Abstract
This chapter explores the commonalities between nineteenth-century boys’ and girls’ culture by comparing the correspondence sections in the Religious Tract Society’s Boy’s Own Paper (1879–1967) and Girl’s Own Paper (1880–1956), two of the longest-running British children’s magazines in the Victorian and Edwardian period, particularly in how they represent ideas of employment, health, and hobbies. While the letters submitted to the magazines are rarely ever quoted, this correspondence provides evidence of nineteenth-century children’s voices. These voices are, inevitably, mediated and transformed through their publication in the periodicals; yet, they demonstrate that British children’s interests in the late nineteenth century are not dissimilar, reflecting common interests, concerns, and anxieties. They demonstrate the extent to which child readers were invested in the communities created through their magazines.
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Notes
- 1.
The Religious Tract Society was founded in 1799 by Reverend George Burder (1751–1832), a Congregationalist minister from Coventry, and Dr. David Bogue (1750–1832), an Independent pastor and schoolmaster from Berkshire. During the early years, they published pamphlets, tracts, sermons, commentaries, books, and periodicals for adults. In 1803, an investigation of the children’s literature industry revealed the significant lack of suitable literature for children. Eager to remedy the situation, the Society decided to devote their efforts to providing ‘good literature’ for children.
- 2.
Jenny Holt incorrectly states of the Boy’s Own Paper that “boys’ letters are never directly quoted” (70). Jenny Holt, “The Textual Formations of Adolescence in Turn-of-the-Century Youth Periodicals: The ‘Boy’s Own Paper’ and Eton College Ephemeral Magazines,” Victorian Periodicals Review 35, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 70.
- 3.
Linda Frost, Never One Nation: Freaks, Savages, and Whiteness in U.S. Popular Culture, 1850–1877 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005), 191.
- 4.
Stuart Hannabuss analyses some of these letters, but his article focuses only on the years 1894–1895. While Karl Sabbagh’s Your Case Is Hopeless: Bracing Advice from the ‘Boy’s Own Paper’ (2007) contains reprints of a selection of responses from the correspondence columns, the book is not a critical examination of the significance of these columns in highlighting children’s voices. Wendy Forrester’s Great-Grandmama’s Weekly: A Celebration of the Girl’s Own Paper 1880–1901 (1980) likewise provides excerpts from the correspondence with little analysis.
- 5.
Allison James, “Giving Voice to Children’s Voices: Practices and Problems, Pitfalls and Potentials,” American Anthropologist 109, no. 2 (June 2007): 262.
- 6.
On 16 November 1878, Dr. James Macaulay (1817–1902), one of the senior members of the Religious Tract Society, and editor of The Leisure Hour and Sunday at Home, was appointed as the supervising editor of the proposed magazine. Although he single-handedly designed the paper, Hutchison had to be content with the title of sub-editor. Knowing that use of Religious Tract Society’s name may keep potential readers away, the Society decided that the imprint would read simply: “Conducted by the Editor of the Leisure Hour.” See Patrick Dunae, “The Boy’s Own Paper: Origins and Editorial Policies,” Private Library 9 (1976): 130–131.
- 7.
Jack Cox, Take a Cold Tub, Sir! The Story of the ‘Boy’s Own Paper’ (Guildford, Surrey, UK: Lutterworth Press, 1982), 22.
- 8.
Flora Klickmann, “The Editor’s Page,” Girl’s Own Paper and Woman’s Magazine, October 1, 1908, 1.
- 9.
Kirsten Drotner, English Children and Their Magazines, 1751–1945 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988), 150.
- 10.
Drotner, English Children, 150.
- 11.
Dunae, “Origins,” 133.
- 12.
Quoted in Patrick Dunae, “The Boy’s Own Paper: Origins and Editorial Policies,” Private Library 9 (1976): 134
- 13.
Edward Salmon, Juvenile Literature as It Is (London: Henry J. Drane, 1888), 88.
- 14.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, May 23, 1908, 544.
- 15.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, January 16, 1909, 143.
- 16.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, January 31, 1880, 80.
- 17.
See Beth Rodgers, Adolescent Girlhood and Literary Culture at the Fin de Siècle: Daughters of Today (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) on girls’ reading communities as well as Kristine Moruzi and Natalie Coulter on community in the Girl’s Own Paper (“‘Suitable for Us Girls’: Subjectivity and Community in the Victorian Periodical Press,” in Mediated Girlhoods: New Explorations of Girls’ Media Culture, vol. 2, eds. Morgan Blue and Mary Celeste Kearney (New York: Peter Lang, 2018), 87–102).
