The foundation of American women's fashion magazines

This article traces the history of the first successful American women's fashion magazines, meaning publications that lasted longer than five years and with a national reach, which gained a foothold in the mid-1800s. The origin and growth of Godey's Lady's Book are highlighted as a model for many future publications, and two of its contemporaries: Harper's Bazar and The Delineator. The catalyst for this achievement in the magazine industry is examined through changing cultural attitudes towards leisure reading for women, increased time for recreation as made possible by modern technology and other technological advancements in publishing and distribution. In tandem with this development, career opportunities created for women within this growing industry and the continued cultivation of women's educational and vocational advancements are discussed. The important foundations established during this period have led to recognizable formulas for success that are still appreciated and utilized in the magazine industry today.

Edgar Allan Poe and His Enemies

This chapter looks at the dozens of enemies Poe acquired in the course of his career. Instead of understanding these enemies as a phenomenon peculiar to Poe and his individual psychological state, the chapter argues that enemies were a kind of dark, unconscious side of the friendship culture that prevailed in the magazine industry in the early nineteenth-century United States. At a time when magazines depended for their content and profitability on the voluntary labor of unpaid contributors, friendship culture, in which friends volunteered to write for the periodicals of other friends, was crucial to the functioning of the magazine publishing economy. But hatred and rage were also productive energies, goading writers to write for free for magazines as easily as friendly indebtedness. Examining Poe’s rancorous relationships with his fellow authors, this article argues that Poe’s many enemies were part of a larger economy of violent invective and grudges that formed a companion to the culture of friendship.

Conclusion

This concluding chapter returns to the guiding question “What is a magazine?” used by the book to explore the industry transformations associated with digitization and participatory culture by revisiting the concepts of organizational identity, professional identity, and gendered identity. It also discusses the many different ways in which contemporary producers of women's magazines are redefining their processes and products. It shows that the evolution from magazine as object to magazine as brand represents a conundrum for magazine publishers as they struggle to reach a consensus about “who we are as an organization.” While contemporary threats to the magazine industry are very real, the chapter argues that the actual shifts taking place are much more nuanced than universal accounts about media convergence suggest. As some traditional media boundaries collapse, others are being remade to preserve historical and cultural identity articulations.