCompanyhadagainbeenforcedto increase ts spaceandto add printing presses,some for color production.27

Crowellused a sophisticated ilingsystemand the Mergenthalerlinotypemachine o keeptrackof its increasing umberof subscribers.Clerkssystematically ecorded readers'addressesand subscriptionrenewaldates.Insertsbased on this information,calledthe subscrip-tion "flier,"appeared n the magazine.The manufacturingprocesswasalsorationalizedo copewith the increased olume.By1910,work

23 WalterDeane Fuller,TheLif and TimesofCyrusH. K. Curtis,1850-1933, Newcomen

SocietyAddress

(New York, 1948), 20,21. Fuller worked for the Curtis

organizationand

had risen to the position of vice-president by the time of this address.24 Gerald Young, This is Cnrwel-CollierNew York, 1947).25 CrowellPublishingCo., AbouttheCrwell Co. (Springfield,Ohio, 1903), found in Hay-

den CarruthPapers,box 9, Manuscriptsand ArchivesDivision, New YorkPublic Library.26 Ibid.27 Casson, "The Wonders of Magazine Making," 9; and Young, This is Crowell-Collier









was brokendown into nineteen separatedepartments.28The ButterickCompany,whichput out the ButterickTrio Deline-

ator,Desgner,and New Woman) nd printedthe Butterickpatterns,also operateda modem printingpressin its manufacturingdepart-mentin New YorkCity.By 1907,almost wo thousandpeopleworkedin the largefifteen-storybuildinglocated at Springand MacDougalstreets.The basementcontainedan enormous printingplant, usedto produceboth the Butterickmagazinesand the popularButterick

patterns.29These acquisitionsby publishersof majorwomen's magazines

demonstrate hat more efficient and cost-effectiveprint technologywascrucial o the developmentof mass-marketmagazines.Publishers

hadto modernize theirmachinerycontinuouslyin orderto keepupwith the volume of workgeneratedby constantgrowth, much of it

stemming from their women's publications.The content of women'smagazines xpanded sthe industry rew.

Theyoungmagzines of the 1870sand 1880shad beeneclectic,varyingin quality.Earlypublishersocusedon financial urvival,printingany-thing available.By the turn of the century, however,the editorial

materialhad improved.All publishershad to broaden and upgradethe contents of theirmagazinesn order o become and remainmajorcontenders n the fieldof women'sjournals.Suchchangeswerepos-sible orseveraleasons.Theeditorsof thewomen's ournalshaddiverse

interests,as did theirgrowingaudience.By marketing o the homeand familyas well as to women, editorsopened up a widerhorizonof possiblesubjectsfor inclusion. The majorwomen'sjournalswere

alreadywellestablished,and this stabilityallowed hem to experimentand to trydifferent deas. Most important,the abundantadvertisingdollarspouringinto the coffersof the women'sjournalsmadepossi-ble the purchaseof high-qualitystories, articles,and illustrations nevergreateramounts.

Storiesbegan appearingn the women'sjournalsby writerssuchas William Dean Howells, JackLondon, Ida Tarbell,MarkTwain,and SarahOre Jewett.Presidential andidatesWoodrowWilson andTheodore Roosevelt wrote essays.Featuresfocused on subjectsasdiverse sThomasEdison,JaneAddams,and warandweaponry.Otherarticles

spanneda wide

rangeof

topics, offeringuseful

coverageof

politics, lifeoverseas, ocial reformactivities, emalesuffrage, enereal

disease,and women's presence n the workforce and in higheredu-

28 See Crowell, About the CrowellCo., 8.29 W. A. Swanberg, Driser (New York, 1965), 119.









cation. The magazinesalso continued to maintainand improvethe

regularervicedepartments irectedspecificallyt female eaders;everal

calledthemselves"tradejournals."30As they broadened he rangeof topics, editorsalsoattemptedto

differentiate heir journalsfrom the competition by adding more

departments,articles,and editorial olumns.31Some,such asEdwardBokof Ladies'Home ournalor ArthurVanceof Woman's omeCom-

panionandthen Pictrial Review, rojected heirpersonalitieshroughthe pages o tryto distinguish heirmagazinesn readers'minds. Edi-torsfosteredan air of intimacy,makingreaders eel that by purchas-

ing

Ladies'Home ournalor Woman's omeCompanionheywere

privyto exclusive nformation, that they had entered a specialcircle.

Despite theirsimilarities,by 1912 each of the BigSix had a styleand flavorof its own. On a continuum, GoodHousekeepingayat one

end, representinga strong focus on homemakingtopics, with Pic-torialReviewanchoringthe other, embodyingfashion, society, and

sophistication.Next to GoodHousekeepingame Woman's omeCom-

panion,then Ladies'Home ournal,both homey, yet wide-rangingn

content, edited for the sociallyconscious, intelligenthomemaker.

McCall's andDelineatorell nearer o PictorialReview,with McCall'sfavoring ashionsand patternsand Delineator,modern and elegant,printing ashion nformationalongwith a broadspectrumof articles.Ladies'HomeJournalublishedhe mostfiction,reflectingtspopularitywith advertisers,whose dollars could pay for high-pricedstories.Woman'sHome Companionarriednumerous columns devoted toreaders.Household departmentsemphasizing ood preparation ndhealthissuesdominatedGoodHousekeeping.he three formerpatternsheets(Delineatr,McCall's,andPicrialReview)allpublisheda higher

percentageof materialon fashionsandclothingthan the otherjour-nals.The women's magazinescontinued these effortsto distinguishthemselves from one another throughout the 1920s.32

Othermagazinesalsoexpanded heir contents between1890 and1916,but the women'smagazinesdid so while remaining inanciallysound andretaining he loyaltyof their readers.The advertisingdol-

30 In the 1914 Woman'sHomeCompanionurvey,customers voted servicedepartmentsthe most important section of the magazine; see "Survey," 5.

31 Even asproduct

differentiationcontinued,

successfuldepartments

were sometimes

imitated; orexample,Woman's omeCompnioncopiedLadies'Home ournas BabiesBureau.32 These differences were determined by quantitative analysisperformed on the issues

of the Big Six appearing n 1912. See Waller,"Popular Women's Magazines." For discus-sion of the continuation of these similarities nd differencesn the 1920s, see Hazel Stevens,"An Inquiry into the Present Content of Women's Magazines as an Index to Women'sInterests" (M. A. thesis, Columbia University JournalismSchool, 1925).









lars hat the women'sjournalsattractedgaveeditorsthe means to trya varietyof ideas, to develop new departments,and to bid for the

work of the best artistsand writers. For example,CharlesHansonTowne recalled hat while workingat Delineator, e was authorizedto offer a writer$5,000 for a serialbefore she had even written an

outline; n hisprevious xperience n thejournalSmart et,the highestprice he had everpaid was $2,000 for a completed novelette.33

A fewmagzines directedatwomen used a different actic n these

years,achievingdistinctivenessbynarrowingheirsubjectmatter(andaudience)ratherthan by broadening t; such magazines,by defini-

tion, did not becomemass-marketournals.High-quality

ashion our-nals,suchas Vogue1892-present)andHarper's azar(1867-present)markedout a specialaudience. Vogue ublisherConde Nast soughtto attracta specialclass of readers,endeavoringat the same time to

"rigorously. . . exclude all others."34Mail-ordermagazines,marketinga largeassortmentof goods

throughthe postal systemand targeting he home, gainedhuge cir-culations,especiallyn ruralareas.The firstmail-ordermagazines ameout of Augusta,Maine,in the 1870s, publishedbyE. C. Allen. They

competedprimarily n low price,typically tatedasfiftycents ayear;often, however,the publisherdid not collect paymentand did notcare about it. Readerswere needed not for their subscriptionfees,but onlyfortheirnames,to swellthe circulationistshown to potentialadvertisers.Manymass-marketmagazinesalsounderwrote heircosts

throughadvertisingevenue,but the mail-orderournalshad ittleotherreason orexistence.Theyresembledmail-ordercatalogsmorenearlythan magazines,although stories and games appeared n each issueso the journalscould qualifyfor the second-classmailingrate.The

expansionof content and enhancedqualityof the editorialmatterin the women'smagazinesdistinguishedhem fromthesepurelymail-orderjournals.

When the Post Officeinsisted on seeinga list of paidsubscribersformagazinesdesiring he second-class ate n 1907,manymail-order

journalsdied;readers idnot want to payfortheseadvertisingheets.Twothat managed o keepgoingwere Woman'sWorld1901-40) and

33

Towne,Adventuresn

Editing,79.

34 Conde Nast, quoted in Caroline Seebohm, TheMan Who Was Vogue-TheLift andTimesof CondeNast (New York, 1982), 80. For firsthandaccounts about these two jour-nals, see EdnaWoolman Chase and IlkaChase,Always n VopueGardenCity, N.Y., 1954);CarmelSnow with Mary Louise Aswell, The Worldof CarmelSnow(New York, 1962); J.

Henry Harper, TheHouseofHarper(New York, 1912); and Helen Laurensen, Stranger tthe Party (New York, 1972).








Mary Ellen Waller-Zuckermn 730

Comfort1888-1940). Comforturvivedby reducing ts rateto fifteencents ayearand Woman'sWorldbypricingat twenty-fivecentsannu-

ally.Both competedwith the majorwomen'sjournals or readers.35

Publishers, Editors, and Magazine Staff

The expandingwomen'smagazine ndustryofferedattractiveoppor-tunitiesto talented ndividualswith entrepreneurialbilities, reativity,and self-confidence.Technologicaladvanceshad removedthe mostonerous obstacle o creatingamagazine, he start-up xpenseof high-

costprinting.Few trade ecrets xisted,so newcomershadreadyaccessto technologicalprocesses.With printingandmailingcostsrelativelylow andadvertiserslookingforpromotionalvehicles,an enterprisingindividualcould startup a magazinewith little difficulty.(Whetherit succeededor not was moreproblematic;t has been estimated hat

7,500 magazineswere founded between 1885 and 1905, and thatabout halfof them failed.)36Commentingon the mushroominginwomen's magazines,Woman'sHomeCompanionoted in 1904 that"THEWOMAN'SHOMECOMPANIONhasseen morethan

thirtyyearsof this growth-it has seen the field it once occupied alonebecomeovercrowded ithmagazinesmodeledcloselyuponit, in form,in characterand in name."37

Magazine taffsof existing ournalseverywherencreased,asaddi-tional writers, editors, illustrators,and advertisingmanagerswereneeded to producethe enlargedand expandedpublications.By the

early wentiethcenturyan estimated40,000 professionalsworkedon

magazines, nd the industry upportednearly 00,000 employees ver-

all. The typicalwomen'smagazine taffhad amanaging ditor,amake-up editor,anassistantor associate ditor,andeditors orart, fashion,food, home service,and children.38At the CrowellCompany the

35 On developments in the postal service, see Mott, HistoryofAmerian Magazines,4:

20; and Jane Kennedy, "Development of Postal Rates, 1845-1955," Land Economics 3no. 2 (May 1957): 93-112. On mail-orderjournals, see Mott, Histry ofAmericanMaga-zines, 4: 365-67.

