Godey’s Lady’s Book
Godey’s Lady’s Book was first published in Philadelphia by Louis Antoine Godey (1804-1878) in 1830. The magazine, which reached a wide female audience across America (over 150,000 subscribers), was a guide to the means and approaches to appropriate self-presentation and proper domestic living.1 Its aim was to “entertain, inform and educate” women on leisure interests and domestic duties: mineralogy, handcrafts, costume, dance, cooking, health and hygiene, home remedies and much more.2 Included amongst the pages of the magazine were also short stories and poetry by some of America’s finest nineteenth-century literary minds – Edgar Allan Poe, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, to name a few. Women, besides being the prevailing editors and readers of the magazine, also contributed essays and stories with underlying messages regarding the expected manners, behaviour and morality of the nineteenth-century “Lady.”3
The publication ran from 1830 to 1898.
Image of Godey’s Lady’s Book (1865) Vol. 70. Courtesy Royal Ontario Museum and Archives, photo: Daniel Bernard.
Marion Harland
Marion Harland (1830-1922) was an American novelist, columnist and editor. Born Mary Virginia Hawes in Dennisville, Virginia, she wrote under the pseudonym “Marion Harland.”4 Writing for over 65 years, Harland was well known for her short stories and intriguing novels on home cooking, housekeeping and etiquette. Her first novel, Alone (1854), published at the age of twenty-four, led to her immediate popularity and success across the nation.5 She had a rewarding career writing and editing top magazines – including Godey’s Lady’s Book – and publishing some of America’s finest nineteenth-century novels.6 While her work revolved around the well-being and domestic duties of confined Victorian women, what made her work most compelling was her underlying contempt for female “limitations.”7
“It must be a fine thing to be a man on some accounts;—to be emancipated forever-and-a-day from the thralldom of skirts for instance, and to push through a crowd to read the interjectional headlines upon a bulletin board, instead of going meekly and unenlightened home.”8 – Marion Harland
In her short story, “A Hasty Speech, And What Came Of It,” featured in Godey’s Lady’s Book Vol. 70 (1865), Harland talks about the perilous marriage between Jessie Harrison and Roger Harrison. Chapters III and IV, which are found in the February section of the magazine, describe the unfortunate events that took place following Mr. Harrison’s return home from a stormy night of excessive drinking. Mrs. Harrison, who had spent the evening with her childhood sweetheart, Willie Dunbar, scorning her unloving husband, faces an intolerable amount of shame and guilt when she finds herself caring for her dying husband the morning after. Will her duty as a loving, faithful wife be enough to cure Mr. Harrison of his pneumonia? Or will Mrs. Harrison forever bear the scar of “disloyalty” to her wedded husband, following his untimely death?9 (No spoiler alert. Read the story here to find out!)
Image of “A Hasty Speech, And What Came Of It” in Godey’s Lady’s Book (1854-1882) Vol. 70, pg. 129. Courtesy Royal Ontario Museum and Archives, photo: Daniel Bernard.
Based on Harland’s story of Mr. and Mrs. Harrison, the following is a fictitious diary entry that Mrs. Harrison may have written prior to her marital misfortune. The entry outlines Mrs. Harrison’s duty as a wife, recollecting the way she dresses (in reference to the corresponding February 1865 fashion plates) and caters to her husband, based on the instruction she receives in Godey’s Lady’s Book. The entry also brings up issues of vanity and morality faced by nineteenth-century women and draws on Harland’s disdain for the “limitations” on Victorian women.
While the characters (by Harland) and events are made up, the fashions and troubles alluded to by Jessie Harrison in the entry are found in Godey’s Lady’s Book and other nineteenth-century sources/theories on Victorian women.
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February 10, 1965
I awoke this morning before dawn to summon for Roger’s breakfast – but, to my own astonishment, my husband had already made his departure. He regularly leaves the house by the hour of seven – he did not wake me this morning to see him off. I am fearful I am not keeping my duty as a wife; in all my effort to keep him in good spirits, my affection is not well-received. Quite the contrary – I seem to be nothing but a matter of trouble and disdain to his Majesty.
What’s a mere wife to do?
