Periodicals for Women in Mexico During the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

Colonial Spanish America would have found the idea of publishing a periodical directed toward a feminine audience alien. Yet the colonial period was not long over when such periodicals began to appear in Mexico. Typical of those published in the period 1841–1855 were El Semanario de las señoritas mejicanas (3 vols.; México, 1841–1842) and La Semana de las señoritas mejicanas (5 vols.; México, 1851–1852). They have been examined in detail to determine what appeal the fledglings tried to make to Mexican society. El Album mexicano (2 vols.; México, 1849), La Camelia (México, 1853), El Album de las señoritas potosinas (San Luis Potosí, 1865) and, as examples of a later type, El Album de la mujer (Mexico, 1883–1890) and El Correo de las señoras (México, 1883–1893) have been used to supplement the information. While none of them achieved the success of Godey’s Lady’s Book which by 1860 claimed a circulation of 150,000, they did show that in the nineteenth century some publishers in Mexico were concerned with woman’s edification, education, and entertainment through reading.