36 Mott, Histoy of AmericanMagazines, 4: 11.37 Woman'sHomeCompanion,Oct. 1907, 42. On the ease of startinga woman's maga-

zine,see

Mott,who notes that "Most cities of

anysize had women's

magazinesat some

time or another during this period (1885-1905). Any hustling publisher could start sucha journal 'on a shoestring' "; Histry ofAmercan Magazines,4: 362. Easy credit, readilyavailableand inexpensive editorialmaterial,the use of premiums, and eageradvertisersallmade easy start-up possible.

38 See Casson, "The Wonders of MagazineMaking," 8; and VeraConnolly,Judy Grant:Editor(New York, 1940), 89 for this description.









weeklypayrollamounted to almost $4,000 by 1910. The companywas divided ntosections,withgreaterpecializationequiredo accom-

modatethe growthof the business.Departments xisted or"superin-tendents, accounting,advertising,editorial,circulation,mainpress,power,engraving, omposing, electrotyping, ob press,proofreading,pattern,shipping, olding,stencil,subscription, gents, nstallment."39At the Ladies'HomeJournalBok had an editorialstaff of thirty-fiveworkingforhim, andTheodoreDreiserhadthirty-twopeopleunderhimwhen he editedDelineatorrom 1907 to 1910. The McCallCom-

pany employedseven hundredpeopleby 1913,when publisherJames

Ottleysold the

companyto the

bankingfirm of White, Weld &

Company.40Despite these additions, the staffs failed to keep pace with the

growthof the magazines,and the personnelshortageofferedoppor-tunities oradvancemento enterprisingndividuals. heCrowellCom-

panyprovidesanexampleof suchan environment.At Woman's ome

Companion, oth Hayden Carruthand Gertrude BattlesLane per-formed a wide varietyof editorial,marketing,and executiveduties,

participatingn numerousaspectsof the magazine's roduction.When

Lane oinedCrowelln 1903, the Companionadonlyeightstaffmem-bers. Carruth oined the organizationn 1905, when eachstaffmem-berstill had numerous and diverseresponsibilities.Carruthengagedin a multiplicityof jobs, including editing,writing,promotion, and

distribution.41And Lane moved from her position as editor of thehousehold departmentto managingeditor, to editor-in-chief,and

finallyto vice-presidentof the CrowellCompany.Suchjob diversityand possibilities for advancement attracted ambitious, energeticindividualsand contributed to the growth in scope and qualityof

the magazines.The move to increasethe professional taffformed one part of

the overallrationalizationexperiencedby the BigSixwomen'smaga-zinesin personnel, echnology,manufacturing, istribution, nd com-

missioningof material.42 tandardization nd efficiencyin policiesbecame points of competitive strength. The procedurefor payingauthorsprovidesone example.CurtisandLadies'Home ournalmain-

39Young, This is CellU-Colier, 11.40 See EdwardBok, The Americanization fEdwad Bok(New York, 1921), for staff size

of Ladies'HomeJournal;ee Swanberg,Dniser,forDelineaor;and "JamesOttley," National

Cycpaedia of AmericanBiypthy (New York, 1935), 24: 65, 66, for size of McCall's.41 Carruth, "What's Going On," 28 Feb. 1918, Hayden Carruth Papers, box 10.42 In this, the magazinesfit into the "searchfor order" occurringin American society

at large.See Robert Wiebe, Sewrh or Onrer New York, 1967).









tained a policy of prompt payment:they mailed out a check everyTuesday or all materialacceptedto that point. Carruthat the Com-

panioncited this practice o his editor FrederickCollins, remarking,"I know fromtalkingwith authors and artiststhat the Curtispeo-ple's reputationfor promptness helps them a greatdeal."43

Women'smagazinesprovidedgood job opportunities orfemales,and women entered this areaof journalism n increasingnumbers.These journalsalso provedto be placeswhere women could moveinto top positions.Femaleeditors ncluded GertrudeBattlesLane ofWoman's omeCompanionndKatherineLeckie,MarieMeloney,andHonoreMorrowof Deineator.McCa's had fivefemale ditorsbetween

the death of founderJamesMcCall n 1884 and 1918,with only onemaleeditingfora briefperiod,in 1911-12. Voguead hadonly femaleeditorsfrom its start:JosephineRedding,MarieHarrison,and EdnaWoolmanChase.Otherfemale ditorsof thisperiod ncludedEli7abethJordanofHarper'sBazarandJulietWilburTompkinsof FrankMun-

sey's short-livedwoman'sjournal, ThePuritan(1897-1901).44Of the Big Sixwomen's magazines,all but Ladies'HomeJournal

had shifted at least their editorialand advertisingactivitiesto New

YorkCity by the late 1910s.GoodHousekeepingoved fromHolyoke,Massachusetts,when it waspurchasedbyHearst n 1911. Butterick's

printingand editorialoffices had been in New YorkCity since the1870s. Woman'sHomeCompanionmoved its editorial,art, andeven-

tuallyits advertising ffices there afterthe turn of the century.BothMcCall'sand PictorialReview ad startedand remained n New York

City.45Severalof the women's magazineowners became horizontally

integrated,publishingmore than one magazine.The Curtis,Crowell,

43Hayden Carruthmemo to FrederickCollins, 11 Nov. 1907, Hayden CarruthPapers,

box 10; Carruth had little success on this point, and he complained that, "This is espe-cially to be regrettedwhen in so many ways we come into direct competition with TheCurtisPublishingCo., whose systemof payments s the promptest,surest,and most entirelysatisfactoryof any publishing house on the market." Memo, 26 Dec. 1907, ibid.

44See Chase, Alwaysin Vogue;or descriptions of Jordan, Tompkins, and Wilbur, see"Notes on Some MagazineEditors," TheBookman,Dec. 1900, 357. On women generally,see "The Journalist'sBirthday,"and "Women as Editors,"TheJounualist, 3 (April 1898):9, 10, 121. The only female publisher during this period was Mrs. FrankLeslie, who hadtaken over on her husband's death.

45 These moves provedpermanent, as the magazines'mainofficesremained n New York

throughout the century. From 1910 to 1960, 62 percent of the top women's magazineshad main offices in New YorkCity. This proportion increases o 73 percentwhen Philadel-

phia (home of Ladies HomeJournal) s added in. Geographically, t was a highly concen-trated industry. Figuresfrom analysisof top ten circulators, 1910-60, from N. W. Ayer,Dircty.









and Butterick companies followed this strategy, with successfulwomen'smagazinesprovidinga baseforexpansion.Severalpublishers

broughtout foreigneditions.46Production,promotion, solicitationof advertising,andprocessingof articlesallbenefitedfrom the econ-omies of scale that these publishersachieved. Publishersdiversified

by addingsubscriptionagenciesandshoppingservices o the patternsalesalreadyoffered.Ladies'HomeJournaland Woman'sHomeCom-

panionboth sold reprintsof theirpopularcovers.47Curtis ntegratedvertically,buying papermills andforests,and continuedthis strategythroughout the twentieth century.The McCallCompany boughtadditionalmachineryandbeganprintingotherpublishers'magazinesas well as its own.

By the outbreakof the FirstWorldWar, he women's magazineindustryhadbecomehighlyconcentrated,a characteristichat inten-sifiedasthe centuryprogressed.Fivepublishers-the Curtis, McCall,Crowell,Butterick,and PictorialReviewcompanies-put out 40 per-cent of the top ten circulatorsbetween 1910 and 1960.48

Pricing StrategiesThe early mass-marketwomen's magazinepublishers employed a

penetrationpricingpolicy in the last decadesof the nineteenth cen-

tury,sellingtheirproductat a low rate o gainsubscribers nd to cap-ture a substantialpartof the market; hey used advertisingdollars oclose the revenuegap.The ten or fifteencents per copy chargedbythe women'sjournals n the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890smarkeda cru-cialchangefrom the twenty-five o thirty-fivecentsbeingchargedby

qualityperiodicals imedat an elitereadership.Withinthe lowerpricerange,women'smagazinepurchasers rovedprice nsensitive, lthoughnot completelyso: GoodHousekeepingad a lower circulationwhen

pricedat $2.00 annually,andMcCall'sachieveda highercirculationwhen pricedat 50 cents. Price differencesn the 1870s and 1880s,

reflectingthe journals'differentoriginsand missions,were evenedout by the turnof the century,when allbut one (McCall's) harged

46 For example, Vogue ad an international edition by the time of the FirstWorldWar,

and Delineatorhad been publishing in Europe since the late nineteenth century.47 See Hayden CarruthMemo, 9 April 1907, Hayden CarruthPapers,on the subjectof reprints.

48The analysiswas performedon dataderived rom N. W. Ayer,Dinretoy; he exactfigureis 40.4. GoodHoukeepng changed publishers o it does not appearas frequently.This maga-zine industrycharacteristics given specal note in "Circulation:9,496,841," F,unm, Aug.1937, 63-69ff.









