Periodicals: Early Magazines

The earliest magazines dealing with food were “educational” periodicals, heavy on fiction, fashion, and needlework but with a minimum of cooking and other household information. These magazines were teaching women to be good and economical housewives and to expand their horizons with literature. Godey Lady’s Book, founded in 1837 and edited for forty years by Sarah Josepha Hale, set the model for many future publications, featuring generous helpings of advice for young families plus some food and household hints, along with fiction, poetry, and fashion. Mrs. Hale was strong minded and opinionated and bent on instruction; her motherly style appealed to upper-middle-class women, and she was able to edit the magazine successfully while promoting an agenda for the better education of women.