Godey's Lady's Book

The Godey’s Lady’s Book preached the conservative ideals of the 19^th century; wholesomeness and domesticity, purity and reserved personalities and values of women during that time.

It propagated trending fashions, literature, and stories, mainly written by men. While Sarah J. Hale was the female editor of the male-run publication, she performed her role with the most restrained, dignified approach, sure not to go beyond what she honestly felt was the women’s place in the world.

Publisher Louis Godey shared her views, and the magazine exuded this perspective tenfold, through the context and subscriber list. It was a reinforcement of societal norms and behavior, and a guideline to the idea lifestyle for women at that time.

            While it kept women informed on current affairs, it was within the context of the significant of a women’s role to the United States. This was a period of transformation and progression—Godey’s responded to the upheaval by reinforcing a women’s role to provide stability during times of change.  

This reinforcement is evident through the drawings and articles of the publication. Barbara Welter’s Cult of True Womanhood refers to Godey’s Lady’s Book as a primary source when examining the four components of femininity—domesticity, piety, submission, and purity.

            Figure 4.1 embodies those four components—the woman is eagerly awaiting her husband’s return, while tending to their infant, amidst a clean and organized home. It symbolizes the structure that a woman should uphold—a stable environment for children and husband, an orderly home for the husband to return to after a long day at work.

 Figure 4.2 shows a female teacher, working to maintain her maternal values and exhibiting her experience.  She appears to be reflecting, perhaps in prayer, as she reviews books. Figure 4.5 portrays middle-class women going shoe shopping as a form of leisure, instead of necessity. This is an early indicator of the emerging consumer society that would become the staple of the American economy. The clerk is a male and looks over them, handling the transactions. The low-class female employee tends to the shoppers, who are lounging around in the store in luxury—reserved and submissive, pure and pious.