$1.00 for twelve issues.Confidentof the establishednature of their

product,publishersof women's magazinesraised heirpricesgradu-

ally n the early1900s,careful ot to move out of anacceptableange.49Readersdeveloped oyalty o particularournals,whichtheycontinuedto buy despitesmallpriceincreases. The cheapermail-ordermaga-zines, with their minimal editorial copy, never engenderedsuch

emotions).Ladies'HomeJournaland Woman'sHomeCompanion ad both

startedout cheaplyin the 1880s, chargingreadersfifty cents annu-

ally.In the 1890s, as they improvededitorialqualityand developedcustomerloyalty,both raised heirprices o $1.00 peryear, irmlydis-

tancingthemselvesfrom the taint of the mail-order ournals.Boththe Journaland the Companionxperienced dips in subscriptionsimmediatelyafter he 1890spricehikes,but theseproved emporary.Delineator nd PictorialReview ad been pricedat $1.00 a yearfromtheir beginnings.50

GoodHousekeeping,oundedin 1885, initiallycarried he relativelyhighpriceof $2.50 peryear, ustifying he expensewith semimonthlypublication.However,thispricemade GoodHousekeepingnly slightlyless

expensive han the matriarch,Godey's,t $3.00 peryearand$1.50morethanthe other new women's ournals.GoodHousekeepingoweredits price n the 1890s to $2.00 and switchedto monthly publication.At the turn of the centurythe price dropped again,to $1.00. In a

competitivemove GoodHousekeepingaised ts priceto $1.50 in 1905,

shortly afterLadies'HomeJournal ncreased ts single-copypricetofifteencents, which the CurtisCompanyfelt it could risk since the

Journalhad passedthe million markin circulation n 1904. Curtisheld its annualpriceat $1.00 for severalmonths, then raised t to

$1.50 as well.McCall'smagazine aggedbehind the other five majorwomen's

journals,with its pricelong remaining ow at fifty cents a yearafter

gradual ncreasesduringthe 1890s, from thirty to forty and finallyto fiftycents ayear.This low priceundoubtedlyhelpedfuel McCall'senormous circulationgrowthin the firstdecadeof the twentieth cen-

tury,when subscriptionsumpedfrom 100,000 in 1899 to one mil-lion in 1908. Unlike the mail-orderournals,however,McCall'scir-

49 See, for example,announcement of priceincrease n Woman'sHomeCompanion, 00th

Anniversary d., Dec. 1908. Forpricesof the variousmagazines ee Mott, History fAmericanMagazines, 4: passim.

50SeeWaller-Zuckerman, Marketing he Women'sJournals"; he general-interestour-nals, such as McClure's,Munsey's,and Cosmopolitan,aised their prices shortly after this;see Tebbel, AmericanMagazine.









culationwasfilly paid.The McCallmanagementworkedhard o raisethe qualityof the editorialmaterial,especiallyafter1893 when James

Ottleytook overandbeganpublishingmorearticles nd fiction.Ottleyalsoimproved he typography, aper tock,andillustrations.51n 1917McCall'sfinally oined its competitorsat ten cents an issue,movingto fifteencents per issue the followingyear($1.00 and $1.50 annu-

ally).LikeWoman's omeCompanionnd Ladies'HomeJournalarlier,McCall'ssawa brieffallingoff of circulationafterthe priceincrease,then salesclimbed again.

Mass-marketwomen's magazinesgenerallydid not compete forreaderson

price,all

stayingwithin close

rangeof one another (see

Table2). Readersrespondedbetterto promotional echniques,attrac-tive content, and editorialappeals.52

Pricesneverrose n proportion o the costsof producing he maga-zines;those expenseswereborneby advertisers.Advertising evenuescontinued to gainin significance or the magazine ndustry,and the

quantityof advertisingncreasedsteadily.By 1904, magazines eaped$30 millionin advertising evenues.53As the typesof productsbeingadvertised hifted from the pervasivepatent medicines of the 1870s

and 1880s to goods logically appealingto women as homemakers(soaps,foods, andclothing),manufacturersurnedtheir attentiontowomen's magazines,which efficientlyreached he desiredcustomer

group.Advertiserswillinglypaidhigh ratesfor spacein the pagesofthese journals.Women'smagazines ook in an estimatedone-thirdof alladvertising ollarsgoingto magazinesbetween1890 and 1916.54

51See "JamesOttley," 64, 65; Mott, Histoy ofAmericanMagazines4: 582; and HarryTipper, H. L. Hollingsworth, G. B. Hotchkiss, and F. A. Parson,Advertisig: Its Principlesand Practices New York, 1915), 283.

52 The relative ack of importance of price competition remaineda characteristic f thewomen's magazine ndustryfor the first halfof the twentieth century.Examinationof pricesin the top ten magazines from 1910 through 1960 revealsa statistically nsignificantrela-

tionship between price and placement in the top ten circulators(R=-.18). Data for justone woman's magazine,Ladies'Home ournal,alsorevealno significantrelationshipbetween

quantityand priceforan even longertime period, 1890-1960; see MaryEllen Waller Zuck-erman), "Content Change in Women's Magazines,"WorkingPaper,Jones School of Busi-

ness, Nov. 1987. Both analysesare based on figures taken from N. W. Ayer, Directry.53For a provocativediscussion of how much advertising evenuessubsidize currentmaga-

zine prices, see Vincent Norris, "Consumer Magazinesand the MythicalAdvertisingSub-

sidy," JournalismQuarterly59 (Summer 1982): 205-11, 239; Vincent Norris, "MadEconomics:An Analysisof an AdlessMagazine,"Journal Communiatin 34 (Winter1984):44-61; and LawrenceSoleyand R Krishnan,"Does AdvertisingSubsidizeConsumerMaga-zine Prices?"JournalofAdvertising 6, no. 2 (1987): 4-9; Casson, "Wonders of MagazineMaking," 9.

54 See Curtis Company, ExpendituresfAdvertisersn LeadingNationaland FarmPublica-tions(Philadelphia, Pa., 1920), for comparativeadvertisingrevenue figures.








Mary Ellen WaUer-Zuckennan736

The journalscame to rely heavilyon advertising evenuesto subsi-dize their production.

In the earlyyears,most of the advertisingprintedin Delineatorand McCall'sheralded heirpublishers' wn products patterns,him-

bles, scissors).Since the editorialcontent was thin and the journalsreally ervedaspromotionalcatalogs or the companies, heyrequiredlittlefinancialsupport romadvertisingevenues.Woman's omeCom-

panionand GoodHousekeepingoth carried mall amountsof advertis-

ing fromtheir inception. CyrusCurtis was the publisherwho most

aggressivelyought out advertisers,however,directingpromotionalmaterialsat them (aswell as at readers),visitingthem personally o

sell Ladies'Home ournalasanadvertisingmedium.He used advertis-

ing revenuesto buy better editorialmaterial or the Journaland to

payforpromotingthe magazines.The other women'sjournals,see-

ing the desire of advertiserso reach female customersand Curtis's

success, soon followed suit.The Journal, the Companion,and other women's magazines

initiated he practice f placingadvertisementsext to related ditorialmaterial.EdwardBok of the Journal s creditedwith being the first

editor to runeditorialmaterialthroughthe advertisements radition-ally segregatedat the back of the magazine.Women'sjournalsalsoled in guaranteeing he productsadvertised, n assistingadvertisersin improving opy,andin extensively dvertisingndpromoting hem-selves.Women'smagazinespublishededitorialsexplaining he pur-pose and value of advertising.The CurtisCompany developedthefirstcode to regulateadvertisingn 1912, and severalof the women's

journalswagedcrusadesagainst alseadvertisingmostnotablyLadies'HomeJournaland Delineator).Magazinepersonnelalso playeda key

role in standardizing he rates set for advertisements.55

Promotion Methods

Women'smagazines mployedavariety f marketingmethods,includ-

ing personalselling, advertising,and salespromotion. Reader-agents(predominantly omen)soldsubscriptions ndwerepaidwith acom-binationof cash andgifts, includingbooks, teaspoons,andpictures.

The magazines anclubs for theiragentsto encourage hem, to instilla sense of independence,and to promote competition. TheJournal

55 See Pfitable Advertising15 June 1898): 50; Steinberg, Refimer; Bok, Americaniza-

tion; and Waller (Zuckerman), "Selling Mrs. Consumer."








Table2

Women's Magazines, 1912

Prices Circulation Format Publi

Cover Annual

Ladies'HomeJournal 15? $1.50 1,538,360 16" x 10/" Curti

Delineator 15 $1.50 930,600 Almost 16" Butte

Woman'sHomeCompanion 15? $1.50 758,155 111" x 54" Crow

McCall's 5? $ .50 1,084,902 11" McC

GoodHousekeeping 15 $1.50 300,000 9?" Amer

Ma(He

Pictrial Review 15? $1.00 616,156 Almost 16" PR C

Sources: irculationiguresromN. W Ayr'sAmericanewspapernnual,1912.Allother nformationrom he

Title








Mary Ellen Waller-Zuckerman 738

ANALYSISOF ADVERTISINGMA'TIF IN 1Q17 }

TheDelineatorTheoman's Maazine he DesignerKnown amon4 .Advertitrs as te Autficrrk Trio

AI15%

E

B7.8%

C[2%

A-THE HOME-ILING FJRNSHIN. ETC- :

I.iIi ;a * F 4 Nna h eA yni *,

I B-KTCrENAND TAB -, .*t-n

aIC--WEARINGAPPARE--as.-* -l? fa p aUg Chase' we. al

, E-TourETr ODS <..O , .b.a

I F-o.x)osr-FOR FARMAND GAR-DEN,

G-M Z2"L *seg-N _, _UCNEOUl _ _ i PL

wC hepn Cawm,* t. + Amone. be eiSA uddi

ei _

Analysis of Advertising, 1917 * As part of their efforts to attract advertisers,women's

magazinescreatedresearchdepartments to collect data on readers,markets,and magazinecontent. Here, the ButterickCompany shows the breakdown of types of products adver-tised in its women's magazines. (Reproducedfrom Mrs. John Doe. A BookWhereinor theFirstTimean Attmpt IsMadetoDeemine Woman'sharen thePurchasing ower ftheNation[New York, 1918].)









hadits "Girl'sClub,"the Companion "Pin Money Club,"andPic-torialPeviwts "Daughtersof the GoldenTreasure."omeagentssold

magazines or severalpublishing companies.The Companionffereda yearof freecopies to readerswho gavesubscriptionsasgifts to twofriends.56To solicit readers, he CurtisCompanyused "boy sales,"who weregiven specialdirections or sellingLadies'HomeJournal owomen. A 1912 Curtis Company manual for such boy agents,optimisticallyitled"How to Sell 100CopiesWeekly," evotedawholesectionto sellingtheJournal.The booklet not only encourageddoor-to-door sales,but also directedboy agentsto approachwomen out

shoppingfor a possiblesale.57The Companionsed a "Pony Man,"who organizedsales teams of young boys in ruralneighborhoods.