- 18.
Michelle J. Smith, Empire in British Girls’ Literature and Culture: Imperial Girls, 1880–1915 (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 27.
- 19.
Cox, Take a Cold Tub, 20.
- 20.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, June 12, 1880, 383.
- 21.
“Note to Readers,” Boy’s Own Paper, July 24, 1880, 688.
- 22.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, June 2, 1888, 576.
- 23.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, August 7, 1880, 512.
- 24.
“Answers to Correspondents,” 512.
- 25.
Ibid.
- 26.
Ibid.
- 27.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, June 2, 1888, 576.
- 28.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, August 7, 1880, 512.
- 29.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, June 2, 1888, 576.
- 30.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, May 2, 1891, 496.
- 31.
Elizabeth Fox, “Victorian Girls’ Periodicals and the Challenge of Adolescent Autonomy,” Victorian Periodicals Review 51, no. 1 (Spring 2018): 48.
- 32.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, June 12, 1880, 592.
- 33.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, January 17, 1880, 48.
- 34.
“Answers to Correspondents,” 48.
- 35.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, September 19, 1885, 815.
- 36.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, September 12, 1885, 800.
- 37.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, July 4, 1885, 639
- 38.
Cynthia Patton, “‘Not a Limitless Possession’: Health Advice and Readers’ Agency in ‘The Girl’s Own Paper’, 1880–1890,” Victorian Periodicals Review 45, no. 2 (Summer 2012): 113.
- 39.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, July 3, 1880, 640.
- 40.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, February 24, 1883, 351.
- 41.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, July 7, 1883, 655.
- 42.
“Correspondence,” 655.
- 43.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, December 22, 1900, 192.
- 44.
“Correspondence,” 192.
- 45.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, February 7, 1880, 304.
- 46.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, July 31, 1880, 704.
- 47.
“Correspondence,” 704.
- 48.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, January 5, 1884, 224.
- 49.
“Answers to Correspondents,” 224.
- 50.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, June 5, 1880, 367.
- 51.
“Answers to Correspondents,” 367.
- 52.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, February 28, 1891, 352. “Answers to Correspondence,” Girl’s Own Paper, May 20, 1899, 544.
- 53.
“Correspondence,” 440.
- 54.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, November 10, 1888, 96.
- 55.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, September 4, 1880, 784.
- 56.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, January 6, 1883, 239.
- 57.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, October 13, 1883, 32.
- 58.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, July 28, 1900, 688.
- 59.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, January 11, 1890, 240.
- 60.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, March 3, 1894, 352.
- 61.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, September 15, 1900, 800.
- 62.
Ibid.
- 63.
Patton, “Not a Limitless Possession,” 114.
- 64.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, September 12, 1885, 800.
- 65.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, August 22, 1885, 751.
- 66.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, August 15, 1885, 736.
- 67.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, June 19, 1880, 400.
- 68.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, August 29, 1885, 768.
- 69.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, June 26, 1886, 624.
- 70.
“Correspondence,” 624.
- 71.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, July 19, 1890, 617.
- 72.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, June 12, 1880, 383.
- 73.
“Answers to Correspondents,” 383.
- 74.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, August 7, 1880, 511.
- 75.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, August 28, 1880, 560.
- 76.
See Joan Burstyn’s, Victorian Education and the Ideal of Womanhood (London: Croom Helm, 1980); M.C. Bradbrook’s, ‘That Infidel Place’: A Short History of Girton College, 1869–1969 (London: Chatto and Windus, 1969); Joyce Senders Pedersen’s, “The Reform of Women’s Secondary and Higher Education: Institutional Change and Social Values in Mid and Late Victorian England,” History of Education Quarterly 19, no. 1 (1979): 61–91.
- 77.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, September 25, 1880, 623.
- 78.
“Answers to Correspondents,” 623.
- 79.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, August 29, 1885, 767.
- 80.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, October 2, 1880, 14.
- 81.
“Answers to Correspondents,” 14.
- 82.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, October 2, 1880, 15.
- 83.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, August 22, 1885, 751.
- 84.
“Answers to Correspondents,” Girl’s Own Paper, September 11, 1880, 591.
