Vigo County Historical Society

‘Delineator’ forerunner of today’s magazines

One of the "perks" of being on the staff at the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley is being able to browse inside the furnished rooms.

There are so many "treasures" placed here and there that visitors cannot examine. When I was in the dressmaker’s room the other day, I found a delightful magazine and I would like to share it with you.

It is a September 1901 copy of a fashion magazine called The Delineator, which was published by the Butterick Publishing Company and sold for 5 cents a copy or $1 per year.

The Delineator always used, on its cover, a lady in an oval frame. This issue shows a model wearing a fashionable dark-green suit.

The big fashion news for autumn and winter was the revival of the habit back skirt. This skirt was very fitted ad the waist, flared at the bottom, touched the floor, often longer in back.

Other popular fashions for the season were bolero jackets, and collars that were high and stiff on dress waists and broad and flat on jackets and cloaks. Boas were an "indispensable accessory." Tricorne-shapes hats and those made with ostrich feathers were vary good, but the startling hat of the season was bright parrot green with a green bird on one side and a bow of vivid green velvet.

While primarily a fashion magazine, The Delineator was attuned to women’s issues. Some columns were "Women’s Colleges of the U.S.," "Employment for Women," and "The Social Code."

In this issue, introductions were discuss in "The Social Code." Readers were instructed: "Before making an introduction, it is customary for a gentleman to ask some mutual friend to present him to a lady at any social gathering, and her wishes should be ascertained by the friend, the lady having the option of declining the introduction."

There weren’t as many advertisements as there are in today’s magazines. Corset makers were prominent advertisers. One maker promised to reduce the abdomen by 2 to 6 inches. Another was approved and endorsed by physicians and health reformers. The Chicago Corset Company stated that "Ladies sin against themselves in failing to note the Fall line of the Kabo Corset." The popular price was around $2.50.

The Delineator was published from 2872 to 1937. Its circulation expanded from 25,000 to 2 million when it was combined with the Pictorial Review.

It is of interest locally to note that Theodore Dreiser became the editor of The Delineator in 1907. Contrary to what one might expect from the novelist, he instructed illustrators never to photograph a man smoking, or show a glass of wine on a table. It was said that no detail escaped his vigilant eye.

Under his leadership, the traditional editorial policy changed somewhat. The magazine became a crusader for or against various social problems, such as divorce, women’s suffrage, the high cost of living, the decline of the churches and underprivileged children. It seems particularly interesting that a campaign against untrustworthy food was started.

The Delineator prided itself in "resenting a list so varied that the most diverse tastes must find something of interest." In reading the magazine, it is surprising how similar the format is to ladies’ magazines of the present. Indeed, it could be called the forerunner of today’s women’s magazines.

Warren Yeager, who lived in Farmersburg, gave this magazine to the museum.