All the magazinesran announcementscallingfor reader-agentsandsubscription olicitors,emphasizing he money andotherprizesto beearned; abulous umswerepromisedo bewithineverywoman'sreach. Such advertisementsappearedon the table of contents pagesand scatteredthroughout the magazines.Typicalcopy read, "EarnYourEducation,"and "A Book forEveryGirl."58 ndividualsearn-

ing money thiswaynumbered n the thousands; n 1898 the Agency

Departmentfor Woman'sHomeCompanionounted "several hou-sandagents .. manyof whom areschool-teachers."59hisincludedboth professional ndamateuragents.Ladies'Home ournalreportedhavingabout 30,000 agentsin 1901, and by 1903 Crowell claimedto havethe samenumberaffiliatedwith the Companion'separtmentof Agents, takingin subscriptionsall over the United States.60

In the 1890s,publisherstillreliedon techniques rom earlieryearssuch as subscriptionclubs, discounts, premiums,and reader-agents

56 See ssuesof Woman's omeCompanion,ackpages,1895through1910 orexamplesof thesegiftoffers o reader-agents.ora descriptionf the clubs,see HelenWoodward,TheLadyPersuadersNewYork,1960), 103, 104. Woodward, n advertisingopywriter,worked orboth Woman'someCompanionnd PicorialReviewduring he earlyyearsofthe twentiethcentury,as well as for advertising genciesplacingadvertisementsn thewomen'smagazines. eeHaydenCarruthMemo,8 Nov. 1907,HaydenCarruthPapers,box 9; Woman's omeCompanion,ec. 1910,12.

57 CurtisCompany, Howto Sell100CopiesaWeek" Philadelphia,a.,1912),50-59.Thispamphletdentifiednineparticularypesof customerswho wouldbuytheJournal,aswellaseleven"traps" refusalsypotentialJournalurchasers)nd how to overcomethem.Fordescriptionf Curtis'shandling f theboyagents elling hePost, eeJanCohn,

"The Business Ethic for Boys: TheSatunrayEveningPostand the Post Boys," BusinessHis-toryReview1 (Summer 987):185-215.

58 Woman'sHomeCompanion,an.1912, 83; Ladies'HomeJournal, June1912,1.59 "WhenWeWereYounger," oad ewsCrowell o.employee ublication),an.1926,

15, found in HaydenCarruthPapers,box 9.60 Crowell,About heCrowell o.,26; "A FewThingsWe HaveDone,"Ladies'Home

Journal,Nov. 1908;andSteinberg,Refrmer, 0.








Mary Ellen Waller-Zuckeman / 740

4-For June Only

EVER before have I offered such valuable Pre

scribed, for a single new subscriberto the Jo

afford them permanently; but, for one month, I h

I'renmitmss an inducement for your kindlyaid in se

or friend to become one of our numberbefore July is\Xith your hearty encouragement and co-opera

push the circulation of TIhELADIES'O)IE JOURNAI.

point-a round million copies, if possible, before

determination o accomplishwhat has never before bt

literature in the historyof the world. I offer you th(

can devise, trusting the incentive may be strong enou

mriums, s herein de-

OURNAI.;either can I

iave selected Special

curing )our neighbor

t.

ation, I would like to

o the highest possible

e July ist-and witha

eendone in periodical

e best possible value I

igh to assure a special

effort from every triendof the JntuRNAl.. t is to be hoped, however, that

every reader is sufficiently nterested in the JOURNALtself to lend as much

aid as possible to the advancementof its interests.

Not a dollar of profit do I ask for myself for such new subscribers as

maybe added to our lists during this month,but shall be satisfiedwith what

the future ma) bring to me by the JOURNAISnlarged possibilities. It

should be a matterof pridewithevery readerand friend,that HER JOUINAl.

shall have such a tremendous influenceforgood

andpure

literature,as a

widespreadcirculationof one million copies would give it. It would be

an easy matter to accomplish this end, if each one would only take the

trouble to speak to some one friend about it. A singleword from you will

do more than thousandsof dollars worthof newspaperadvertising.

Shall we have that million?

Sincerely yours,

TheQuest r NewSubscribers? CyrusCurtis, he founder f the Ladies'Homeournal,was hemostaggressivemongwomen'smagazine ublishersn thepursuit f both readersandadvertisers.(ReproducedromLadies'Home ournal, une1891,supplement.)

to increase circulation. After the turn of the century, however, more

sophisticated methods were added to keep old readersand attract newones. Subscription clubs and premiums were dropped or deempha-sized, as publishers endeavored to assurethemselves, their advertisers,and the U.S. Post Office that readers were willing to pay full price.

Increasingly, publishers moved toward employment of professional

4- e'4









"Rossmore" Silver-Plated Teaspoons, Seven-Piece Toilet-SetTablespoons and Forks -

To anyone who will,beforeJulyIst, 1891, end us One Dollar or newYearly Subscriber (not their oftn fnane), we w.ill iJail, postlpaid, Sil,er, wares

E:arHER, ne Dozen Teaspoons; or, a Set of F"ourTables,poons; or, a Set iseun

rhis is the most advantageous offer of Sil,er-plated Warare.ha,e evermade. Ve dopot wish you to understand this to be the finest Sil,er-platedVWaremanufactured; it is nothing of the sort. It is not our best goods, but.at the same time, it is not the cheap, miserable trash so often offered in "gift T

oaely one who will, before July st, 1891, send us One Dollar for a new

enterprises." It isof steel, plated irst with nickel and then with ilver, and .,ill Yearly Subscriber (not their own name), we will mail, postpaid, a Linen Toilet-wear well and for a long tinle. No housekeeper can afford to be w-ithout set 'et of Seven Pieces, ,hich will amply repay the slight effort expended in securingof Silver-p}ated Table-ware, if only for company use, and, at this time of the year 'he new name. Two mats, 9x14 and 7x[2 inches, respectively; on, pair,and during the berry and ice-crea.mseasons, those .ho are already sup,plied ,ill 8,1 xqY2 incles; anotherpair, 7)// inchessquare. Monie cloth, damask bOTder

ft,orp_tty_ai_d Bureau-Scarf and W ashstand CoverGold Thimble No. o10

fnToan e ne iho -ill, before July ist. 1891, asendus One Dollar ora neC learlo xCbuc-ixennot vetheir ob n name), we will mail, postpaid, a (;G,ld ti S EThimble, i tarat fine. It is not solid gold. Noticethe cu representing rhethimble ut in half. It isf tedmuch thicker where the wear comeis. TIhe dark line

running around the edge of the fig-e, bet,,een the-AAPhitesld,, reeseqntr thel stloiffening et eenc toerandgifts o enourageeaderstosignupe frie s andashand n oosuer Any of theselyersf solid gold, one beingon the

oill, beforeJuly st, 8, sendusOneDollarforanewYearlyof the wIhible rhisorm f Thimbles very nuh moredrable than hebest Subscribernottheirwnn name),e willmail senda centsadditionalo prepayof those adeof solidgold,and s erymuch heaper. In ordering,tate the postage) airof utcher-inenScarfs, 0 inches nd50 inchesong, ithknotsize 0of TIhi desireu. ted fringe, stamped ready for embroidering. The cheapest linens we have ever

Price ngTilob, 55 "elat-. -t1paid secllred. I'he lowest offer we have ever made. If you select them don't forget

amida c. y lcnts, po-,tpaid. _^In ordering, pecifyNumber 0. Price, 50-inch,35 cents; 70-inch,55

Factory Ends of Embroidery Silk , ,To any one who will, before July ,st, i891, send us One Dollar for a new Collar-Box, Cuff-Box and Glove-Box

Yearly Subscriber (not their own name), wewill mail a package of this, so-calledSET OF THREE PIECES\Voaste," EtmpbroiderySilk-various

shades, odd lengths, 5assorted sizes-all

'I'hSvcoi' e to sdirectl?fonm,the.winding-|Weall alfurnisha neael-licdMroc;l,t the srilhmills, aved ,y send them

POF~Tout just as receiver; icot simpling(ren orft*moll'flBIshades of red, gireen,blue aoidyellowi,butgooddesirabeshades-olives,delicate

Fhactorn~E,'? pinks,tc.,oglr brodralphaardroieSilke ".T'1'~~ ~ ~ ~ f20clr. IhvaeIaeu,o h anyywoneo .ill,

1efore Julytst,89, send s Oneollar for aewe

pieces left at the ens of te hanks of silk YearlySubscriber(not theirown name),e willorard by ail (ten cendFs extraS

sentto~Threoeninro mdifentszs, andot long inmaeaflskin Nopltbei earlyste sent (s to prepay the postage) the set eshoai, including a Collar-boo,

regurtheetWitheah goods wend iut ostroldatalosso theanufadtinueh aingthff-box andlove-bof .e he latter snd inches long, e incheslwidet the5r enslk mea ilens, and would be an onmt to a lay' dressing-table. We sendthbuyingo hem in large rcantitieswe get the beriefit. Collar and Cuff Boxes are of proporti.nate sies. All the pieces are handsomely

I'hesortment of silks ides regular Ebroider, Wah-flo R,e Silk,ebossea in ertistic imitation of antique leathe-a most acceptable present

".. o^ n h 11, ..i,To ny one whowill, before Julyst, 1891,end usOne Dollar for a ne Yearl

Subscriber (not their ofwn name), we will fil, ostraid, a Box of eirst-qralit

'I'heBox s of Jap,annedT^lrin.'I'ese f ntheds trraeed ins oix

tinge he pstap n ga ri nColo,the bottom of the Box itself t h epermits eof the Box eneing A

veniently ised as a illalette. To any oneho ,ill, beforepely 1st, 8, send us One Dollar for a neiThree god Brushes, of lirent sizes, and ele Color in tin tras, colete early Subscriber (not theirn name), we ill mail, postpaid, this Button-hook,

Fnal^~~~out in a Satin-lined Case. Price,penchts, postaider.

