Edward W. Bok

The flood of letters that descended upon the secretary almost taxed even his genial nature; and when Mr. McFarland, as the editorial representative…

Secretary Taft adhered to his conservative policy, Sir Wilfred Laurier, premier of Canada, met the overtures of Secretary of State Root, a new…

Finally, the civic spirit in Cleveland, Ohio, forced the passage of a city ordinance prohibiting the sale or use of fireworks on the Fourth. The…

There still remains much to be done in cities as yet unawakened; but a comparison of the list of casualties of 1920 with that of 1905 proves the…

Mrs. Pennypacker, as president of The Federation of Women's Clubs, now brought to Bok's attention the conditions under which the average rural school…

Mrs. Pennypacker suggested that Bok undertake the creation of a public sentiment for a residence for the teacher in connection with the schoolhouse.…

By personal effort, several "teacherages" were established in connection with new schoolhouses; photographs of these were published and sent…

Just about this time a group of Philadelphia physicians, headed by Doctor Samuel McClintock Hamill, which had formed itself into a hygienic committee…

It was to go to the heart of the problem of the baby in the congested districts of Philadelphia, and do a piece of intensive work in the ward…

Meanwhile, there was created a "Baby Saving Show," a set of graphic pictures conveying to the eye methods of sanitation and other too often…

A searching investigation of the Day Nurseries of Philadelphia--probably one of the most admirable pieces of research work ever made in a…

To-day The Child Federation is recognized as one of the most practically conducted child welfare agencies in Philadelphia, and its methods have…

Bok's interest and knowledge in civic matters had now peculiarly prepared him for a personal adventure into community work. Merion, where he lived,…

A canvass of the sentiment of the neighborhood revealed the unanimous opinion that the experiment, if attempted, would be a failure,--an attitude not…

The leading men in the community were elected as a Board of Directors, and a salaried secretary was engaged to carry out the directions of the Board.…

Within seven years so efficiently had the Association functioned that its work attracted attention far beyond its own confines and that of…

When the armistice was signed in November, 1918, the Association immediately canvassed the neighborhood to erect a suitable Tribute House, as a…

Perhaps no other suburban civic effort proves the efficiency of community co-operation so well as does the seven years' work of The Merion Civic…

One of the misfortunes of Edward Bok's training, which he realized more clearly as time went on, was that music had little or no place in his life.…

The Ladies' Home Journal began to strike a definite musical note. It first caught the eye and ear of its public by presenting the popular new marches…

Bok was early attracted by the abilities of Josef Hofmann. In 1898, he met the pianist, who was then twenty-two years old. Of his musical ability Bok…

This was followed by other articles; the publication of his new mazurka; still further articles; and then, in 1907, Bok offered him a regular…

Bok's musical friends and the music critics tried to convince the editor that Hofmann's art lay not so deep as Bok imagined; that he had been a child…

Like many men of his practical nature, he had made up his mind on this point without ever having heard such a concert. The word "symphony" was enough…

One day Josef Hofmann gave Bok an entirely new point of view. The artist was rehearsing in Philadelphia for an appearance with the orchestra, and the…

But Bok had no desire to meet Stokowski. He mentally pictured the conductor: long hair; feet never touching the earth; temperament galore; he knew…

Bok was not slow to see that Stokowski was quite the reverse of his mental picture, and became intensely interested in the youthful conductor's…

Then followed Bok's publicity work in the newspapers, beginning the next day, exonerating Hofmann and explaining the situation. The following week,…

He now began to see the possibility of a whole world of beauty which up to that time had been closed to him, and he made up his mind that he would…

Bok concluded he would not read the articles he had published on the meaning of the different "sections" of a symphony orchestra, or the books issued…

The public support given to orchestras now greatly interested Bok. He was surprised to find that every symphony orchestra had a yearly deficit.…

He found that the Philadelphia Orchestra had a small but faithful group of guarantors who each year made good the deficit in addition to paying for…

In 1916 Bok sought Mr. Alexander Van Rensselaer, the president of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, and proposed that he, himself, should…

The offer from the "anonymous donor," presented by the president, was accepted by the Orchestra Association. A subscription to an endowment fund…

The success of The Ladies' Home Journal went steadily forward. The circulation had passed the previously unheard-of figure for a monthly magazine…

And not only was the figure so high, but the circulation itself was absolutely free from "water." The public could not obtain the magazine through…

This The Ladies' Home Journal proved again and again. Its most pronounced successes, from the point of view of circulation, were those in which the…

Had it simply presented masterpieces of art as such, the series might have attracted little attention. But when it announced that these…

In not one of these instances, nor in the case of other successful series, did the appeal to the public depend upon the names of contributors;…

The editorial Edward Bok enjoyed this hugely; the real Edward Bok did not. The one was bottled up in the other. It was a case of absolute…

It was in 1913 that the real Edward Bok, bottled up for twenty-five years, again came to the surface. The majority stockholders of The Century…

As Bok studied the field, his confidence in the proposition, as he saw it, grew. For his own amusement, he made up some six issues of The Century…

For one man to edit two magazines inevitably meant a distribution of effort, and this Mr. Curtis counselled against. He did not believe that any…

A cardinal point in Edward Bok's code of editing was not to commit his magazine to unwritten material, or to accept and print articles or stories…

Rudyard Kipling was, and is, a notable example of this broad and just policy. His work is never imposed upon an editor; it is invariably submitted,…

"I told Watt to send you," he writes to Bok, "the first four of my child stories (you see I hadn't forgotten my promise), and they may serve to amuse…

"Thanks equally for your treatment of both poems, [he wrote], the one accepted and the other returned. Maintain your own opinions and respect, and my…

"Am goin' to try mighty hard to send you the dialect work you've so long wanted; in few weeks at furthest. 'Patience and shuffle the cards.'

"I am really, just now, stark and bare of one commonsence idea. In the writing line, I was never so involved before and see no end to the ink-(an…

"It was written by --. She is a woman of great refinement, of a very unusually broad social experience, and of many exceptional gifts, who thoroughly…

A further point in his editing which Bok always kept in view was his rule that the editor must always be given the privilege of revising or editing a…

It is, perhaps, a curious coincidence that all the Presidents of the United States whose work Bok had occasion to publish were uniformly liberal with…

Colonel Roosevelt was always ready to concede improvement: "Fine," he wrote; "the changes are much for the better. I never object to my work being…

William Howard Taft wrote, after being subjected to editorial revision: "You have done very well by my article. You have made it much more readable…

It was always interesting to Bok, as a study of mental processes, to note how differently he and some author with whom he would talk it over would…

They talked until the early hours, when it was agreed that each should write out a plan, suggest the best treatment, and come together the next…

If the readers of The Ladies' Home Journal were quick to support its editor when he presented an idea that appealed to them, they were equally…

The editor looked around and found that the country's terpsichorean idols were Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Castle; he decided that, with their cooperation,…

The magazine containing the first "lesson" was no sooner published than protests began to come in by the hundreds. Bok had not stated his object, and…

The Ladies' Home Journal followed the Castle lessons with a series of the most beautiful dances of Madam Pavlowa, the Russian dancer, hoping to…