Figure 1.--These patterns were published June 20, 1878. We are not sure, but we believed that it was published in Harper's Bazar. I
|
Figure 1.--These patterns were published June 20, 1878. We are not sure, but we believed that it was published in Harper's Bazar. I |
Here we have some of the most venerable names in American publishing. Harper has played an important role in American publishing since the early 19th century. Several different magazines have had the Harper's title. These magazines had a different focus. The publishing runs of some overlapped. Harper's magazines began as a literary magazine. Eventully it was the fashion focus of Harper's Bazar that proved the best seller.
The Harper brothers James and John opened a print shop (1817). Akthough initially a modest operation, it was the beginning of one of the most storied company in American publishing. They were initially a printer, not a book publisher. This chganged when they merged with Joseph, Wesley, and Fletcher (1833). It was at this time that that they changed the name of the firm to Harper & Brothers and begin operating as book publishers. They publish some of the most important titles of the era. Some representative titles included: Edgar Allen Poe's Pym on Nantucket (1837), Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast (1840), Washington Irving's Life of Oliver Goldsmith (1840), Thackeray's Vanity Fair (1848), Bronte sisters' Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre (1848), Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851), and Charles Dicken's Bleak House (1853). This brought great prestige to the Harper brothers. James Harper elected Mayor of the New York (1844). Harper Brothers by the mid-19th century was one of the most important American publishers. As part of its publishing business, it began publishing periodical magazines in 1850, first with Harper's Magazine. Harper's Brothers ran into financial difficulties in 1899. The firm was rescued by famed Wall Street financier J. Pierpont Morgan. As part of the reorganization, the Harper family lost control. Harper & Brothers merged with Row, Peterson, & Company to become Harper & Row (now HarperCollins) (1962).
Harper's Magazine first appeared June 1850. It was founded by the important New York book-publishing firm Harper & Brothers. The magazine was the first of the great American illustrated magazines and was an immediate success. The first press run was only 7,500 copies. They quickly sold out. The publishers within 6 months were printing 50,000 copies for each issue. Harper's was founded as a literary magazine. When the magazine was founded, it mostly carried English literary work that had already been published. Harpers soon began to publish American matrial, bith art work and literary pieces. Contributors constitute a Who's Who of 19th century American letters, both authors and political figures. Contributors included Horatio Alger, Stephen A. Douglas, Theodore Dreiser, Horace Greeley, Winslow Homer, William Dean Howells Henry James, Jack London, John Muir, Frederic Remington, Booth Tarkington, and Mark Twain. The publishers created departments to report on different topics and issues of the day. Important new books were announced. One of the most popular features was the serialization of new novels. Major accomplishments such as the first trans-Atlantic cable. Inventions were also noted and Thomas Edison was a popular figure. A major issue covered in detail was women's rights. The magazine also included politicl articles. Harper's Baazar in later years, the magazine published Woodrow Wilson and Winston Churchill long before either man became a political leader. Theodore Roosevelt wrote for Harper's, as did Henry Stimson when he defended the bombing of Hiroshima. In the 1970s, Harper's Magazine broke Seymour Hersh's account of the My-Lai massacre and devoted a full issue to Norman Mailer's "The Prisoner of Sex." The magazine in the 1960s became a separate corporation and a unit of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune Company. The company announced that Harper’s Magazine would cease publication (1980). At this time, John R. (Rick) MacArthur and his father, Roderick, decided that the magazine was an important voice and needed to be saved. They approached the boards of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Atlantic Richfield Company for grants to create the Harper’s Magazine Foundation. This foundation now operates the magazine.
The publisher next founded Harper's Weekly Magazine (1857). The publisher conceived it as a family newspaper. Founded at just a few years before the Civil War, the magazine followed the war in great detail. Henry Mills Alden becomes editor of Harper's Magazine in 1879. The magazine was published for nearly 60 years. The magazine is thus a major historical source on contemporary American social and political thought during the second half of the 19th centuty. The magazine acquired the reputation of crusading for political and social reform. A key to the magazine's success was that it was profusely illustrated. The magazine featured the work of the most important illustrators of the day, men like Thomas Nast. Until the turn-of-the 20th century this meant lithographic engravings. Photographs only becamr common at the turn of the20th century when technical imprivesment finally made , 1857, and in its run of nearly 60 years spanned a remarkable period of American history, simultaneously reporting on it, influencing it, and making it. Harper's Weekly was a vital part of the Civil War and now is a window into those days: the politics, the literature, the style, the commerce, and, of course, the battles.
Harper's Young People, a weekly magazine was the last Harper's magazine to appear. It later
became known as the Harper's Round Table, after 1893 it became a monthly, and eventually ceased publication in 1899.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main U.S. fashion magazine country page]
[Return tp the Main fashion publishing page]
[Return tp the Main U.S. catalog page]
[Return tp the Main pattern page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Topics]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Satellite sites]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Sailor suits]
[Sailor hats]
[Buster Brown suits]
[Blouses]
[Eton suits]
[Rompers]
[Tunics]
[Smocks]
[Pinafores]