Ladies' Home Journal

"Ladies' Home Journal" is a magazine which first appeared February 16, 1883 and eventually became one of the leading magazines of the 20th Century, published by the Curtis Publishing Company.

History

It had been a single-page supplement written by Louisa Knapp that was included in "Tribune and Farmer", a magazine published by her husband, Cyrus H. K. Curtis. She became its founding editor and continued in that role for six years while the magazine rose to national popularity.

"The Ladies' Home Journal" arose from the popular "Women at Home" column written by Louisa Knapp, which gained so much popularity that it was distributed as a supplement in another magazine published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, "Tribune and Farmer". [http://www.scripophily.net/curpubcom.html Curtis Publishing Company (Saturday Evening Post & Ladies Home Journal) ] ] The following year it became an independent publication with Knapp as editor. Its original name was "The Ladies Home Journal and Practical Housekeeper", but she dropped the last three words in 1886. It rapidly became the leading magazine of its type, reaching a circulation of more than one million copies in ten years. At the turn of the 20th Century, the magazine published the work of muckrakers and social reformers such as Jane Addams.

Editors and features

Knapp continued as editor until she was succeeded by Edward William Bok in 1889. However, she remained involved with the magazine's management, and she also wrote a column for each issue. In 1892, it became the first magazine to refuse patent medicine advertisments. [ [http://www.bartleby.com/197/30.html 30. Cleaning Up the Patent-Medicine and Other Evils. Bok, Edward William. 1921. The Americanization of Edward Bok ] ] In 1896, Bok became Louisa Knapp's son-in-law when he married her daughter, Mary Louise Curtis.

The magazine's trademark feature is "Can This Marriage Be Saved?", a popular column in which each person of a couple in a troubled marriage explains their view of the problem, a marriage counselor explains the solutions offered in counseling, and the outcome is published. [ [http://www.wayneandtamara.com/canthismarriagebesaved.htm Give Them Enough Rope..."Can This Marriage Be Saved" ] ]

For decades, the "Journal" was the leading women's magazine, but its circulation fell behind "McCall's" in 1961. [Anonymous. "Revolt at Curtis". Time magazine.Friday, Oct. 16, 1964.] In 1968, Curtis Publishing sold the journal, along with the magazine American Home, to Downe Communications for $5.4 million in stock. [Bedingfield, R. E. "Curtis Publishing Sells 2 Magazines; Downe Paying $5.4-Million in Stock", The New York Times, August 15, 1968, Business and Finance section, p. 54.] Between 1969 and 1974 the "Journal" was acquired by Charter Company. [Anonymous. "Magna charter'. Time, Monday, Jun. 16, 1980. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924223,00.html] .] In 1986, the Meredith Corporation acquired the magazine from Family Media Inc., for $96 milliion. [ [http://www.meredith.com/aboutmeredith/history.html History of Meredith Corporation] ] [Anonymous. "Meredith Won't Tinker With Added Magazines". New York Times, November 25, 1985, Late City Final Edition, Section D, Page 2, Column 5.]

During the late 1950s, Mad parodied the periodical in a vitriolic satire: "Ladies' Home Journey, the Magazine Women Wallow In." Several articles in this satire shared the theme that a woman marries a man only to wear him down until he dies so she can play the vulture and get his money.

Writers

*Cynthia May Alden
*Joan Younger Dickinson
*Helen Reimensnyder Martin
*Olivia Mackenzie Zecy

Current staff

*Jennifer Mirsky, Editor-in-Chief
*Catherine LeFebvre, Senior Editor
*Marissa Gold, Editor

Cover gallery

References

External links

* [http://www.lhj.com "Ladies Home Journal" official site]