Little Folks Magazine
June 1912 cover
EditorElla Farman Pratt, Charles Stuart Pratt, Margheritta Osborn Osborne
CategoriesChildren’s magazine
FrequencyMonthly
PublisherS. E. Cassino
First issue1897 (1897)
Final issue1926 (1926)
CountryUnited States

Little Folks was a monthly United States children's magazine for young readers[1] from three to twelve years-old.[2] It was founded by publisher Samuel E. Cassino, and was published between November 1897 and 1926 – originally in Boston,[3] but was later relocated to Salem, Massachusetts.[4]

Editors

Ella Farman Pratt was co-editor from 1897 until shortly before her death in 1907.[5] From 1897 until 1909 Charles Stuart Pratt was co-editor, and then editor, of Little Folks, until illness prevented him from working.[6] Until at least 1912 the Little Folks Contents page stated "Edited from foundation to May, 1909, by Charles S. and Ella Farman Pratt."[7] The Pratts had previously edited the children’s magazine Wide Awake from 1875 to 1891.[8]

The final editor was Margheritta Osborn Osborne, daughter of publisher Samuel E. Cassino. She had edited Everyday Housekeeping from 1908 to 1910.[9]

Format

Little Folks averaged 46 one-column pages, with advertising sections at the front and back of each issue. No advertising appeared amongst the stories. Every volume began in November, and all successive issues of a volume continued numbering pages where the last issue ended its numbering. For example, if the May issue ended with page 238, the June issue began with page 239.[10] For many years the magazine subscription price was one dollar a year,[11] but over time the price increased to two dollars a year.[12]

Content

The magazine was well-illustrated with drawings and photographs. Each issue contained short stories, articles, poems, and serialized stories. Readers' letters about their charitable endeavors were printed on a page originally called Lend-a-Hand Society, and then changed to Little Folks Helping Hand Society. A feature entitled Play Department gave instructions for making simple paper or cardboard toys and crafts.[10]

A regular feature was a two-page picture story for the youngest readers. Each story contained dozens of small illustrations that were used in place of a printed word.[1]

In 1915 advertisements were placed in newspapers offering new subscribers six issues of Little Folks, plus a wren house, for forty cents. The ads stated the magazine contained "fairy stories, nature stories, stories of real children, stories of make-believe children, new games to play, colored cut outs, and pictures to color with paints or crayons."[13][14]

Starting in 1920 Little Folks was subtitled Something to Do for Boys and Girls. New features were added including instructions for items to make, book reviews, nature study and animal stories.[1]

Other Little Folks periodicals

Little Folks was a British magazine for the young published by Cassell, and based in London, England. It was published from 1871 to 1933.[15]

Edward Eggleston published an eight-page Sunday School paper entitled Little Folks, which was distributed monthly, and was published from 1869 to 1877.[16]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kelly, R. Gordon, Children's Periodicals of the United States, pages 282 - 285, Greenwood Press, 1984
  2. ↑ A Word From The Publisher of Little Folks Magazine, Little Folks, June, 1912, unnumbered advertising page
  3. ↑ The Writer, November, 1897, page 172, Boston
  4. ↑ Little Folks Magazine, March, 1911, front cover publishing information
  5. ↑ Obituary of Ella Farman Pratt, New York Tribune, May 24, 1907, page 8
  6. ↑ Charles Stuart Pratt (death notice), Kearsarge Independent and Times (Warner, N.H.), April 8, 1921
  7. ↑ Contents page, Little Folks, June, 1912, no page number shown
  8. ↑ The Story of Wide Awake, page 196, Wide Awake, August 1893
  9. ↑ Marquis, Albert Nelson, Who’s Who in New England, page 806, A. N. Marquis, 1915
  10. 1 2 Seven Little Folks issues, March 1911 through June 1912
  11. ↑ Little Folks, January 1902, front cover
  12. ↑ Little Folks, July 1925, front cover
  13. ↑ Will You Put Up This Wren House? (Ad), The Bronson Pilot (Branson, Kansas), April 2, 1915, page 4
  14. ↑ Will You Put Up This Wren House? (Ad), The Eufaula Republican (Eufaula, OK), May 21, 1915, page 3
  15. ↑ "Little Folks archives". onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu.
  16. ↑ Pflieer, Pat, American Children's Periodicals, 1789-1872 (Kindle Edition), location 9745 to 9763, Merrycoz Books, 2016
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