Selections from The Girl's Own Paper, 1880-1907 (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Selections from The Girl's Own Paper, 1880–1907 Amy C. Murphy (bio) Terri Doughty , ed., Selections from The Girl's Own Paper, 1880–1907 (Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2004), pp. x+184, $24.95 paper. Terri Doughty's collection of selections from The Girl's Own Paper represents an important contribution to New Woman scholarship as well as [End Page 75] gender studies in the Victorian period. The collection contains material previously unavailable to scholars except through archival research. Doughty usefully organizes the wide range of subjects printed in The Girl's Own Paper in several sections, including Household Management, Conduct, Self-Culture, Education, Work, Independent Living, and Health and Sports. In addition, the articles from the periodical are printed as facsimile pages, offering scholars a true sense of what the paper was like for its audience to read: photographs, illustrations, articles on domestic economy, job opportunities for young women, advice columns, and letters all jostle for attention on its pages. The strength of Doughty's collection is that it brings to light the evolving status of women in the late Victorian period, as well as a sense of how the culture could productively assimilate unattached women of marriageable age. In addition, it gives specialists and generalists alike a glimpse into what Doughty terms "girl culture." As Doughty points out in her introduction, The Girl's Own Paper numbered among a variety of publications that targeted a similar audience of young women. Journals such as the Young Englishwoman and Young Ladies' Journal "established a format of mixed short fiction, serial romance, fashion reviews, and articles on household management" (7). These periodicals catered to the interests and concerns of young women, yet also by functioning prescriptively to define their interests and their values, these publications demonstrate the qualities and traits of ideal girls. As Doughty notes, The Girl's Own Paper pushed this further, since it was founded on the purpose of educating and training girls in the "domestic virtues" as well as helping to prepare them for "the responsibilities of womanhood and for a heavenly home." In targeting an audience of lower-and middle-class women, the Paper devotes itself to managing female energies, which, without productive outlets, might constitute a disordering social element. The articles and columns center on domestic management, employment, and suitable leisure activities. Doughty notes that the publication reflects conservative impulses; in light of its publication by the Religious Tract Society, this is not surprising. However, as she also indicates, the magazine also represents a certain kind of progressiveness, in that it "cater[s] to the New Girl's desire for guidance on how to negotiate the changing social status and identity of women" (9). Indeed, the progressive nature of some of the material included in the periodical represents a compelling aspect of these pieces. Scholars will be fascinated, for example, by accounts provided by female workers in a variety of professions. In the section entitled "Work," the accounts included offer scholars a sense of how working women in the period viewed themselves as workers, as well as work itself. Most of these women speak of the necessity to work to support themselves, describing [End Page 76] it as "noble" service, and ultimately as service to their Christian principles and God. Clearly, through casting work in these terms, female workers were able to make sense of their roles as workers in a society uneasy with the implications of female employment. In addition, many of these workers note that they spend their leisure time performing charitable acts for those less fortunate, such as volunteering to care for the sick or sewing for the poor. In this way, it seems that female workers assuage anxiety about the meaning of their employment; almost universally, these accounts show that women work not to fulfill any personal aims or desires, but for the greater good. Also of note are the sections entitled "Self-Culture" and "Independent Living." "Self-Culture" provides advice to young women on how to form a library, the value of study, and the value of demonstrating educational attainments appropriately. On the one hand, "Self-Culture" in general advocates that women attain just enough knowledge to represent...