Monday, August 29

Well, she was an American Girl

Boy howdy, was I mad when I saw there was an American Boy Day at the St. Louis World's Fair on July 5, 1904.

Excuse me, but what happened to American Girl Day?!

Upon further investigation  I discovered it was sponsored by a then-popular magazine called The American Boy. 

More investigation showed it to be two hours of speeches in Festival Hall.

Yawn.

The American Boy was a monthly magazine published from November 1899 to August 1941. At the time it was the largest magazine for boys, with a circulation of 300,000, and it featured action stories and advertising for the young boy.

In 1929
the magazine merged with its rival, Youth's Companion. (Hey, Laura Ingalls Wilder read that as a girl!)
 
Out of curiosity, I looked and Girl Scouts published a magazine from 1917 until 1979, originally called The Rally (1917–1920) and then The American Girl, with the The later being dropped.

At one time this magazine had the largest circulation of any magazine aimed at teen-aged girls.

(The American Girl is not to be confused with the currently published American Girl magazine. Launched in 1992, the new magazine reaches 470,000 girls every other month.)

I am now somewhat mollified since girls have better things to do than to sit around listening to speeches.

Like explore the World's Fair with friends and discover new foods....

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