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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper The Ladies' Garland (Harpers-Ferry, Va. [W. Va.]) 1824-1828

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About The Ladies' Garland (Harpers-Ferry, Va. [W. Va.]) 1824-1828

The people of Harpers Ferry knew they could trust John S. Gallaher to produce excellent content when he first published the Ladies’ Garland in 1824. The esteemed editor had already assumed the task of publishing the Harpers Ferry Free Press, the predecessor of the Virginia Free Press and Farmers’ Repository and the Virginia Free Press. He printed The Ladies’ Garland in the same office as the Harpers Ferry Free Press for a subscription fee of $1.50 per annum. The Ladies’ Garland was not a political newspaper like its companion. Only the second of its kind in America, the Ladies Garland offered an array of poems and short stories written by men and women for young ladies. The depictions of women in The Ladies’ Garland were supremely romantic and gendered; they emphasized a woman’s duty to man and her unparalleled love for children. The fair maiden in The Ladies’ Garland was always virtuous and innocent, destined for a life of marriage and motherhood unless misfortune befell her. “Why, indeed, had woman her existence, but to dignify and ennoble it by such superior employments?” one article asked. “When does she appear to so much advantage, as when, surrounded in her nursery by a train of prattlers, she is holding forth the moral page for the instruction of one, and pouring out the milk of health to invigorate the frame and constitution of another?” (February 14, 1824). The ideal woman according to The Ladies’ Garland was a republican mother who inculcated the values of American citizenship in her children.

Gallaher explained in his first issue that his object was to entertain rather than to instruct American women. “Yet, with all the deference due to the sex,” he admitted, “we will presume, occasionally, to spread before them precepts for their government, examples for their imitation, and models for their improvement” (February 14, 1824). Gallaher filled The Ladies’ Garland with advice columns and didactic tales of feminine genius and woe. One such article, titled “The Snares of Personal Beauty,” urged women to eschew physical vanity. “Be assured, the man who wishes to render you vain of your outward charms, has a mean opinion of your sense and mental qualifications,” the author warned. “Remember, too, that a young girl, vain of her beauty, and whose chief study and employment is the decoration of her person, is a most contemptible character” (January 22, 1825). All too often the youthful beauties featured in The Ladies’ Garland suffered at the hands of deceitful men who flattered their appearances. The story of “Julia—The Seduced” recounted the sad plight of Julia, who tumbled to her death in pursuit of her falling child. She had raised the young babe alone, abandoned by her fickle paramour, having been “left a desolate, yet lovely ruin, to struggle with the world’s cold charity” (February 14, 1824). Her apocryphal tale offered a warning to American women: beware those fiends of seduction and the horrible fates they bring.

Gallaher maintained a consistent printing schedule until February 10, 1827. He suspended The Ladies’ Garland for a total of three months; he did not resume printing until May 1827. Gallaher published new issues of The Ladies’ Garland for another year before ending its run on June 7, 1828. The women of Harpers Ferry probably felt its loss, but Gallaher did not despair. The Ladies’ Garland was just the beginning of a career that would span more than half a century.

Provided By: West Virginia University

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Ladies' Garland (Harpers-Ferry, Va. [W. Va.]) 1824-1828

Dates of Publication

  • 1824-1828

Created / Published

  • Harpers-Ferry, Va. [W. Va.] : John S. Gallaher, 1824-1828.

Headings

  • -  Harpers Ferry (W. Va.)--Newspapers
  • -  Jefferson County (W. Va.)--Newspapers
  • -  West Virginia--Harpers Ferry
  • -  West Virginia--Jefferson County
  • -  United States--West Virginia--Jefferson--Harpers Ferry

Genre

  • Women's periodicals
  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Feb. 14, 1824)-v. 4, no. 52 (June 7, 1828).
  • -  Publication suspended Feb. 10-May 12, 1827.
  • -  Issues for Feb. 28 and Mar. 27, 1824 dated in error 1825.
  • -  Available on microfilm from UMI; also available online.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.

Medium

  • volumes ; 28 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper
  • AP2 .L28

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn85059803

OCLC Number

  • 11283681

ISSN Number

  • 2995-1453

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Ladies' Garland Harpers-Ferry, Va. W. Va. -1828. (Harpers Ferry, WV), Jan. 1 1824. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn85059803/.

APA citation style:

(1824, January 1) The Ladies' Garland Harpers-Ferry, Va. W. Va. -1828. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn85059803/.

MLA citation style:

The Ladies' Garland Harpers-Ferry, Va. W. Va. -1828. (Harpers Ferry, WV) 1 Jan. 1824. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn85059803/.