Magazine Memories

Home Arts Needlecraft Magazine, February 1938
cover art by Mary C Highsmith

There are eight issues of this old magazine stashed away in my house ... their date range is 1926-1939.   For Rednesday, I am sharing a few pages and a few observations about the publication.

Home Arts Needlecraft pages 18-19, February 1938

My issues are all in black & white, except for the cover and a few pages splashed with red.

page 38, April 29; and pages 22-23, March 1939

Every issue has several pages featuring Advance Patterns for home-sewers.  Each Advance clothing pattern was available by mail for 15 cents.

pages 22-23, April 1929; and
pages 12-13, March 1939 with actresses Hedy Lamarr and Cecelia Parker

There were many articles with needlework projects, but today I'm showing pages pertaining to personal fashion and accessories.  And remember, the tobacco companies were working hard to encourage women to smoke cigarettes.

Lucky Strike ad on back cover, March 1939

Thank goodness the tobacco in Lucky Strike Cigarettes is "easy on your throat because it's toasted".   (Hmmmmm ... this ad was printed 21 years before 1960, when the first season of Mad Men is set.)

Apparently, the publication's name was changed over the years, progressing this way:

Needlecraft Magazine

Needlecraft, The Home Arts Magazine

Home Arts Needlecraft

The magazine was published monthly by Needlecraft Publishing Company in Augusta, Maine and New York City.   In both 1929 and 1939, the yearly subscription rate was $0.50.  Readers were encouraged to sell subscriptions, earning prizes for themselves.

I've added links, above, to a few more threads of information.  Unfortunately, I have not found a source for more about the Needlecraft Publishing Company.   Not yet, anyway.

Thanks, Sue, for hosting Rednesday, over at your Very Cherry World!