The thought of a life without dear Roger perplexes me. But a prolonged life as a lonely wife – why he keeps me in want of his love, I’ll never know!10 But I shall keep up appearances for Roger’s sake. If he will not have me, I dare not let the world observe us. I shall continue to wear the mask, as any loyal wife would willingly do.11
I’ve heard of those modern girls – the ones of the period – posturing the town square in their “‘fast’ dress,” with their false complexions, rejecting their maternal paths.12 How shall they keep a husband and family? Roger would not have me in public neglecting my moral character with hasty cosmetics. Godey’s strictly instructs against vanity, advocating for “moral cosmetics” achieved through a woman’s virtue and moral character.13 I should not risk losing Roger’s trust by flattering him with false appearances.
Image of “The Lady” in Godey’s Lady’s Book (1854-1882) Vol. 70, pg. 137.
St. Valentine’s Day approaches, however, and I intend to prepare the house to delight Roger. I will have to call for the children’s care – Katy shall keep them in the parlour. Although he does not approve of frivolous spending, I have enough pin money tucked away to update our cushion covers in the new German style. I am quite fond of the French merino pattern – the combination of net and black silk embroidery produces a lasting impression.14 I hope it will please my husband.
Image of “German Cushion Cover ” in Godey’s Lady’s Book (1854-1882) Vol. 70, pg. 125.
As for myself, I have commissioned few accoutrements from the Editress of the Fashion Department – some black lace and hair work in keeping with February fashions.15 Once my husband has knowledge of this expenditure, he might well disapprove; but how shall I represent my family if I do not invest in some ornament?16 Mrs. Dunbar would surely have words if she caught me in January fashions. Blue, pink or white silk with black trim is of the season. Roger favours the blue silk – he recalls the Virgin in a blue mantle and says it lends to my virtue, gentleness and womanhood.17 I much like the colour against my complexion. To complete the dress, I will need to gather:
– white ribbon for the quilling
– white silk for the overskirt, which will be cut to represent festoons
– black lace for edging and trimming18
Image of Fashion-Plate by Kimmel & Co. “Godey’s Fashions For February 1865 ” in Godey’s Lady’s Book (1854-1882) Vol. 70, pg. 114-115. Courtesy Royal Ontario Museum and Archives, photo: Daniel Bernard.
I shall keep the white silk bodice cut low for my husband’s pleasure come the evening – yet, I shan’t wear the dress outside our home without some proper covering for fear a man mistake me for an unmarried seductress.19 Those in Germany who leave their “arms and shoulders naked or lightly covered” have been accused of “mortal sin.”20 The fashion calls for a blue silk coat waist, also cut low, and extending to the back in a sash-like manner. Godey’s orders the coiffure to be composed of blue velvet and white flowers; some of which I will have to reuse from last season’s bonnet.21 The hair is rolled at the front and parted into bunches of curls that extend to the back with arranged bows – I do hope my commissions arrive before the day.22
The time is half past the hour of five and I pray that Roger returns in good spirits. I have ordered Katy to prepare his tea in the parlour so that he may rest in the comfort of his home. I dare not mention his unprecedented departure this early morning, lest he become bothered with me.
I beg the dear Lord rid me of any bitter thoughts and maintain my duty to my husband.
Jessie Harrison
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END NOTES
- “Godey’s Lady’s Book,” Accessible Archives, http://www.accessible-archives.com/collections/godeys-ladys-book/ (accessed 17 April 2016).
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Meriah L Crawford, “Marion Harland (1830-1922),” Encyclopaedia Virginia, http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/harland_marion_1830-1922#start_entry (accessed 17 April 2016).
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Marion Harland, “A Hasty Speech, And What Came Of It,” in Godey’s Lady’s Book (1854-1882) 70, edited by Louis A. Godey and Sarah Joseph Hale (Philadelphia: Feb 1865), 133.
- Ibid., 130.
- Ibid., 131.
- Valerie Steele, “Artificial Beauty, Or the Morality of Dress and Adornment,” in The Fashion History Reader, edited by Giorgio Riello and Peter McNeil (New York: Routledge, 2010), 281.