A Pair of Pillow Shams A SATIN -LINBTo any one who will, 'I`o any oneho ,ill, before July ist, i89i, send

before Julyidst, i8.g, send xus One Dollar for a new J us One Dollar for aem Yearly Subscriber (not theirtp, One Dollar for a ne. o,,n name), weill give as a Prenium one of our

their own nahe), ,e vill postage and packiig.send, postpaid, a pair of ahy Hanwil l , combioess thbedst felatrePllotShamse S e. W i tnch of a Hammock ashd of a Sting. As we send it out

colo wideh mndle of tHints. it is compsleteand in per.ect readiness for hanging up.

ready for embroidering. Boxeseftis ae ho,ra epresent aicked in a verysmall and conipact bundle, and isone of the 4welve ,pairs n oulrassortment. to'lieyre all desirable, and Wegiiaran- just the thing in which to spend a hot suimer's after-

Price, 40 cents per pair, p,ostpaido Price,50cents. Postage andiacking, ocents extra.

Premiumsfir Pzaden Birging New Subscriben All the women's magazinesused prize

LHo premiums was available to a reader who "will, before July Ist, send us One Doffar

for a new Yearly Subscriber (not their own name)." (Reproduced from Ladiesr Howou-ea

nal,une891,upplement,.3.)









subscriptionagents. Sales teamsplannedstrategy,mappedout sec-tions of townsforsolicitations,andgavehouseholders polishedsales

pitch.61Aiding he sales orcewasthesubscription epartment thead-quarters,which maintainedhugefileson readers.Customersubscrip-tion serviceswerebecomingmore complex, and automatedsystemstook over moreof the work. Renewalnotices from the subscriptionmanagerappearedn the front pagesof each magazine.The McCall

Companyboldlyprinted ts notices n pinkto catchsubscribers'tten-tion.62Crowelland Hearst(by 1911 the owner of GoodHousekeeping)offered readers he option of monthly installmentpayments.63

With

marketingsuch an

importantcomponentof a successful

magazine, therpromotional echniquesemerged.Advertisementsor

magazines ppearedn otherperiodicals,n newspapers, ndon news-stands.Ledby CyrusCurtis,who hadspent$310,000 advertisingheLadies'Home ournal searlyas1889,and hundredsof thousandsmorein the 1890s, all the women's journalsadvertised o attractreaders.

They also placedadvertisementsaimedat advertisersn tradejour-nals such as N. W. Ayer'sDirectory.

Publisherssellingmore than one title usedgroup advertising nd

triedto persuadereaders f one publicationto buy anotherput outbythe samecompany, mployingwhat latermarketersermeda "brand

loyalty"strategy.Publisherspromotedeachpublication n the pagesof theirothermagazines,andtheyofferedspecialratesandpremiumsto theirown subscribers. orexample,a "PrettyGirlCalendar"wouldbe sent to eachWoman's omeCompanionubscriberwho sent in fiftycents foran annualsubscription o anotherCrowellmagazine,FarmandFireside.64he insidecoverof the Companionarried n advertise-ment for "The AmericanMagazine,publishedby the Publishersof

WHC ."65

61 See "Circulation:9,496,841," Fortune, 3-69ff; Crowell, About the CrowellCo.;Cur-tis Co., SellingEffortsPhiladelphia,Pa., 1913);and PhillipsWyman, MagazineCirculation:An Outlineof Methodsand Meanings (New York, 1936), 11.

62 See McCall's, issues for 1912, Table of Contents page.63

Wyman, Circulation, 1. The Crowellorgpni7ation arefullypointed out that this planwas not really nstallment selling, but rathera "pay as you get" plan, since the product,the magazines,arrivedover the course of the payment plan. See "Circulation:9,496,841,"Fortune,108.

64 Woman's omeCompanion,an.1915,44. Carruthnotes thattheywereofferingcalendarsto Companion eaders n 1907 and 1908; see Hayden CarruthMemo, 9 Sept. 1908, Hay-den Carruth Papers, box 9.

65See, for example, Woman'sHomeCompanion, an. 1915, inside cover; a similaradver-

tisement appearing n the Companion,Dec. 1913, 71, noted that "we are confident that

every COMPANION readerwill also enjoy THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE."









The Companionxpandedthis areaof customer serviceeven fur-ther. By 1912, readerscould subscribeto magazinesnot published

bythe CrowellCompany hrough he Companion.eaderssimply istedandmailed n the titlesof the publications heydesired,and the maga-zine took careof the rest. A similar ervicehadbeen available searlyas 1904, but to takeadvantageof the earlieroffer,readersalso hadto subscribe o the Companion, requirementmissingfrom the lateradvertisement.66

Coversbecamemoreimportantwhen single-copysales ncreasedafter the turn of the century.Streetcarsprovidedstrategic pots to

post them. Publishersalso

suppliednewsstanddealerswith

promo-tional posters. Companioniction editor Hayden Carruthsuggestedsurveying he vendorsto determinewhich coverssold best andusingthis information to select future "saleable"covers.67Carruthalsorecommendedthat the originalsof the Companionoverpicturesbeentered n variousexhibits.In 1915 two of the drawingsused asCom-

panioncovershung in an exhibitionin Galveston,Texas,with platesunderthem notingwherethe pictureshadfirstappeared.OtherCon-panioncover originals hung in the offices of a leading advertising

agent.68 Companion ubscribersreceivedreproductions of certain coversfree of charge,but such giftswerespecificallyinked to subscriptionrenewals,andreaderswerewarned hat the offerremainedgood onlyas long as the supply held out.69

Publishersmaintainedan "exchange ist" of other publishers obe given complimentarycopies of magazines.Magazinesalso regu-larlysent out "clipsheets" to editors of newspapersand magazinesseveralweeksin advanceof an issue'spublication,showingthe tableof contents for upcoming numbers,describing he entireissue, and

printingabout ten pagesof excerpts.70 oth partiesusuallybenefited

66 See Woman'sHomeCompanion,Sept. 1912, 1, for offer noted first;see "Announce-ment Page," ibid., Jan. 1904, for later offer.

67 See ibid., Feb. 1907, 13, where the editors state that they have been running adver-tisements in the "traction cars"; Hayden Carruth to Mr. Messier, 15 Dec. 1916, HaydenCarruth Papers.

68 Hayden CarruthMemo, July 1915, Hayden CarruthPapers;Hayden CarruthMemo,18 May 1909, ibid. A Carruthmemo, undated [1910], Hayden CarruthPapers,noted the

covers hanging in the advertising agency, but left the agent unnamed.69 See Woman'sHomeCompanion,Oct. 1907, 1, for an example of this marketingtech-

nique. This painting had won their huge cover content; a similarpromotional effort was

repeatedin 1911,where readerswere sent a reproduction of a picture by KateGreenaway.See Companion,Dec. 1911, Announcement page.

70 See Hayden CarruthPapers,box 10, for Woman'sHomeCompanionlip sheets of June,

July, Aug., and Sept. 1905. Carruth was in charge of preparingthese sheets.









from these tactics,which providedpublicityfor the magazinesand

copy for the editors.However,the arrangement ould cause resent-

ment. For example,after the turn of the century,with the Ladies'Home ournalwell established,CyrusCurtis decidedto stop sendingfreecopies to those on the "exchange ist," provokingunfavorablecomment from one editor:

TheLadiesHomeJournals one of the freakpublicationshat hasachieved wild-eyeduccessbymethods hat t werebase latteryocall akes.Themagazineasbeenboostednto tsposition fpopularitybythe enormous mountof practicallyreeadvertisinghich, n the

past, t hasinveighed

nd ured hecountry ress f the UnitedStatesinto publishing... .7

Finally,magazinesdidnot neglectthe most obviouswayof adver-

tising:theypromoted hemselves onstantly n theirown pages.Everyissue trumpeteddescriptionsof the excitingarticlesand stories to

appear he next month. December and Januarynumbers often car-riedtwo full-page preads nnouncing he specialofferings f the com-

ing year,enticingreadersand all but ensuringtheir purchaseof the

magazinein the future.

Distribution

In addition o advancesn printtechnologyand innovationsnpromo-tionalmethods,more reliable ines of distributionaidedthe purveyorsof mass-marketmagazines.Women'smagazinepublishersdistributedtheirgoods throughallavailable hannels.They set up subscriptionbureaus,used the servicesof the AmericanNews Company(ANC),

and eventuallydevelopedtheir own distributivecapabilities.Subscription ustomerspresentedewtechnicalproblems orpub-

lishersby the FirstWorldWar.With improved ailtransport ndmoreextensivepostalservice,publishers ould be assuredof reaching heirsubscribersndcouldguarantee romptarrival f each ssue.The PostalActof 1879 hadallowed he applicationof low second-classmail ratesto magazines,makingmaildistributiona cost-effectivemethod. TheRuralFreeDeliveryAct (1891)providedpublisherswith access o thefarmand other ruralmarkets.Indeed, Ladies'HomeJournalclaimed

to haveinfluenced the size of RFDmailboxes,sayingthat the boxeshadbeen constructedso they could hold the 11x 16-inch Joumral.72

71 Quoted in TheJournalist32 (1 Nov. 1902): 1.72 See "A Few Things We Have Done," Ladies'HomeJournal, 3.









Thisperiodmarked he consolidationof publishers' ubscriptionservices nto highlyefficient,rationalizedoperations.Woman'sHome

Companiontressed ts efficiencyand speed in this area,claimingin1903 to have "the largestnumber of names and addressesactuallyset in type to be found anywhere n this country. Six to eight menarekept busythe yearroundkeepingthe listup to date and freefromerror."3

As the subscriptionprocessbecamemoremechanical,publishersturned their attention to luringthe single-copybuyer.Railroad ta-

tions, hotels,officebuildings,drugstores, epartment tores,and local

grocerystores all

providedattractiveoutlets for

magazinesales.The

transportation ystemhad improved,so reaching hese distribution

points presented ewproblems.But publishershad to negotiatewiththe outlet ownersto ensurethat theirmagazinesreceivedprominentpositions in the display.McCall's and Delineator ad the advantageof havingtheir own agenciesalreadyestablished n towns through-out the United Statesand Canada,where customerscould purchasepatternsand magazinesproducedby these companies.

