Even though Louis A. Godey was the Philadelphia magazine's publisher for nearly half a century, it was Sarah Josepha Hale, its visionary editor from 1837 until 1877, who made Godey's Lady's Book a deeply ingrained part of our culture, as well as a strong voice for 19th century women across America.
Adamant about his popular ladies' journal remaining absolutely apolitical, Godey lost nearly a third of its subscribers when it failed to offer news of the Civil War. But Hale, his loyal editor, made sure she still used its pages to educate and inform. Especially to raise the awareness of women.
Godey's Lady's Book promoted women in the workplace and women in academics, offering tips on skills, such as writing techniques. Hale also put out several issues featuring only female contributors and strongly asserted in the journal and supported in her personal life the concept that women deserved to be treated equally and should be given the chance to become vital parts of American society - outside the household.
Even the list of writers she hired to fill pages each issue reflected her desire for women to expand their opportunities by expanding minds. It reads like an English class compendium. To name a few: Edgar Allen Poe, Harriet Beecher StoweNathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving and Frances Hodgson Burnett. You'll even know the work of Hale, herself, who wrote Mary Had a Little Lamb.
Yet Hale knew the importance of both, so the journal also taught women household skills such cooking and dress-making, offered sheet music for entertaining and an incredibly detailed insight into the changing fashions of the time.
Hale's influence wasn't just over women, she led the charge to make Thanksgiving a national holiday (and included in the magazine recipes now considered the culinary mainstay of the holiday, including roast turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie).
In addition, as a big fan of Queen Victoria, Hale also promoted white for wedding dresses (as Victoria, herself, had worn in 1840) and, in the 1860s, copied a woodcut of the queen and her family sitting in front of their Christmas tree and - removing a tiara and a mustache from the famed couple - turned the royals into the folks next door. By the 1870s, the decorated Christmas tree had become a common sight in the American household.
The images below are women's and girls' fashions from an 1874 edition of Godey's Lady's Book ... and a little sheet music.
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