- Ibid., 277.
- “German Cushion Cover,” in Godey’s Lady’s Book (1854-1882) 70, edited by Louis A. Godey and Sarah Joseph Hale (Philadelphia: Feb 1865), 178.
- “Fashions: Notice to Lady Subscribers,” in Godey’s Lady’s Book (1854-1882) 70, edited by Louis A. Godey and Sarah Joseph Hale (Philadelphia: Feb 1865), 196.
- Valerie Steele, “Artificial Beauty, Or the Morality of Dress and Adornment,” in The Fashion History Reader, edited by Giorgio Riello and Peter McNeil (New York: Routledge, 2010), 292.
- Johanna Wolgast, “Virgin and Maid,” The San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal 9, 3 (Summer 1990): 25-26.
- “Description of Steel Fashion-Plate For February,” in Godey’s Lady’s Book (1854-1882) 70, edited by Louis A. Godey and Sarah Joseph Hale (Philadelphia: Feb 1865), 197.
- Valerie Steele, “Artificial Beauty, Or the Morality of Dress and Adornment,” in The Fashion History Reader, edited by Giorgio Riello and Peter McNeil (New York: Routledge, 2010), 286-287.
- Ibid., 286.
- “Description of Steel Fashion-Plate For February,” in Godey’s Lady’s Book (1854-1882) 70, edited by Louis A. Godey and Sarah Joseph Hale (Philadelphia: Feb 1865), 197.
- Ibid., 197.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Crawford, Meriah L. “Marion Harland (1830-1922).” Encyclopaedia Virginia. http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/harland_marion_1830-1922#start_entry (accessed 17 April 2016).
“Godey’s Lady’s Book.” Accessible Archives. http://www.accessible-archives.com/collections/godeys-ladys-book/ (accessed 17 April 2016).
Harland, Marion. “A Hasty Speech, And What Came Of It.” In Godey’s Lady’s Book (1854-1882) 70, edited by Louis A. Godey and Sarah Joseph Hale, 129-137. Philadelphia: Feb 1865.
Murdoch, Lydia. Daily Life of Victorian Women. Westport: ABC-CLIO, 2013.
Steele, Valerie. “Artificial Beauty, Or the Morality of Dress and Adornment.” In The Fashion History Reader, edited by Giorgio Riello and Peter McNeil, 275-300. New York: Routledge, 2010.
Godey’s Lady’s Book (1854-1882) 70, edited by Louis A. Godey and Sarah Joseph Hale. Philadelphia: Feb 1865.
Wolgast, Johanna. “Virgin and Maid.” The San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal 9, no. 3 (Summer 1990): 25-34.
Thanks for this, Dan – fun to read. It seems like the only way women of that era could speak up about their frustrations in life as a woman was to do so vicariously through fictional characters. I particularly like the plate that says “The aim of the lady is always to be natural..” and yet hiding discomforts with their station was ultimately #1 in their list of duties as women.
The preoccupation over the German textiles is a little heartbreaking.. it seems to be not for a love of textiles but to keep up with the latest trends and to please the husband..You just want to say “Girl, Mr.Harrison won’t even notice,” But maybe he will? We have no read on Mr. Harrison apart from Mrs.Harrison’s anxious speculation and her feelings of lack in the marriage.
I wonder what Harland’s motivations were for writing under a pseudonym? Was it because she was flirting with the risque? Or was she worried people might read her stories as autobiography? Interesting times…
Thanks for the comment, Annika. I think you’re right. Since Victorian women were confined to the home and forced to engage in activities suited to the “lady,” writing must have been one of the only outlets they had to unleash their anger and frustration about gender roles.
From my reading of Mr. Harrison, I doubt he would recognize the updated cushion covers! I just thought it was hilarious that that’s what women were expected to spend their time thinking about all day and night – doubt that would fly with women today!
Not too sure what Harland’s motivations were for writing under the name Marion. Maybe they were embarrassing to her family/husband? I’m sure if I read more of her literature it would become more evident. At the same time, though, her stories did always have a lesson incorporated into them – they were’t simply meant to bash men.
