American writer and editor (1788?1879)
Sarah Josepha Buell Hale
(October 24, 1788 – April 30, 1879) was an American writer, activist, and editor of the most widely circulated magazine in the period before the
Civil War
,
Godey's Lady's Book
.
[1]
She was the author of the
nursery rhyme
"
Mary Had a Little Lamb
". Hale famously campaigned for the creation of the American holiday known as
Thanksgiving
, and for the completion of the
Bunker Hill Monument
.
Early life and family
[
edit
]
Sarah Josepha Buell was born in
Newport, New Hampshire
, to Captain Gordon Buell, a Revolutionary War veteran, and Martha Whittlesay Buell. Her parents believed in equal education for both genders.
[2]
Home-schooled by her mother and elder brother Horatio (who had attended
Dartmouth
), Hale was otherwise an
autodidact
.
As Sarah Buell grew up and became a local schoolteacher, in 1811 her father opened a tavern called The Rising Sun in Newport. Sarah met lawyer David Hale the same year.
[3]
The couple married at The Rising Sun on October 23, 1813,
[3]
and ultimately had five children: David (1815),
Horatio
(1817), Frances (1819), Sarah (1820) and William (1822).
[4]
David Hale died in 1822,
[5]
and Sarah Josepha Hale wore black for the rest of her life as a sign of perpetual mourning.
[2]
[6]
Career
[
edit
]
In 1823, with the financial support of her late husband's Freemason lodge, Sarah Hale published a collection of her poems titled
The Genius of Oblivion
.
The Masonic movement
continued their support throughout her career.
[7]
Four years later, in 1827, her first novel was published in the U.S. under the title
Northwood: Life North and South
and in London under the title
A New England Tale
. The novel made Hale one of the first novelists to write a book about slavery, as well as one of the first American woman novelists. The book also espoused
New England
virtues as the model to follow for national prosperity, and was an immediate success.
[6]
The novel supported
relocating the nation's African slaves
to freedom in
Liberia
. In her introduction to the second edition (1852), Hale wrote: "The great error of those who would sever the Union rather than see a slave within its borders, is, that they forget the master is their brother, as well as the servant; and that the spirit which seeks to do good to all and evil to none is the only true Christian philanthropy." The book described how while slavery hurts and dehumanizes slaves absolutely, it also dehumanizes the masters and slows their world's psychological, moral and technological progress.
Reverend John Blake praised
Northwood
, and asked Hale to move to
Boston
to serve as the editor of his journal, the
Ladies' Magazine
.
[8]
She agreed and from 1828 until 1836 served as editor in Boston, though she preferred the title "editress".
[2]
The assignment drew praise from critic and feminist writer
John Neal
, who proclaimed in
The Yankee
"We hope to see the day when she-editors will be as common as he-editors; and when our women of all ages
... will be able to maintain herself, without being obliged to marry for bread."
[9]
Hale hoped the magazine would help in educating women, as she wrote, "not that they may usurp the situation, or encroach on the prerogatives of man; but that each individual may lend her aid to the intellectual and moral character of those within her sphere".
[6]
Her collection
Poems for Our Children
, which includes "
Mary Had a Little Lamb
" (originally titled "Mary's Lamb"), was published in 1830.
[10]
[11]
The poem was
written for children
, an audience for which many women poets of this period were writing.
[12]
Hale founded the Seaman's Aid Society in 1833 to assist the surviving families of Boston sailors who died at sea.
[13]
Louis Antoine Godey
of
Philadelphia
wanted to hire Hale as the editor of his journal
Godey's Lady's Book
. He bought the
Ladies' Magazine
, now renamed
American Ladies' Magazine
, and merged it with his journal. In 1837, Hale began working as editor of the expanded
Godey's Lady's Book
, but insisted she edit from Boston while her youngest son, William, attended Harvard College.
[14]
She remained editor at
Godey's
for forty years, retiring in 1877 when she was almost 90.
[15]
During her tenure at
Godey's
, several important women contributed poetry and prose to the magazine, including
Lydia Sigourney
,
Caroline Lee Hentz
,
Elizabeth F. Ellet
,
Eliza Cook
, and
Frances Sargent Osgood
.
[16]
Other notable contributors included
Nathaniel Hawthorne
,
Oliver Wendell Holmes
,
Washington Irving
,
James Kirke Paulding
,
William Gilmore Simms
,
Nathaniel Parker Willis
,
[17]
and
Edgar Allan Poe
,
[18]
During this time, she became one of the most important and influential arbiters of American taste.
[19]
In its day,
Godey's
, with no significant competitors, had an influence unimaginable for any single publication in the 21st century. Its readership was the largest of its day, boasting over 150,000 subscribers both North and South. Both Godey's and Sarah herself were considered the largest influences on American life of the day. She had many
famous quotes
of the day that espoused her way of thinking. The magazine is credited with an ability to influence fashions not only for women's clothes, but also in domestic architecture.
Godey's
published house plans that were copied by home builders nationwide.
During this time, Hale wrote many novels and poems, publishing nearly fifty volumes by the end of her life. Beginning in the 1840s, she also edited several issues of the annual
gift book
The Opal
.
Final years and death
[
edit
]
Hale retired from editorial duties in 1877 at the age of 89. The same year,
Thomas Edison
spoke the opening lines of "Mary's Lamb" as the first speech ever recorded on his newly invented
phonograph
.
[20]
Hale died at her home, 1413 Locust Street in Philadelphia, on April 30, 1879.
