Periodicals: “The Big Six.”

The 1870s witnessed the beginnings of the major service magazines, popular periodicals featuring fiction by well-known writers, articles on current issues of concern to women, and departments emphasizing food preparation and other household information. Called “The Big Six,” they were McCall’s, Woman’s Home Companion, Delineator, Ladies’ Home Journal, Pictorial Review, and Good Housekeeping.

The year 1873 saw the launching of a small fashion sheet designed to advertise clothes, called The Queen: Illustrating McCall’s Bazar Glove-Fitting Patterns; not until 1883 did the magazine become merely McCall’s. Although still emphasizing patterns and fashions, McCall’s slowly changed its identity, adding fiction by well-known writers like Zane Grey and Mary Roberts Rinehart and, later, service features for the homemaker. By 1932 the editor, Otis Wiese, had redesigned the magazine, dividing it into three parts—Fiction and News, Home-Making, and Style and Beauty—with each section carrying its own advertising. By this means McCall’s sought to increase its readership among ordinary middle-class subscribers, and it succeeded well enough to survive the Depression without major losses. During World War II the editors offered guidelines for cooking under rationing and tips on juggling home and wartime jobs; after the war McCall’s turned its attention to suburban women, and the food pages reflected this, with more entertainment tips and recipes designed to save time. At the same time it took increasing notice of the working woman and her needs. Wiese will perhaps be most remembered for coining the slogan “Togetherness,” which Americans made an integral part of the language, both praising and mocking the concept.