Yes, this domestic “Angel in the House” role was certainly true of middle and upper-class ladies, but there were many who could only aspire to ladyhood, not to mention working-class women who had no choice but to earn wages. These “shabby genteel women” were forced to hide the hard work they actually did (especially in a settler context) by wearing gloves when they had company (see Ariel Beaujot’s great book on Victorian Fashion Accessories)…
I wish I knew the actual demographics of the readership of Godey’s magazine (although I’m sure that there is a lot of research on it), though as you say it had a pretty broad circulation, and I do know that one copy would usually be shared among several households/women at the time, giving it an even larger circulation.
I think that Foucault’s ideas around docile bodies would be particularly apt here. Reading all of this material might have helped inculcate a certain amount of the internalization of appropriate gender roles, while the external structures and discipline imposed by tiny narrow shoes, wide crinolines, and corsetry could have helped with the rest. Although I also like to think of crinolines as keeping men far, far away from their wearers’ bodies and helping women take up as much physical space as possible. It’s all so contradictory. And in my more cynical moments, I wonder how dissimilar some of the advice given in contemporary women’s magazines of the Chatelaine/Mothering type would actually be if you did a detailed analysis. Or are we just more empowered to become consumers? And to plaster ourselves with toxic cosmetics instead of being content with our “moral virtue…” Sigh.
Very thought-provoking and creative post, Dan!
Dan, this was a good, fun read. Interesting to imagine what Jessie’s thoughts and motivations might have been for her behavior. I wondered the same thing as Alison about social class…i.e. what social class would Jessie have been part of, and would the same concerns have frustrated a woman of a lower class?
Do you think that marriages/long-term partnerships are quite different today in terms of how each individual thinks about pleasing the other? I am just thinking that any couple who wants to stay together for a long time would have to be considerate of the other’s needs and wants and preferences. Of course, ideally it happens reciprocally and not just from woman to man/one individual to the other. How would the anxieties of Jessie have been different if she was single, I wonder? (Would she have had an equal amount of anxiety about presentation and pleasing…just directed to someone else/some other group of people?)
Hello Dan, creative post as usual – you transported me back to the 19th century. I wonder if it was the intention of the author to entertain the audience or comment on the moral codes of the time. The debate brought up about the consumption of makeup was interesting. As you mentioned in your post, Godey’s strictly instructed women to reject false appearances by putting on make-up, but I also remember Valerie Steele talking about other authors – such as Mrs. Hawies in “The Art of Beauty” and “The Art of Dress” – who wrote about the ways in which women should use makeup to better their appearance. I wonder how women who had access to makeup would have interpreted these books. It’s also interesting how one’s moral character could be completely concealed with the use of a little rouge! I can only imagine what they would have to say about the make-up people wear today.
Thanks all for comments,
Alison, your mention of space and wide crinolines also makes me think of that Princess whose crinoline caught fire – poor thing burned to death! I feel like they should have been marked with “caution: flammable” signs.
Pam, I believe Jessie was of the upper class, considering she had a housemaid named Katy. But, I think that no matter what social class she were apart of, as a woman in the nineteenth century, she would have undoubtedly felt some sort of constraint on her abilities to participate or navigate within/through society. I think the quote that I included from Harland says it all! Nineteenth-century women certainly didn’t have the same rights as they do today, right?
Also, I’d like to think that today people in relationships consider themselves equals – no matter what their genders may be.
Antonietta/Pam – I may be wrong here, but based on Valerie Steele’s article, I think it would be a lot tougher to be a single woman in the ninetieth century (you know, since one of your only goals in life is to find a husband). You would be exposed to all these guides/texts and rules on modesty and at the same time, be exposed to an expanding world of consumerism. You’d have Godey’s telling you not to wear makeup because men prefer a “natural” look, and on the other hand Mrs. Hawies telling you to wear make up “to better your appearance” so that men would find you more attractive. Also, think of the young women – or girls of the period – who were “accused of mortal sin” by simply showing a bit of skin, or the ones branded “seductresses” for putting on a bit of makeup. I can just picture a young woman sitting in her toilette trying to get ready for the day and thinking, “to wear the makeup, or not to wear the makeup?”