As was true formagazinesgenerally,newsstandsdid not become

important for women's magazine publishersuntil after the turnof the century. In 1898 only about 8 percent of Woman'sHome

Companion'sales came from newsstands.74The Curtis Companyencouraged ts local agents to supply newsstands,but Curtis itself

preferrednot to, as the amount per copy taken by the distributor,the AmericanNewsCompany,was so large hatCurtissufferedalosson each issue sold. Curtis did sell a small number of magazinestonewsstandsthroughwholesalers,because he companyrecognized he

promotionalvalue in havingits journalson display.75The ANC was a problematic actor for many publishers n the

late nineteenthcentury.Establishedn the 1860s, this wholesalerhadamonopolyon the distribution f magazines,with thirty-tworegionalbranchesnationwide.Eventually, hroughvarioussubsidiaries,ANCalso retailedperiodicals,books, andan ever-expanding rray f otheritems.Publishers eld mixedfeelingsabout ANC's services.Althoughvaluing he distribution ervice hatANC provided or them and their

customers, heyresented he powerheldbythe company.SinceANC

usuallytooka

commissionpercentagebasedon a

magazine'scover

73 See Crowell, About the Crwell Co., 5.74 Mott, Historyof AmericanMagazines, 4: 766, quoting from Printer'sInk.75 Steinberg,Reftomer, 0, 11;and G. A. Sykes, "Periodicalson the ElevatedRailroads,"

Printer'sInk, 21 Dec. 1892, 830.








Mary Ellen Waller-Zuckrman 746

price,it preferredo handlehigherpricedmagazines.FrankMunseyclashedwith ANC when he reduced he priceof Munsey'so ten cents

and offered t to ANC forsix and a halfcents. ANC sawlittle profitin this magazineand would agreeto payonly four and a half cents

per copy. Munseyfound ANC's terms unreasonable.He decided tocircumventthe agencyand distribute the magazineto newsdealershimself.76

WhenMunseysucceededn hisventure,otherpublishersollowed,

using theirown distributionsystemsat leastpartially.Curtis started

sendingSaturdayEveningPostdirectlyto the newsstands n the late

1890s,andbytheearly

wentiethcentury

he wasdoing

the samewith

allhismagazines.To ensurethe profitability f this method of distri-

bution, Curtisrefused o acceptreturnsof unsold copies. Beginningin 1910,Curtisentered nto agreementswith over1,500 independentwholesalers,who signedcontractsgivingCurtisthe rightto approveall other magazinessold by the retailer.Rivalmagazines,such asWoman'sHomeCompanion, ereusuallyvetoed. Although the rightof approvalectionof the contractswasdisallowed ythe FederalTradeCommission in 1917, the CurtisCompanycontinued to use news-

dealersheavily,still bypassing he ANC. By 1922, newsdealers old64 percentof the copies of Ladies'HomeJournal,giving it a higherpercentageof circulationsold through newsdealers han any of theother Big Six.77

The HearstCompanybegandirect distribution(includingGood

Housekeeping)n 1913. In 1914, over 83 percentof McCall'scircula-tion was still through subscription,but in 1919 the McCall Com-

pany and the PopularScienceMonthly Companyformed the S-MNewsCompany o distributeheirpublications.Eventually,most com-

panies used a combination of their own distributionsystemsandwholesalingcompanies;the CrowellCompanyremained he excep-tion, continuing to rely on ANC.78

Some women's magazinepublishersplaced their magazines n

departmentstoresand sold theirpatterns hroughthe sameoutlets.A readercould purchasethe magazine,browsethrough it, spot anattractive ashion, and buy the appropriatepatternall in one stop.

76

For more on Munsey'sfightwith ANC, see GeorgeBritt,FortyYars,Frty Millions-TheCareerofFrankA. Munsey(New York,1935), 83-85; for additional details about the ANC

generally,see Mott, Histry of AmericanMagazines, 4: 18; and Peterson, Magazines, 91.77 EdwardBok, "The Magazine with a Million," LadiesHomeJournal,Feb. 1903, 16;

and Steinberg, Reformer,1;percentagescalculated from figures appearing n StandardRateand Data Service Skokie, Ill., Nov. 1922).

78 See McCall'sadvertisement,Ayer'sDirctory(1914), n.p.; Wyman, Circulation, 3-59.









The Butterick,McCall, Curtis, and PictorialReviewcompaniesall

eventuallyollowed his salestechnique,but the publishers f Woman's

HomeCompanionndGoodHousekeepingteadfastlyefused o sell theirpatterns hroughstores.Drugstoresalsoprovideda popularpoint ofdistributionfor women's magazines.

By the beginningof the twentiethcentury,the mechanicsof dis-tribution no longerpresentedan impedimentto large-volume alesof periodicals.Competitionfocused insteadon the point of sale (forprominentplacementand display)and on the various methods for

acquiring ndretaining ubscribers.Strategiesn both arenaswere dic-tated

bythe characteristics f the customermarket.

Customers

The numberof potentialcustomers orwomen'smagazines xpandedenormouslybetween 1890 and the FirstWorldWar.Economic and

demographicchanges,as well as conscious strategieson the partof

magazinepersonnel, contributed to this broadenedmarket.Indus-trialization ndurbanizationgreatlychangedwomen'sroles,as much

productivework shifted out of the home, and increasingnumbersof households moved to cities.7 The rapidityof these demographicand economic transformations,alteringwork and lifestyles,causedwomen to search orreliableprescriptivemanuals hat wouldtellthemhow to lead a proper eminine life. The journals hemselveswidenedtheirfocus, targeting he home as well asthe homemaker.Publishersand editorsworkeddiligently o extendtheircirculations;publishersadvertisedextensively o reachpotentialcustomers,and editorsdrewreadersn throughcarefulcampaigns esigned o buildcloserelations.

Withanenlarged ustomerbasecamethe impetus o expand he rangeof materialappearing n the magazines.

Simpledemographicsaidedmagazinesellers.Between 1890 and

1920, totalU.S. populationjumpedfrom almost63 million to 105.7million. Duringthe sameperiod,females n the population ncreased

by about two-thirds,from 30.7 millionto 51.8 million. The literacyratecontinued to climb,reaching94 percentfor the totalpopulationin 1920.80

79These changes are described succinctly by Nancy Woloch, Women nd theAmericanExperienceNew York, 1984); and Carol Hymowitz and Michaele Weissman,A Histoy ofWomenn America New York,1978). On changes n women's roles, see Lois Banner,Womenin ModernAmericanHistry (New York,1974); SusanStrasser,Neer Done(New York,1982);and Sheila Rothman, Woman'sProperPlace (New York, 1978).

80 U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, HistoricalStatistics fthe U.S.,Colonial Times to 1970, Part 1 (Washington, D.C., 1975).









Not onlywere heremorewomen withgreateriteracyn the popu-lation,swelling he market;women who did readmagazinesrequently

readmore than one. In 1914 Woman'sHomeCompaniononducteda mailsurveyamongits subscribers,eceiving1,951 responses.Forty-ninepercentof thoseansweringaidthattheyread ive or moremaga-zinesin addition to the Companion,nd 85 percentclaimed hattheyreadat leastthreeother magazines.When asked"Whatother maga-zines do you read?"Companionubscribers isted a varietyof titles,but the top five were Ladies'HomeJournal(990 respondents);Pic-toral Review 469 respondents);the mail-orderLadies World 421respondents);Cosmpolitanatthis time a fictionperiodical, 18respon-dents); and Saturday veningPost(381 respondents).Delineator ndGoodHousekeepingame in sixth and seventh, respectively.8'Thusfemaleswho purchasedwomen's magazineswerelikelyto buy morethan one publication, and most often, they bought an additionalwomen's magazine.This duplicate readershipmay not have been

unique to women's journals, but it did increase the demand forwomen'smagazines.Fewrivalgoodsexisted o interferewith thispur-chasingpattern:women's columns in the newspapersoffered the

nearestcompetition, and they necessarilyprovidedless depth andintimacy.

Specificdataon earlyreadersare difficult to acquire,but someinferencescan be made. Middle-classreaders(includingupper andlowermiddleclasses) ormed the largestpartof the women's maga-zine market.It is unlikelythat the budgetsof most workingwomenallowed them to purchase uxurieslike magazines;when they readthesejournals, t wasthrough passed-along opies.82 The content ofthe magazinesaddsfurtherevidence about the natureof the reader-

ship:editorsandpublishersearedhestoriesandarticleso the middle-classwomen andfamiliesthey believedwerebuyingtheirmagazines.

Editors ormedanimpression bouttheirreadersn largepart romletterswrittento thejournals.As CharlesHanson Townenoted abouthis task of composing the monthly editorialpage for Deserner:

I went at it with fear n my heart,for I realizedwhat a responsibilityit was.But afterI got it going, I enjoyedthose talkswith readers,andthe correspondenceprovedthe most interestingI had ever received.

Peoplewould writein on

everyconceivable

ubject,andI felt almost

as if I knew them all personally.83

81 See 1914 WHC Reader-Surey,Hayden Carruth Papers, box 10, 4.82 See Alice Kessler-Harris,Out to Work:A Hisrnyof Wage-EarningWomen n the United

States New York,1982), 120-22, forsalariesand budgets of workingwomen in this period.83 Towne, Adventuresn Editing, 153.









The contents of the magazinesand the editors' beliefs about theiraudiencearesignificant;asRichardOhmannnotes, when no specific

research n readers s available,"we are eft with conjecturebasedoncontent, and (perhapsbetter) on what readership he editorswere

trying o reach,and whatreadershipheythought theyhadsucceededin reaching."84 he majorwomen'sjournalswere editedfor andmar-keted to middle-classreaders,even if individualsoutside this groupread hejournals.Bokbelievedhe waseditingformiddle-classeaders;in 1915he saidthat Ladies'HomeJournalwasirectedprimarilyowardfamilieshaving ncomesin the $1,200-$2,500 range.EditorsFreder-ickCollins,ArthurVance,andGertrudeBattlesLanewouldhavecon-curred.McCall'snoted in an advertisement hat it "is a prosperousmagazine,and is readby the prosperouswomen of the country;notall of them veryrich, and not all of them very poor; but the greatmiddle class,who arethe realproducersand buyers."85The lettersto the magazines,which abound, appear o have come fromwomenin this middleclass.Althoughthesemissives amefrom aself-selected

sample,they composed the responsethat editorssaw and reacted oin makingeditorialdecisions.86

With changes n householdtechnology,middle-classwomen hadmore leisuretime. Labor-savingdeviceslightenedthe work burdenfor manyhousewives.87The magazinesentertainedwomen in theiridle hours, providedhousehold information,and offeredguidanceabout activities utside the home.Departmentsocusedon suchissuesaswomen's clubs (completewith schedulesof recommendedactivi-

ties), scientifichousekeeping,and educatedmotherhood. Columnswith advice for workingwomen (or "girls,"as they were regularlycalled), ists of booksto read,and cultural ctivitieso pursueappearedregularly.Typically, achmagazinecarried nformationabout one or

84 Ohmann, "Mass Culture," 97.85 Varioussources document the beliefsof editorsabout the middle-classnatureof their

audiences. On Bok, see Steinberg, Refirmer, , 7; for Collins's ideas, see FrederickCollinsto EdwardEverett Hale, 28 Sept. 1908, Hayden Carruth Papers;for those of Lane and

Vance, see Waller,PopularWomen'sMagazines, chap. 2. For McCall's advertisement, see

Ayer'sDirectry (1914), n.p.; and discussion of audience in About the CrowellCo., 11, 14.Ohmann concludes that "the main audiencefor these magazineswaswhat wascalledthen,as now, the 'middle class': people in small businesses, professionals,cerks, tradespeople,

farmers,and significantly,wives and mothers fromthis samestratum";"MassCulture,"91.86 Here I am referring o actual letters seen in archivalmaterial,as described, for exam-

ple, in MaryEllen Waller-Zuckerman,"VeraConnolly, ProgressiveJournalist," ournalism

History15, no. 2 (Spring1989): 80-88. Lettersprinted in the magazinesprovide uncertainevidence as editors at times manufacturedthese missives.

