GIVING THANKS FOR FASHION AND TURKEY

Imagine Anna Wintour campaigning President Biden to make the Met Gala a national holiday and you basically have Sarah Josepha Hale. A widowed mother of five children became American ladies' arbiter of taste and style. She wrote to every sitting president until one agreed and turned Thanksgiving into a national holiday. Her career spans 70 years, astonishing when women rarely held paying jobs outside the home. She also wrote a poem EVERYONE knows.

Sarah Josepha Buell, born in 1788, was raised by her parents to believe girls should be educated the same as boys. Sarah became a teacher. In 1813 she married David Hale. The couple had five children. David died in 1822 ; Sarah wore black the rest of her life. 

Sarah and her children moved to Boston in 1828. Sarah was asked to edit Lady's Magazine. The magazine was purchased by another magazine and merged to become Godey's Lady's Book. Godey's Lady's Book was the Vogue of the 1800s. (In the Little House on the Prairie books Caroline Ingalls is psyched one of the church barrels contains an issue of G L B .) 

Sarah Hale published work by women ; the magazine advocated for women's education and offered a column about women in the workforce. G L B was the arbiter of 1800s taste and style. Colored fashion plates were the first thing ladies would see in the magazine, so they would know what was new in fashion up front. Each issue contained sheet music for a recent popular song, and a pattern for some type of garment ladies could sew themselves. Women anywhere in the U. S.

could be au courrant in fashion, food, and home decor.

The magazine was not without controversy. A yearly subscription cost $3 - outrageous for the era. G L B Lost 1/3 of its subscribers for being neutral and  never mentioning the Civil war. But G L B showed women were an economic force. Instead of just offering clothing ideas by season or occasion, they offered clothes for individual activities - a walking suit or riding clothes. Women clamored to purchase any item any item G L B labeled as fashionable.

The magazine published work by leading intellectuals of the day. Poe had one of his earliest stories published in G L B, and the magazine printed work by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving. G L B heralded Queen Victoria as the ideal of feminine morality. The magazine regularly reported on royal life in London. A Christmas issue reprinted an image of the royal family (minus Q. V.'s crown and Prince Albert's mustache) gathered around a decorated Christmas tree. Most Americans had never seen a decorated tree, and so trees with decorations became an American Christmas standard.

Sarah Josepha Hale edited the magazine until her retirement at age 89 in 1877. She edited G L B for 40 years. Astonishing, when most women had difficulty finding writing jobs. Sarah Josepha Hale did more than just work at the magazine. She was instrumental in founding Vassar college. She published a book of poems for children featuring a verse called "Mary's Lamb," which became the tune "Mary Had a Little Lamb."  Thomas Edison spoke the first lines of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" as the first words ever put on a sound recording.

And, if you love turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, thank Sarah Josepha Hale that one day a year is dedicated to those specific delights. Thanksgiving was primarily celebrated in New England (cause, pilgrims) ; the holiday wasn't known at all in the south. Sarah Josepha Hale wrote letters to every President - for 17 years - until Lincoln wrote back. He proclaimed Thanksgiving as a national holiday in an effort to heal a post Civil War nation. And as for the aforementioned menu as the de rigeur dishes of the day? That came from a Sarah Josepha Hale novel. On this day give thanks for Sarah Josepha Hale.

SOURCES :

Sarah Josepha Hale. Wikipedia.

Godey's Lady's Book. Wikipedia.

Maranzani, Barbara. How the ‘Mother of Thanksgiving’ Lobbied Abraham Lincoln to Proclaim the National Holiday. History. 5 October 2023.

FURTHER MEDIA : 

Frey, Holly / Wilson, Tracy V., hosts. "Sarah Josepha Hale" Stuff You Missed In History Class, iheartradio,18 November 2023.