Description
Book SynopsisThe Girl’s Own Paper, founded in 1880, both shaped and reflected tensions between traditional domestic ideologies of the period and New Woman values in the context of the figure of the New Girl. These selections from the journal demonstrate the efforts of its publisher (the Religious Tract Society) to combat the negative moral influence of sensational popular literature while at the same time addressing the desires of its audience for exciting reading material and information about topics mothers could not or would not discuss.
Selected fiction gives a rich sense of the conventions and the domestic ideology of the time; the nonfiction prose ranges from essays on conduct and household management to articles on new opportunities in education and work.
Trade Review“Overall, Selections from The Girl’s Own Paper constitutes a significant contribution to periodical research and will benefit scholars engaged in research concerning the New Woman or those examining issues of gender in the late Victorian era. In addition, the use of facsimile pages will be helpful to those interested in the graphic visual culture of the period.” — Amy C. Murphy, San Antonio College, in Victorian Periodicals Review
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Acknowledgements
Household Management
- Alice King, “Higher Thoughts on Housekeeping” (1884)
H., “How to Live on £100 a Year” (1886)
Phillis Browne, “The Brides First Dinner Party” (1887)
Emma Brewer, “Our Friends the Servants” (1893)
G. H. P., “The Queen at Home” (1894)
Mrs. Orman Cooper, “Queen Baby and Her Wants” (1896)
Anon., “London’s Future Housewives and Their Teachers” (1899)
G. C., “Good Mistresses” (1905)
Conduct
- Ardern Holt, “Etiquette for Ladies and Girls” (1880)
S. F. A. Caulfeild, “Etiquette for All Classes” (1881)
A Middle Aged Woman, “Unpopular Girls” (1886)
Countess de Boerio, “Some Marriage Thorns, and How to Avoid Them” (1893)
Margaret Bateson, “Paying Visits” (1902)
Gordon Stables, “To Girls in Their ‘Teens’” (1904)
Self-Culture
- James Mason, “How to Form a Small Library” (1880)
J. P. Mears, “How to Improve One’s Education” (1881)
Author of How to Be Happy Though Married, “Between School and Marriage” (1886)
Mrs. Molesworth, “On the Use and Abuse of Fiction” (1892)
Dora de Blaquiere, “Magazine and Book Clubs, and How to Manage Them” (1892)
Lily Watson, “Self-Culture for Girls” (1899)
Lady Dunboyne, “Study” (1905)
Education
- J. A. Owen, “Girton College” (1880)
E. A. L. K., “The North London Collegiate School for Girls” (1882)
Emma Brewer, “The Girls of the World: Facts and Figures” (1885)
A Lady Graduate, “Presentation Day at London University” (1898)
Lily Watson, “The Battersea Polytechnic” (1904)
Anon., “Pitman’s Metropolitan School” (1904)
Lena Shepstone, “Gardening as a Profession for Girls” (1905)
Work
- Anon., “Female Clerks and Book-Keepers” (1880)
A Nursing Sister, “The Unvarnished Side of Hospital Nursing” (1888)
Anon., “The Struggles of a Lady Journalist” (1888)
“My Daily Round: A Competition for All Girls Who Work With Their Hands” (1896)- First Prize: Locomotive-Tracer
Second Prize: Pottery-Painter
Third Prize: Shirt-Maker
Fourth Prize: Lace-Maker
Fifth Prize: General Servant
- “Competition for Professional Girls: The Five Prize Essays” (1897)
- First Prize: Hospital Nurse
Second Prize: Folklore Collector
Third Prize: Musician
Fourth Prize: Writer/Editor
Fifth Prize: Post-Mistress
- R. Kathleen Spencer, “Pharmacy as an Employment for Girls” (1899)
Florence Sophie Davson, “Women’s Work in Sanitation and Hygiene” (1899)
Alix Joson, “Domestic Service as a Profession for Gentlewomen” (1902)
Margaret Bateson, “Girls and Their Employers” (1902)
Anon., “House-Decoration: A New and Remunerative Employment for Girls” (1903)
Independent Living
- A Young Gentlewoman, “Sixty Pounds per Annum, and How I Live Upon It” (1888)
S. F. A. Caulfeild, “Women’s Clubs in London” (1890)
V., “A Home-Made Shower-Bath” (1893)
Josepha Crane, “Living in Lodgings” (1895)
Anon., “How I Furnished My Bed-Sitting-Room for Twelve Pounds” (1902)
Flora Klickmann, “A New Hostel for Women” (1903)
Health and Sports
- Mrs. Wallace Arnold, “The Physical Education of Girls” (1884)
The Lady Dressmaker, “Reform in Underclothing” (1887)
Anon., “Ladies’ Golf” (1890)
Medicus, “Nervous Girls” (1893)
Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, “On Recreations for Girls” (1894)
Dora de Blaquiere, “The Dress for Bicycling” (1895)
H. M. Pillans, “Lawn-Tennis” (1900)
Lily Watson, “Athleticism for Girls” (1902)
