For over 70 years (1869-1942) Augusta was known as the mail-order magazine publishing capital of the country. Some seventeen titles were published here and circulation at its height reached, by some estimates, over three million. The magazines were mailed to subscribers all over the country and the volume prompted construction of a new post office at 295 Water Street, which opened in January of 1890. The major publications were mail-order magazines intended primarily for women--rural women in particular--but some included articles for men and children. Farm and literary magazines were other genres published in Augusta. Home and family life was the primary focus for the majority of the publications and included down-home advice on family life, decorating, business (raising chickens, for example), personal care, health, fashion, and the latest trends. Reading material, which included poetry, romantic fiction, short stories, and editorials, was part of the mix, but most prominently the magazines offered opportunities (and encouragement) for women to buy the numerous items advertised in the papers. Contests and competitions were part of the allure, and subscription rates were very cheap (and often not collected) because the magazines were handsomely supported by advertisements. A large circulation to increase the possibility of sales was the ultimate goal. Subscription clubs (at reduces rates) and premiums for subscribing or signing up others kept circulation high. The owners of the three major publishing companies, E. C. Allen, P.O Vickery, John F. Hill (who later became Governor of Maine), and William H. Gannett, all became very wealthy men.




Men such as Allen, Vickery, Hill, and Gannett were the owners, but this industry was also a woman’s business. The subscribers (and the purchasers of goods that supported the businesses that advertised) were women and (in 1900) women made up nearly half the workforce in this industry in Maine. While consistent and parallel data about this industry is not available, the following information gives us some understanding of women’s place in this industry. According to state labor statistics of 1900, 1,309 people worked in this particular publishing industry statewide [book publishing was tracked separately] and 615 (47%) were women. Men accounted for 664 workers (51%), and the remaining workers were identified as children (no gender data). Although the number of woman working specifically in Augusta is not known, if state trends held true, it is safe to assume that nearly half of the Augusta employees were women. In 1901, the newspaper and periodical printing and publishing industry was the tenth largest industry in the state. In 1906, it was the leading manufacturing industry in Augusta, accounting for 32% of all value of products in the city. Cotton manufacturing and the boot and shoe industry ranked next in order as important Augusta businesses. At one point, the yearly printing and publishing payroll in town was estimated at nearly a million dollars. In 1887, the statewide average daily pay for women in printing was $1.00; for men it was $1.62 _. An average week in 1887 would have been about 60 hours. Fifteen years later (in 1902), data for printing wages is not available, but the average weekly wage for women (in all industries) was $5.85 per week and $7.81 per week for men. Women who worked at 20 Willow Street (Gannett’s shop, which was across the river near City Center) in 1905 included: Florence N. Bailey, Lillian E. Bascombe, Lillian G. Bickford, and Mary L. Keegan. These, however, are only a few names from one year (out of seventy years) of the hundreds of women who worked in this industry in Augusta.

The earliest Augusta publication was People’s Literary Companion (1869-1907 - known as Companion), published by E. C. Allen, the pioneer of the mail-order periodical and the mastermind of the premium idea. The most successful publication, however, was Comfort (1888-1942), published by W. H. Gannett. Gannett originally established the magazine as a vehicle to sell “Oxien,” his patented nerve tonic. The magazine was phenomenally successful and achieved a circulation of over a million before 1900. By 1894, Gannett was printing his magazine in color, which undoubtedly added to its appeal.

Like the other publishers, Gannett offered premiums for subscriptions and his wife, Sadie Hill Gannet, contributed in this area. “Sadie’s Silken Shower of Satin Samples” (quilt squares of
silk remnants obtained from necktie factories) were popular as premiums. Sadie helped prepare the rewards, using her kitchen as a workroom.

Among the titles published in Augusta were Happy Hours, Hearth and Home, Good Stories, American Woman, Needlecraft, Farm World (by Vickery-Hill); Comfort (by Gannett); Home and Fireside Magazine, Peoples Illustrated Journal; Illustrated Family Herald, Thrifty Farmer, Farming World, National Farmer, Golden Moments, Sunshine, Daughters of America, and Practical Housekeeper (by Allen, then later by Gannett). [Gannett took over Allen’s publications in 1891.] Many of the contributors and editors of the periodicals were “from away,” but Gannett actually wrote a large portion of his own copy, the advertising and editorials, in particular. The publishing houses were at various sites in downtown Augusta. Gannett first published out of the Kennebec Journal building at the foot of Rines Hill, then at 20-26 Willow Street (now demolished, but a housing complex for the elderly occupies this site). At its height, the Allen company occupied two buildings at the intersection of Water and Winthrop streets, connected by underground tunnels (only 275 Water Street remains, now a café with offices on upper floors); and Vickery-Hill published out of buildings at Court and Chapel, but earlier occupied buildings on the present site of the YMCA at Winthrop and State. Vickery-Hill’s main office was at the Vickery building, 263 Water Street. The industry was curtailed significantly in 1907 because of changes in postal regulations, and by the 1940’s it was gone entirely. Further changes in postal regulations, the remote location of Maine, the establishment of retail stores, and the advent of the automobile were all factors that contributed to the mail-order magazine demise. This ad for the Chicago Mail Order Co. that appeared in the February 1920 issue of American Woman enticed women to purchase clothing at bargain prices through mail order. Advertisements of this type were the foundation of the economic success of the publishing industry in Augusta.

Site #14.1 Sources:

 

	Augusta, Maine Sesquicentennial. Special reprint of Daily Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine, Sesquicentennial Edition, Wednesday, July 30, 1947.
	Census Reports, Vol. VIII. Twelfth Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1900. Washington, D.C: U.S. Census Office, 1902.
	Hill, Henry F., Jr. Remembrances, Etc. of Gannett's Wood, Augusta, ME, 1966. [No publisher noted.]
	Douin, Anthony. Interviews by and conversations with Phyllis vonHerrlich, 17 March 2001, 31 August 2001, 18 September 2001, 28 September 2001, Augusta, Maine.
	Mott, Frank Luther. A History of American Magazines, 1865 - 1885. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1938.
	Reports of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics for the State of Maine. Annual Reports for 1887, 1903, 1906. [The reports are based on data from the previous year.]
	Resident and Business Directory of Kennebec County, Maine: Including Cities of Augusta, Gardiner, Hallowell, and Waterville. Auburn, ME: Merrill & Webber, 1906.
	Sayward, Dorothy Steward. Comfort Magazine: 1888-1942: A Historical and Critical Study. Orono, ME: University of Maine, 1960.
	Violette, Zachary. Downtown Augusta, Maine: A Brief Architectural and Historical Overview. Augusta, ME: Kennebec Historical Society.
	Zuckerman, Mary Ellen. A History of Popular Women's Magazines in the United States, 1792 - 1995. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.
	Zuver, Dudley. The Lengthened Shadow of a Maine Man. Freeport, ME: Bond Wheelwright Company, 1956.