War Widows Weekly, 1864

War Widows Weekly was a popular magazine in the North during the Civil War, and its motto "She is more to be pitied than cenusred" was later turned into a popular tune.  WWW, as it was known to its readership help War Widows to fill the empty void by by being widowed by the Civil War.  A terrible fate to befall a woman.  Easy come, easy go.

Primal Fashion, 25,000 BC

Why, with the world still fresh and warm from God's oven, and early man unaware of things like self -awareness and bromodosis, did the earliest humans need a fashion magazine? Because even early woman had a right to be beautiful.  From fashion to guest editor Cowen Cowie's five minutes of zen before a party, each issue of Primal Fashion packed more into a magazine than most could fit onto a stone tablet in cuniform.  Of course fashions and features change over time.  Today when we go clubbing, it has different meaning...a much different meaning, of course.

Worth Repeating: Empress Magazine, "Novembre", 1801

Copyright 2010 Stuart Koblentz

At some point we all have inner doubts.  Do we measure up to our own high standards?  Do we need to? Do we measure up to our subject's standards, such as they are? Do we even care? Whatever we may think of our subjects, when "putsch" comes to shove, will they die for us, or grab their favorite goat and go off until the coast is clear?

Such was the theme of the self-esteem issue of Empress Magazine in November 1801. Its one thing to be the Empress, its something all together different to be "tres fabulous"  in the esteemed halls of hallowed history.  So this issue looked at one Catherine II, a mousy little courtesan who went on to be the biggest thing that ever happened to sex until Xaviera took London!  And what made Catherine so "Great"?  Well according to the magazine, it was all in the careful selection of her lovers.  All 1,001 of them.

The Night is Half Gone, 1925

The Night is Half Gone, A Fortnightly Journal of the Cresent City was a popular periodical found in all proper homes.  As popular as it was, the magazine during its life was unable to educate people on the differences between a Beignet and Ben-Wa Dancing Eggs.   Upon the death of magazines, the periodical made the jump to web as a blog reaching an audience of romantics with fabulous taste and beefy desires.

MP MrPeenee Magazine

The forerunner to the popular blog of the same name, MrPeenee tackled the issues of the day, week and year.  In its April 1821 issue the magazine introduced the concept of the Brunch.  And the rest, as they say, is history, Bitches.

Modern Step Mother, 1948

Copyright 2010 SJ Koblentz

There are magazines such as Good Housekeeping and Better Homes & Gardens - magazines for the young homemaker, but what to do for the many, many women who find themselves in the awkward position of being a child's stepmother?  For these women, who walked a razors edge of being the wife their husband's desire, and a surrogate to the children that he had for a lousy excuse of a first wife, Modern StepMother was created in 1939. 

Modern StepMother picked up where HomeWreckers left off.  Each issue contained hints for women who never wanted children, but suddenly discovered that they had a nest full of whiney, bacteria laden kiddies to contend with.  One of the records that the magazine could crow about was that it contained more pages of advertisements for boarding schools, military acdemies, convent schools and homes for disturbed children than any other magazine.