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Golden Days for Boys and Girls

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Golden Days for Boys and Girls was a late 19th-century children's story paper, distributed weekly as an accompaniment to the paper Saturday Night. Running from March 6, 1880, to May 11, 1907,[1] Golden Days cost subscribers $3 a year. It was the brainchild of newspaperman James Elverson (1838–1911), who later owned the Philadelphia Inquirer.[2][3][4][5]

The first printing of this paper had an output of three million copies, and by the second number, had 52,000 subscribers.[6] According to a newspaper advertisement in 1885, the 16 page weekly had a circulation above 70,000 by this year.[7] Another ad circa 1888 puts the number somewhere between 110,000 and 120,000 weekly sales, being distributed from coast to coast in the United States.[8]

Golden Days featured stories, activities and lessons which were mostly gender-specific, with separate stories appealing to boys and girls. Many of the stories were serialized over several issues; a measure designed to drive increased weekly sales. The themes largely involved school, athletics, westerns and the frontier, travel, exploration, adventure, the sea, and success stories.[9] The paper also included a weekly puzzle page, Puzzledom; a section for advice and responses to the young readers, the Letter Box; and a weekly Bible lesson and devotional titled "International Lessons", provided by such persons as Rev. D. P. Kidder, D. D. and Rev C. E. Strobridge, D. D.[7][8][10][unreliable source?] Certainly, this paper's contents catered to parents and clergymen, offering alternative material to the violence and debauchery of the 'blood and thunder' dime novels, such as those published by Frank Tousey and Norman Munro.

List of authors

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This is not a fully comprehensive list of authors.[9]

References

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  1. ^ Golden Days for Boys and Girls. [Philadelphia]: J. Elverson, 1880. searchworks.stanford.edu. 1880. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  2. ^ "Golden Days : for Boys and Girls". digital.library.villanova.edu. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  3. ^ Mott, Frank L. (December 2002). A History of American Magazines, 1865-1885. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674395527. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  4. ^ "Golden Days for Boys and Girls". suloas.stanford.edu. Archived from the original on 3 June 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  5. ^ Williams, Edgar (25 September 2009). "A brief history of The Inquirer". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  6. ^ Blanchard, Charles, ed. (1900). The Progressive Men of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Vol. II. Logansport, Ind.: A. W. Bowen & Co. p. 820. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  7. ^ a b Ford, Charles C. (1885). Chas. C. Ford's Newspaper Manual: Containing the Names Of...newspapers and Periodicals in the United States and Canadas... New Haven, CT: Chas. C. Ford, Newspaper Advertising Agent. p. 253. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  8. ^ a b Wanamaker, John (1888). Book News: A Monthly Survey of General Literature, Volume VI September 1887 to August 1888. Philadelphia. Retrieved 13 February 2015.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. ^ a b Cox, J. Randolph (May 30, 2000). The Dime Novel Companion: A Source Book. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 118. ISBN 0-313-25674-8. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  10. ^ Wiles, Kelly (Fall 2013). "Golden Days". Blue Electrode: Sparking between Silicon and Paper. Falvey Memorial Library, Villanova University. Archived from the original on 25 January 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
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