- 85.
See Kristine Moruzi, “‘The Freedom Suits Me’: Encouraging Girls to Settle in the Colonies,” in Relocating Victorian Settler Narratives: Transatlantic and Transpacific Views in the Long Nineteenth Century, ed. Tamara Wagner (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), 177–192.
- 86.
“Correspondence,” Boy’s Own Paper, December 20, 1879, 192.
References
“Answers to Correspondents.” Girl’s Own Paper, January 1880–May 1891.
Bradbrook, M.C. ‘That Infidel Place’: A Short History of Girton College, 1869–1969. London: Chatto and Windus, 1969.
Burstyn, Joan. Victorian Education and the Ideal of Womanhood. London: Croom Helm, 1980.
“Correspondence.” Boy’s Own Paper, December 1879–January 1909.
Cox, Jack. Take a Cold Tub, Sir! The Story of the ‘Boy’s Own Paper’. Guildford, Surrey, UK: Lutterworth Press, 1982.
Drotner, Kristen. English Children and Their Magazines, 1751–1945. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988.
Dunae, Patrick. “The Boy’s Own Paper: Origins and Editorial Policies.” Private Library 9 (1976): 123–158.
Forrester, Wendy. Great-Grandmama’s Weekly: A Celebration of the Girl’s Own Paper 1880–1901. Guildford and London: Lutterworth Press, 1980.
Fox, Elizabeth. “Victorian Girls’ Periodicals and the Challenge of Adolescent Autonomy.” Victorian Periodicals Review 51, no. 1 (Spring 2018): 48–69.
Frost, Linda. Never One Nation: Freaks, Savages, and Whiteness in U.S. Popular Culture, 1850–1877. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005.
Hannabuss, Stuart. “Information Clinic: The Correspondence Column of the ‘Boy’s Own Paper’ in 1894–95.” Library Review 26, no. 4 (1977): 279–285.
Holt, Jenny. “The Textual Formations of Adolescence in Turn-of-the-Century Youth Periodicals: The ‘Boy’s Own Paper’ and Eton College Ephemeral Magazines.” Victorian Periodicals Review 35, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 63–88.
James, Allison. “Giving Voice to Children’s Voices: Practices and Problems, Pitfalls and Potentials.” American Anthropologist 109, no. 2 (June 2007): 261–272.
Klickmann, Flora, “The Editor’s Page.” Girl’s Own Paper and Woman’s Magazine 30 (1908): 1.
Moruzi, Kristine. “‘The Freedom Suits Me’: Encouraging Girls to Settle in the Colonies.” In Relocating Victorian Settler Narratives: Transatlantic and Transpacific Views in the Long Nineteenth Century, edited by Tamara Wagner, 177–192. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011.
Moruzi, Kristine, and Natalie Coulter. “‘Suitable for Us Girls’: Subjectivity and Community in the Victorian Periodical Press.” In Mediated Girlhoods: New Explorations of Girls’ Media Culture, vol. 2, edited by Morgan Blue and Mary Celeste Kearney, 87–102. New York: Peter Lang, 2018.
“Note to Readers.” Boy’s Own Paper, July 24, 1880, 688.
Patton, Cynthia. “‘Not a Limitless Possession’: Health Advice and Readers’ Agency in ‘The Girl’s Own Paper’, 1880–1890.” Victorian Periodicals Review 45, no. 2 (Summer 2012): 111–133.
Pedersen, Joyce Senders. “The Reform of Women’s Secondary and Higher Education: Institutional Change and Social Values in Mid and Late Victorian England.” History of Education Quarterly 19, no. 1 (1979): 61–91.
Rodgers, Beth. Adolescent Girlhood and Literary Culture at the Fin de Siècle: Daughters of Today. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
Sabbagh, Karl. Your Case Is Hopeless: Bracing Advice from the ‘Boy’s Own Paper.’ London: Hodder Murray, 2007.
Smith, Michelle J. Empire in British Girls’ Literature and Culture: Imperial Girls, 1880–1915. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
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Chen, SW.S., Moruzi, K. (2019). Children’s Voices in the Boy’s Own Paper and the Girl’s Own Paper, 1880–1900. In: Moruzi, K., Musgrove, N., Pascoe Leahy, C. (eds) Children’s Voices from the Past. Palgrave Studies in the History of Childhood. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11896-9_2
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