87 For a slightly differentview, see Ruth Schwartz-Cowan,More Workor Mother: The

Irnies of HouseholdTechnologyromthe OpenHearth to the Microwave New York, 1983).









more"causes"or crusades;eaders ouldcomfortably ndeasilydirecttheir reformenergies.For example,the Companiononducted cam-

paigns orhealthybabies,cleanergroceries,andpurerpackagedoodsandagainst uberculosisand child labor.Women'smagazinesdidnotleadin the "muckraking"movement, but theireffortsprovedmore

enduring;reformarticles ontinuedto appearn the pagesof women's

magazines throughout the early 1920s.88

As women's role shiftedfromproducer o consumer,readingand

learningabout new productsin the marketplacebecamepartof thehousewife's ob. Magazineexpertshelpedher in this newjob of con-

sumption. In addition to the servicedepartments,all the women's

journalscarried rticles n home management,discussions f the new

appliances looding the market,and informationon how to use the

packaged,brandedproducts appearedwith increasing apidity.Themost obvious instanceof this assistancewas the Good Housekeep-ing Institute, established n 1901. Initially,the Institute tested theusefulnessof housekeepingmethods andproductsmentionedin the

magazine. n 1902, GoodHousekeepingnnounced hatit wouldacceptadvertisementsonly forproducts ested andapprovedbyits Institute.

The serviceexpanded urther n 1912,when HarveyW.Wiley,formerchiefchemistfor the U.S. Departmentof Agriculture,oinedthe staff.

Wileyestablishedhe Sealof Approvalorproducts riedout andfound

acceptable.Manufacturersonated tems,andthe Institute ested hemfree of charge.If a product passed, the magazinereportedon it asan informational ervice,providinga description,the price,and thename of the manufacturer;anuary ndAugustissuesof GoodHouse-

keepingarriedlistingsof all goods reviewed.89n its firstyears,andunder Wiley'sdirection, the Institute performeda valuableservice

for housewives,providinguseful consumerinformation.Womenthusprovided readyandgrowing argetmarketormaga-

zine publishers,constitutinga largeaudienceformanytypesof pub-lications.90An increaseddemandhad arisen,which astute women's

88 See "The Cat in the CrackerBarrel,"Woman'sHomeCompanion, ov. 1907-Feb. 1908;"The Campaignof Hope," ibid., Feb. 1910. The Better Babies Bureau started n the Aug.1913 issue and continued through the 1920s; articlesdescribing the evils of child labor

began in the Sept. 1906 issue and also continued on a regularbasis through the 1920s.For discussion of the continuation of reform articles in women's

journals,see Waller-

Zuckerman, "VeraConnolly."89 See KatherineFisher, "Housekeeping Emergesfrom the Eighties," GoodHousekeep-

ing, May 1935, 80-83; and HarveyWashington Wiley, A Histry of the CrimeAgainst theFoodLaw (Washington, D.C., 1929).

90See Perriton Maxwell, editor of MetropolitanMagazine, quoted in Zona Gale, "Edi-tors of the YoungerGeneration," The Critic44 (April 1904): 320; and EdwardBok, The









Table

TopTen

Circulators,916

Woman'sWorld 2,061,636

Saturday veningPost 1,827,842Ladies'HomeJournal 1,607,629McCall's 1,305,687PictorialRepiew 1,236,075Woman'sHomeCompanion 1,071,757

Cosmopolitan 1,057,001

People'sHomeJournal 899,550Collier's 860,000

Delineator 830,000

Source:Crowell-CollierCompany,NationalMarketsand NationalAdvertising, 922.

magazinepublishers eadily upplied.Women'smagazineeditorsalso

targetedother membersof the family,therebyswellingthe potentialaudienceeven further.Articles, stories, and columns of interest tomen andchildrenaswell as to womenappeared,with the overall ffect

of broadening he content. Duringtheseyearsmost women'smaga-zines claimed,as did the agentsfor LadiesWorldn 1895, that their

publicationswere "readby everyone n the familyfrom the house-wife herself to the bachelorbrother."91

One source estimated hat by 1898 approximately 50,000 fami-lies readmagazines egularly,which meantanaudienceof two to threemillionpeople.92Most publishersocusedon building arger ndlargercirculations,now needed to attractadvertisingrevenues. Women's

magazinessucceeded betterthan most; by 1916, five of the Big Six

women'sjournalsplacedamongthe ten highestcirculatingmagazinesof all kinds (see Table 3).93

Woman'sColumn3 (Feb. 4, 1890): 4, quoted in Mott, HistoryofAmericanMagazines,4:

353, on the predominantly female natureof magazinereadership.The editors of the Cen-

turyalso believed their readershipwas strongly female; see John, Best Yearsof the Century,19, 49.

91Lord & Thomas, America'sMagazinesand TheirRelation o the Advertiser(Chicago,

1895), 26.92 See Crowell-Collier, nmarkedpromotionalbooklet, 1929, 20, Crowell-CollierPapers,New YorkPublic Library.

93Circulationsfor 1916compiled by Crowell-CollierCo., NationalMarkes and National

Advertising922 (New York,Crowell, 1922). The mail-order ournal Woman'sWorld,which

topped this list, cost only 35 cents, straddlinga shadowy line between advertisingcatalogand magazine.









Initially,publishers mphasizedundifferentiatedumbersor madeunsubstantiatedlaimsaboutthe qualityof theirreadership.However,

as circulationsgrew,publishersbeganto collect information abouttheir readers.Before the FirstWorldWar,marketresearchwas stillin a nascent tate.Academicians,manufacturers,ndadvertisinggencypersonnelall carriedout some studies, but much market research

activityremained n the hands of the magazinepublishers.Women's

magazine publisherswere among the leadersin performingsuch

research,pioneeringin studies of readerdemographics,consumer

preferences,comparativeadvertisingdata, and marketsurveysfor

productsof majoradvertisers.94

Bythe 1890s,the CurtisCompanyhadgathered udimentarynfor-mation about the incomesof Ladies'Home ournal ubscribers.Cur-tis also startedkeepingrecordson advertising evenuein the 1890sandbegancomparativedvertisingecordsn the 1910s.95n 1911Cur-tis formedthe firstresearchdepartmentof anypublishingcompany.HeadedbyCharlesCoolidgeParlin, his departmentwent on to dis-

tinguish tself n the marketresearchield.Among its firststudieswasone devotedto department toresandclothingpatterndistribution,

obviously of help to the Journaland its advertisers.Other publishersbegan to categorizereadersaccordingto geo-graphic regions (information easily obtained from subscriptionrecords).96Forexample,by 1908 Woman's omeCompanionossesseda breakdownof its circulationby state and county. Analyzingthis

information,editor FrederickCollins noted that "Of this circulation

probablyover80% is locatedin smallcities, towns and countrydis-tricts. A largerpercentage han is usualin magazinecirculation s tobe found west of the MI River."Collinsalsoobservedhat "the quality

of the WHC's constituencyso faraseducation andfinancialstabilityis concernedhas increasednearly50%."97

94 See MaryEllenWaller Zuckerman),"Aspectsof EarlyMarketResearch,1879-1917,"Proceedingsf the AMA Winter Educator'sConfince, Spring 1988.

95 See Curtis, Expendituresf Advertisers;nd Bok, "Magazine with a Million."96 For example, see "Queen of Fashion" (McCall's)advertisement, RemingtonBrothers

NewspaperManual (1893), 477; and Woman'sWorld dvertisement, Printer's nk, 25 Sept.1913, 61.

97 See GeographicCirculationBreakdown, 1908, Hayden CarruthPapers,box 9. As earlyas 1892 Crowell

Companywas

selling lists of subscribers o its variousmagazinesto busi-nesses for direct mail purposes; see ElkhartCarriageand Harness ManufacturingCo. to

Mast, Crowell & Kirkpatrick,8 Feb. 1892, in WarshawCollection of BusinessAmericana,Smithsonian Institution Archives,Washington,D.C.; letter written by Woman'sHomeCom-

panioneditor FrederickCollins to contributorEdwardEverettHale on 28 Sept. 1908. Collinstook over in 1906, so presumablyhe had seen the 50 percent improvement in the two

intervening years.









Bythe 1920s,magazinepublisherswerecompilingcompletereader

profileso discoverwhatthe circulation umbersactually epresented.98

Usefiul o editors, his infbrmationprovedmostimportantwhensellingmagazinespaceto advertisers, ince,as one Crowellcirculationman

remembered,"advertiserswere beginningto discoverthat the newadded circulationhad a greatdeal of wastein it: that is, new readers,not congenialwith the old group,werebeing luredinto the fold byhigh pressuremethods ... "99With this effort came the develop-ment of sophisticatedmarket researchtechniques.

