Edward W. Bok

His next step was to take into his confidence two or three friends whose judgment he trusted and discuss the possible change. Without an exception,…

More than any other single argument, this last point destroyed Bok's faith in the judgment of his friends. He had had experience enough to realize…

A business trip for the Scribners now calling him West, Bok decided to stop at Philadelphia, have a talk with Mr. Curtis, and look over his…

Bok now laid the matter before his mother, in whose feminine instinct he had supreme confidence. With her, he met with instant discouragement. But in…

Bok now consulted his business associates, and, to a man, they discouraged the step, but almost invariably upon the argument that it was suicidal…

There is a popular notion that the editor of a woman's magazine should be a woman. At first thought, perhaps, this sounds logical. But it is a…

In fact, we may well ponder whether the full editorial authority and direction of a modern magazine, either essentially feminine in its appeal or not…

It would seem from the present outlook that, for some time, at least, the so-called woman's magazine of large purpose and wide vision is very…

Naturally, there will always be a field in the essentially feminine pursuits which have no place in the life of a man, but these are rapidly being…

The field was altogether different when Edward Bok entered it in 1889. It was not only wide open, but fairly crying out to be filled. The day of…

He saw, too, that the average popular magazine of 1889 failed of large success because it wrote down to the public--a grievous mistake that so many…

It is the rare editor who rightly gauges his public psychology. Perhaps that is why, in the enormous growth of the modern magazine, there have been…

The editor is the pivot of a magazine. On him everything turns. If his gauge of the public is correct, readers will come: they cannot help coming…

One of Edward Bok's first acts as editor was to offer a series of prizes for the best answers to three questions he put to his readers: what in the…

Edward Bok has often been referred to as the one "who made The Ladies' Home Journal out of nothing," who "built it from the ground up," or, in…

What every magazine publisher knows as the most troublous years in the establishment of a periodical, the first half-dozen years of its existence,…

When Edward Bok succeeded Mrs. Curtis, he immediately encountered another popular misconception of a woman's magazine--the conviction that if a man…

No man, perhaps, could have been chosen for the position who had a less intimate knowledge of women. Bok had no sister, no women confidantes: he…

What he saw in the position was not the need to know women; he could employ women for that purpose. He perceived clearly that the editor of a…

He had divined the fact that in thousands of cases the American mother was not the confidante of her daughter, and reasoned if an inviting human…

The whereabouts of the manuscript was then disclosed, and the editor called for its return. He had called the department "Side Talks with Girls" by…

Here was exactly what the editor wanted, but he was the author! He changed the name to Ruth Ashmore, and decided to let the manuscript go into the…

Within two weeks after the second article had been written, the magazine containing the first installment of the new department appeared, and the…

The editor now took two letters from the top and opened them. He never opened the third! That evening he took the bundle home, and told his mother of…

"You are," answered Edward Bok. And while it took considerable persuasion, from that time on Mrs. Mallon became Ruth Ashmore, the most ridiculed…

The editor soon supplemented this department with one dealing with the spiritual needs of the mature woman. "The King's Daughters" was then an…

"I want it written in an intimate way as if there were only two persons in the world, you and the person reading. I want heart to speak to heart.…

These two departments more than anything else, and the irresistible picture of a man editing a woman's magazine, brought forth an era of newspaper…

And with his own limited knowledge of the sex, he needed, and none knew it better than did he, the ablest women he could obtain to help him realize…

This he decided to encourage. He employed an expert in each line of feminine endeavor, upon the distinct understanding that the most scrupulous…

Step by step, the editor built up this service behind the magazine until he had a staff of thirty-five editors on the monthly pay-roll; in each issue…

The work of some of these editors never reached the printed page, and yet was vastly more important than any published matter could possibly be.…

The lack of opportunity for an education in Bok's own life led him to cast about for some plan whereby an education might be obtained without expense…

This plan was soon extended, so as to include all the girls' colleges, and finally all the men's colleges, so that a free education might be possible…

Edward Bok has always felt that but for his own inability to secure an education, and his consequent desire for self-improvement, the realization…

Doctor Coolidge proposed that the magazine create a department of questions and answers devoted to the problems of young mothers. This was done,…

Bok had already learned, in his editorial experience, carefully to weigh a woman's instinct against a man's judgment, but the idea of raising…

This called for the services of two physicians: Miss Marianna Wheeler, for many years superintendent of the Babies' Hospital, was to look after the…

There was then begun a magazine department which was to be classed among the most clear-cut pieces of successful work achieved by The Ladies' Home…

Step by step, the new departure won its way, and was welcomed eagerly by thousands of young mothers. It was not long before the warmest…

The plan is now in its eleventh year of successful operation. Some idea of the enormous extent of its service can be gathered from the amazing…

Scores of physicians who vigorously opposed the work at the start have amended their opinions and now not only give their enthusiastic endorsement,…

It was this comprehensive personal service, built up back of the magazine from the start, that gave the periodical so firm and unique a hold on its…

So intimate had become this relation, so efficient was the service rendered, that its readers could not be pried loose from it; where women were…

He felt that, for the present at least, he had sufficiently established the personal contact with his readers through the more intimate departments,…

He followed this up a few days later with a paragraph announcing Bok's arrival at a Boston hotel. Then came a paragraph saying that Miss Pinkham…

He now asked Bok to come to Chicago. "I want you to know some of my cronies," he wrote. "Julia [his wife] is away, so we will shift for ourselves."…

It was then nine o'clock. Riley and Bok held a council of war and decided to slip out and buy some food, only to find that the front, basement, and…

Finally, the Hoosier poet and the Philadelphia editor crawled through one of the basement windows and started on a foraging expedition. Of course,…

Riley, cold and hungry, and before this time the victim of Field's practical jokes, was not in a merry humor and began to recite paraphrases of Field…

The success of Field's paragraph engaging Bok to Miss Pinkham stimulated the poet to greater effort. Bok had gone to Europe; Field, having found…

It so happened that Field put this new paragraph on the wire just about the time that Bok's actual engagement was announced. Field was now deeply…

It was a happy visit. Field was all kindness, and, of course, the entire party was charmed by his personality. But the boy in him could not be…

One day Field came to Philadelphia to give a reading in Camden in conjunction with George W. Cable. It chanced that his friend, Francis Wilson, was…

Field lost all traces of his supposed illness the moment he reached the box. Francis Wilson was on the stage with Marie Jansen. "Isn't it beautiful?"…

One day Bok received a wire from Field: "City of New Orleans purposing give me largest public reception on sixth ever given an author. Event of…

It was a lively friendship that Eugene Field gave to Edward Bok, full of anxieties and of continuous forebodings, but it was worth all that it cost…

He conceived the idea of making familiar to the public the women who were back of the successful men of the day. He felt sure that his readers wanted…

The two authors of that day who commanded more attention than any others were William Dean Howells and Rudyard Kipling. Bok knew that these two would…

Meanwhile, in order that the newspapers might be well supplied with barbs for their shafts, he published an entire number of his magazine written…