 Sarah
Josepha Hale
19th Century Editor/Author
By Anne Adams
While today we celebrate
Thanksgiving as an annual holiday or sing “Mary
Had a Little Lamb” we would probably never think
of the woman behind these American traditions.
Yet in the 1800s Sarah Josepha Hale was a major
figure not just as a prolific author but also
editor of perhaps the most influential women’s
magazines of her time. It was in this capacity
that she published many influential authors of
her day – both male and female – and all the
while stressing the importance of a woman’s role
as a homemaker and social arbiter. For while
Mrs. Hale was not a feminist by modern standards
and her opinions were standard for her era, she
was unique because she demonstrated a driving
ambition and entrepreneurial spirit unusual in a
woman of her time.
Sarah Josepha Hale was born in
New Hampshire in 1788, the daughter of a mother
who insisted on educating Sarah herself. Her
father was a Revolutionary War soldier whose
patriotism she absorbed, and she learned Latin
and philosophy from an older brother who
attended Dartmouth . This education enabled her
to teach for several years before she married
David Hale in 1813. For several years after her
marriage she was a homemaker while her husband
always encouraged her writing and studying.
David Hale’s unexpected death in 1822 left Sarah
with five children and no profession in a time
when respectable women could not “properly” earn
money – even if they needed to.
Sarah’s brother-in-law helped
her begin a millinery business but since her
real desire was to support herself with her
writing she dedicated her entire energy to that
end, publishing a volume of poetry in 1823,
followed by a novel in 1827. It was this latter
publication that persuaded Rev. John Lauris
Blake to ask her to become editor of a new
women’s magazine he was beginning in Boston .
While there had previously been several attempts
at “Ladies’ Magazines” which failed, this one
survived and prospered. In 1837 Louis A. Godey
acquired the publication and changed its name to
“Godey’s Ladies’ Book” and while Godey’s sales
skills helped, it was Sarah’s skill as an editor
and writer that assured its success. She
remained editor until she retired at age 89 in
1877 before her death two years later.
In her magazine, Sarah reflected
the general belief that women were not equal to
men, but actually superior and because they were
they should demonstrate this “superiority” by
inspiring men to greater purpose and
accomplishment in their private and public
lives. In her 1868 book Manners; or, Happy Homes
and Good Society All the Year Round she wrote
that woman “was the last work of creation. Every
step, from matter to man, had been in the
ascending scale. Was this last step downward?”
Yet women need not seek
political and social equality to exercise this
influence – in fact they did it best as wives
and mothers and to help her readers to do so
Sarah and her magazine encouraged the elevation
of the homemaker’s position. She always used the
term “domestic science” for the housewife’s job,
and encouraged this image in her cook books and
housekeeping guides. Yet while she was a great
advocate of higher education for women, as
demonstrated in her work in helping organizing
Vassar College , she was resolute in her belief
that the place of college-educated women was in
the home, not in the business world.
Another important book was
Woman’s Record; or, Sketches of All
Distinguished Women from the Creation to A.D.
1854, Arranged in Four Eras, with Selections
from Female Writers of Every Age. The book went
through three editions, and even to the modern
reader it is an amusing evidence of Sarah’s
personality. Sarah described many different
women in history, even malicious figures, but
not necessarily with condemnation. She described
Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia:
“Whatever might be her own irregularities, she
strictly discountenanced violations of decorum.”
Yet perhaps it could be said
that it was Sarah’s position as editor of such a
prestigious publication that she was able to
accomplish all she did, and it was in the pages
of her magazine that she contributed to the
literature of the time. She was one of the first
to publish Edgar Allen Poe, and became an
important sponsor of that troubled writer. She
also published Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow and Nathaniel Hawthorne as
well as prominent women authors, This included
such important figures as Lucretia Mott, Emma
Willard, Susan B. Anthony and other women
activists of the time.
Sarah also campaigned for
support of the Bunker Hill battle monument, the
preservation of Mount Vernon , and was a major
force behind the drive that ended with President
Abraham Lincoln’s institution of Thanksgiving as
a national holiday.
There had previously been officially proclaimed
days of thanksgiving, but Sarah began her
crusade for a regular national celebration early
in her editorial career. She worked hard to
encourage her 150,000 plus readers to join her
in petitioning their government leaders and
other public figures. For many years she
published a steady stream of petitions,
articles, and editorials requesting that the
last Thursday in November be established to
“offer to God our tribute of joy and gratitude
for the blessings of the year.”
Then in 1863 after the important
Union victory at Gettysburg national optimism
combined with Sarah’s energetic editorials
persuaded Lincoln to issue the proclamation on
October. 3, 1863 establishing the holiday.
Another contribution to American
folklore was her creation of the children’s
classic rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” When
Sarah heard of how a little girl’s pet lamb had
followed her to a country schoolhouse, she
created the verse and published it in the
September, 1830 issue of a children’s magazine
she edited. It endured as a classic and by 1857
had become so standard that it appeared as a
lesson in a McGuffey reader.
Though she may not be as
familiar as other writers of her time, Sarah
Josepha Hale was a major figure in publication
and literature of her time and as such he used
her influence for the benefit of both her
readers and her era.
A native of Kansas City ,
Missouri , Anne grew up in northwestern Ohio ,
and holds degrees in history: a BA from
Wilmington College , Wilmington , Ohio (1967),
and a MA from Central Missouri State University
, Warrensburg , Missouri (1968).
A freelance writer since the
early 1970s, she has published in Christian and
secular publications, has taught history on the
junior college level, and has spoken at national
and local writers' conferences. Her book
"Brittany, Child of Joy", an account of her
severely retarded daughter, was issued by
Broadman Press in 1987. She also publishes an
encouragement newsletter "Rainbows Along the
Way."
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