Editorsnurtureda close relationshipwith theirreadersas a wayto attractandhold them. Letters,

uggestions,

and advice romreaders

appearedn the magazines contributorseceiveda smallsum for their

efforts).One sentencefrom the Companionescribeshe feelingthese

journals riedto evoke:"So manypeoplewriteto usabout 'ourmaga-zine,' 'our Companion,'that we have come to look upon the threemillion or morepeoplewho edit, manage,manufacture, uyand read'ourmagazine'asone great amily."'00 hisrelationshipprovedespe-ciallyeffective n retainingreader oyalty.Often, magazinepurchasewas a familyaflair.As oneDeineatoreaderwrote n 1910,"I am renew-

ingmysubscriptiono the magazine hatI cannotkeephomewithout.I was brought up on The Delineator.My mother took it beforeme,and her mother beforeher."101

This letter could be replicated housandsof times for each of the

Big Six magazines.Readersrelied on and trusted the information

printed n thesejournals,giving hemand the individualsediting heman enormous amountof power, nfluence,andresponsibility.Ameri-cansin general,both male andfemale, ookedto the new massmaga-zines for advice and understandingabout the industrializedand

urbanizedUnited States.Forwomen'sjournals,astrongtiedevelopedbetween the female subscribers nd the editors.Few external orces

competed for the attention of housewives,most of whom did notworkoutside the home, strengthening he impactof the magazines.As the author of the narrativesummaryof the resultsof the Woman'sHomeCompanion's914 reader urveyreported,"The feelingcarried

away rom a readingof the ballots n general s that theywerewritten

by a body of devoted and enthusiasticfriends,to whom the Com-

98For corroboration of this time frame, see Herbert Hungerford, How PublishersWin

(Washington, D.C., 1931).99Letter from Gerald Young to the author, 19 Jan. 1985.100Woman'sHome Companion,March 1910, "Our Own Page."101Quoted in Mabel Potter Daggett, "When the Delineator Was Young," Delineator,

76, 365 (Nov. 1910): 419.









panion is a delight and an inspiration,and for whom it is in manycases the only link with a broaderculture that their surroundings

afford."'02Women'smagazines ncouraged ependenceand customerloyaltyin a varietyof ways: by carefullyansweringall inquiries;byprintinga representative ampleof letters,recipes,and homemakingtips; by runningreadercontests; and by setting up readerbureaus,which assistedsubscriberswith problems.

EditorEdwardBok built up a largereaderbureauat his Ladies'HomeJournal.Readers ould write to theJournaland receiveprofes-sional,detailedadviceon anyproblem rom a staffof editors hateven-

tuallynumberedthirty-five.Bok "encouraged ndcajoledhis readers

to form the habit of looking upon his magazineas a great clearing-house of information.Beforelong, the lettersstreamedn bythe tensof thousands during a year ... "The staff answered letters promptlyandconfidentially. o ensurecompliance,Bokoccasionally rote ettersunder a pseudonym to his editors.'03

Woman's omeCompanionstablished similar ervice.Experts neach departmentansweredreadercorrespondence;editorsreceiveda specifiedsum of money perletter answered.Readersbelieved hese

editorsansweredout of concern and caringfor the writers: n fact,the staffworkedon piecerates,whichby 1916 had reachedfiftycents

perletter,with department ditorsrequiredo submit carbonsof each

response n order to be paid.The Companionlso had severalspecialreader ervicesincluding he BetterBabiesBureau, he Good Citizen-

shipBureau, he PinMoneyClub,anda column forworkingwomen.In 1916 the Companionalculated ome resultsof its reader ervices,

estimatinghattens of thousandsof patternshad beensentout, readersenrolledin clubs, and mail sent in.104Ladies'HomeJournalreceived

almost a quarter-millionetters from readersn the first six monthsof 1913. And as the CurtisCompany proudlystated, "It answered

them, eachone-not brieflyandpubliclythroughits open columns,but fully,conscientiously,confidentially, hroughthe mails."Curtisalso noted that 25,000 homes had been built fromplans purchasedfrom the Journal.105

102 See 1914 WHCReader-Survey,, 14.103 Bok,Americanization,74;Steinberg,Refrnme,6.

104 SeeHaydenCarruthExpenseNotebooks or1916,1917,and1918,HaydenCarruth

Papers,box 26, budgetrecordswith notationsof the amountspaidout to departmenteditorsboth for theircolumnsand foransweringeaderetters;and Woman's omeCom-

panion,April1916,Tableof Contentspage.105Curtis, SellingEfforts,235.









This responsiveness o the needs of readersdistinguishedthewomen'sjournals rom other magazines.In magazines ike the Cen-

tury he editors hosepiecesappealingo theirown taste;S. S. McClurebelievedthat editorsmust firstpleasethemselves. Even the increas-

inglypopularSatuniay vening osthadnothinglike the servicebureausof the women's journals.106

Yetwhile rapid ndustrializationand urbanizationwere makingAmericanwomen moreuncertain bouttheir"proper ole,"and hencemore dependent on these publicationsfor guidance,the magazinesthemselvesincreasinglywererunas businessoperations,not as liter-

aryor advice ournals.Women'smagazinesed in innovativebusiness

techniques,and manyof the editorsand publisherssaw themselves

preeminentlyas businesspeople. EdwardBok stands out asperhapsthe foremostexampleof an editorwho also defined himselfas a busi-ness person;GertrudeBattles Lane of the Companions another. 07

The magazines'twin missions as profit-making irms and advi-sorsto women could sometimesoperateatcross-purposes.When edi-torsconcentratedclearlyon their readers'needsforinformationanddirectionwithout lettingthe businessaspectsof the publishingworld

dominate,the rolesfunctioned harmoniously;when the two maga-zine purposesclashed, it was the psychologicallyvulnerablereaderwho often lost out.108

This conflictof interestwas at its most intense n the areaof adver-

tising, placingpressure n editors;both EdnaWoolmanChase(Vogueeditor)and Theodore Dreiser(Delineatorditor)battledtheir adver-

tising departmentsto uphold editorialintegrity.109 he magazinesthemselvesalsoreflected his tension. Inconsistenciesbetween adver-

tisingand featurearticlesappeared,confoundingreaders.Forexam-

ple, Woman'sHomeCompanionarriedan article on the dress needsof women, warningof the harmfileffectsof usingacorset,yetnumer-ous advertisements or corsetsappearedn the same issue.The food

106John, BestYears f the Century;and Peter Lyon, TheLifeand TimesofS. S. McClure

(NewYork,1963).107 SeeSteinberg,Refomer,3 for evidenceconcerningBok;andMaryEllen Zucker-

man,"Pathwayo Success:Gertrude attlesLaneandthe Woman'sHomeCompanion,"in press,Journalism istory,or a description f Lane.

108For debatebypresent-daycholars n the pernicious ffectsof the content of thewomen'smagazinesnfemaleeaders,eeWeibel,Mirn, Mirrr,BettyFriedan, heFeminine

Mystique New York, 1963); Cynthia L. White, Women'sMagazines,1693-1968 (London,1970);Marjorie erguson, orevereminineLondon,1983);AnnDouglas,TheFeminiza-tionofAmerican ultureNewYork,1977);andMaryEllenWaller-Zuckerman,nforma-tionSouwesn theHistory fPopuarWomen'sMgazines (Westport,Conn., 1991), introduction.

109Chase, Alwaysin Vogue,107; and Swanberg, Dnriser,128.








MaryEllenWaller-Zuckem/ 756

editor'scolumndiscussing iet and nutritionwas surroundedbyadver-tisements fortempting, high-calorie oods. Advertisementsshowing

womenobsessedwithphysical eautycompetedwitheditorial olumnsstressingthe importanceof inwardbeauty.110

However,viewingthe magazines s businesses ould also lead edi-torsinto a closerrelationshipwith theirreader-customers;nfluenceflowed n both directions.Magazines ffectedheirreaders, ut readers'letterscarriedweightwith editors,who werestillexperimentingwithform and content. As good businessoperations,magazines espondedto their customers' needs.

Conclusion

The women's magazineindustryflourishedin the ProgressiveEra,with women's journals topping circulationlists. Such popularityencouragedadvertiserso placetheircopy in the pagesof these pub-lications.The dynamism ndprofitabilityf the industrydrew alentededitorsandshrewdpublishers.Theseeventsproved mportant or boththe women'smagazine

ndustryand the

magazine ndustrygenerally.Duringthese yearsof successand growth, the staffsof women's

magazines xperimented:heytriednumerouspromotional echniquesto attractreaders,varied the editorialcontent and even the formatof the magazines, nd usedallavailable istributionmethods.In their

courtshipof advertisers,publishers riedvariousploys, offeringbet-terplacementof advertisingwithin the magazine, leanercopydesign,research nto advertisementeffectivenessand productmarkets,andeditorialsupportof advertising.By the end of the era,much of the

experimentation adended;relationsbetween the magazines nd theadvertisers ndreadershad settled into fixedpatterns.Practiceswereestablished hat became norms for the women's magazine ndustrythroughout the twentieth century.

Women'sournalsoweredprices,usedadvertisingevenues o sub-sidize production, built close relationshipswith their readers,andofferedadvertisersssistancewith copysooner than otherpublications.The publishersof women's magazinesrationalized heirproductionoperations,buyingthe most advancedprint machinery o do so, and

editorsworked to differentiate heir magazines rom those of com-petitors.These pioneering strategiesput women's magazinesat theforefront of the mass-magazinemarket.

110 See Woman'sHome Companion,May 1912.








0~~~~~Bulsines~ss H-listory1

Revie-w

W I N T E R 1 9 8 9

Published by the Harvard Business SchoolY








Cover:New YorkCity Newsstand, 1903

Aided byadvancesn printing technologynd distribu-tionmethods,mass-circulation agazines roliferatedn

latenineteenth enturyAmerica.Many titleswere vail-

able n theearly wentiethentury, s this newsstandcene

attests.(Photographourtesy f theLibraryof Congress,

Washington,D.C.)

Backcover:Sample Advertisement, Butterick Com-

pany, 1918

As leadersn the useof

massmarket dvertisingechniques,

manywomen'smagazinepublishersroducedromotion-al brochuresontainingample dvertisementsoencourageincreasedadvertising n their journals. This one is

reproducedfromButterickCompanyublication,Mrs.

John Doe. A Book Wherein for the FirstTime an

Attempt Is Made to Determine Woman's Sharein

the Purchasing Power of the Nation (New York,

1918), p. 42.

Foran extendedookat the

pioneerigrole

ofwomen's

magazines,seepp. 715-756.

Cover and text design by

Virginia Evans

? 1989 by The President and Fellows of HarvardCollege.All rights reserved.

ISSN 0007-6805

Documents

Old Homes, In a City of Perpetual Change