[21]
A blue historical marker exists at 922 Spruce St. She is buried in a simple grave in the
Laurel Hill Cemetery
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
[22]
Activist for women
[
edit
]
In her role as editor from 1852 Hale created a section headed "Employment for Women" discussing women's attempts to enter the workforce.
[13]
Hale also published the works of
Catharine Beecher
,
Emma Willard
and other early advocates of education for women. She called for play and
physical education
as important learning experiences for children. In 1829, Hale wrote, "Physical health and its attendant cheerfulness promote a happy tone of moral feeling, and they are quite indispensable to successful intellectual effort."
[23]
Hale became an early advocate of
higher education
for women,
[24]
and helped to found
Vassar College
.
[2]
Her championship of women's education began as Hale edited the
Ladies' Magazine
and continued until she retired. Hale wrote no fewer than seventeen articles and editorials about women's education, and helped make founding an all-women's college acceptable to a public unaccustomed to the idea.
[25]
In 1860,
Baltimore Female College
awarded Hale a medal "for distinguished services in the cause of female education".
[26]
Hale worked devotedly to uplift the historical memory of outstanding women. Among her 50+ books were several editions of
Woman's Record: Sketches of All Distinguished Women, from the Creation to A.D. 1854
(1855) it had 2500 entries that made an encyclopedic effort to put women at the center of world history. She interpreted the progress of history as based upon the development of Christianity and emphasized how essential women's morality was to Christianity, for she argued that the woman was "God's appointed agent of morality."
[27]
[28]
Beliefs
[
edit
]
Hale, as a successful and popular editor, was respected as an arbiter of taste for middle-class women in matters of fashion, cooking, literature, and morality.
[2]
In her work, however, she reinforced stereotypical gender roles, specifically domestic roles for women,
[6]
while casually trying to expand them.
[2]
For example, Hale believed that women shaped the morals of society, and pushed for women to write morally uplifting novels. She wrote that "while the ocean of political life is heaving and raging with the storm of partisan passions among the men of America... [women as] the true conservators of peace and good-will, should be careful to cultivate every gentle feeling".
[29]
Hale did not support
women's suffrage
and instead believed in the "secret, silent influence of women" to sway male voters.
[30]
Hale was a strong advocate of the American nation and union. In the 1820s and 1830s, as other American magazines merely compiled and reprinted articles from British periodicals, Hale was among the leaders of a group of American editors who insisted on publishing American writers. In practical terms, this meant that she sometimes personally wrote half of the material published in the
Ladies' Magazine
.
[
citation needed
]
In later years, it meant that Hale particularly liked to publish fiction with American themes, such as the frontier, and historical fiction set during the American Revolution. Hale adamantly opposed slavery and was strongly devoted to the
Union
. She used her pages to campaign for a unified American culture and nation, frequently running stories in which southerners and northerners fought together against the British, or in which a southerner and a northerner fell in love and married.
[
citation needed
]
Thanksgiving
[
edit
]
Hale may be the individual most responsible for making
Thanksgiving
a national holiday in the United States; it had previously been celebrated mostly in New England.
[31]
Each state scheduled its own holiday, some as early as October and others as late as January; it was largely unknown in the American South. Her advocacy for the national holiday began in 1846 and lasted 17 years before it was successful.
[32]
In support of the proposed national holiday, Hale wrote presidents
Zachary Taylor
,
Millard Fillmore
,
Franklin Pierce
,
James Buchanan
, and
Abraham Lincoln
. Her initial letters failed to persuade, but the letter she wrote to Lincoln convinced him to support legislation establishing a national holiday of Thanksgiving in 1863.
[33]
The new national holiday was considered a unifying day after the stress of the Civil War.
[34]
Before Thanksgiving's addition, the only national holidays celebrated in the United States were
Washington's Birthday
and
Independence Day
.
[35]
Hale's efforts earned her the nickname "Mother of Thanksgiving".
[36]
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History
curator of food history, Paula J. Johnson, claims that Hale was "key in bringing together and popularizing the Thanksgiving holiday with the menu featuring turkey and stuffing".
[37]
In her novel
Northwood: Or, a Tale of New England
, Hale devotes an entire chapter to describing the many dishes of Thanksgiving?roasted turkey, gravy and savory stuffing,
chicken pie
,
pumpkin pie
,
pickles
, cakes and preserves?and to drink
ginger beer
,
currant wine
and cider.
[38]
Legacy
[
edit
]
According to Mary Benson, American intellectuals considered Hale to be well within the bounds of propriety and certainly not a troublemaker. She appeared as a conservative who emphasized convention and promoted special and separate roles for women. Her opposition to suffrage alienated active feminists. She wanted to open up the professions, advising Vassar College to hire women instructors and administrators. Her success in publishing works by so many women enhanced the visibility of women authors. Benson says her editorial policy probably did more for the moral tone of her readers and for their literary judgment."
[39]
Hale also worked to preserve
George Washington
's
Mount Vernon
plantation, as a symbol of patriotism that both the Northern and Southern United States could all support.
[40]
Hale raised $30,000 in Boston for the completion of the
Bunker Hill Monument
.
[15]
[41]
When construction stalled, Hale asked her readers to donate a dollar each and also organized a week-long craft fair at
Quincy Market
.
[41]
Described as "'
Oprah
and
Martha Stewart
combined,'" Hale's organization of the giant craft fair at Quincy Market "was much more than a '
bake sale
'"?"refreshments were sold ... but they brought in only a fraction of the profit."
[41]
The fair sold handmade jewelry, quilts, baskets, jams, jellies, cakes, pies, and autographed letters from Washington,
James Madison
, and the
Marquis de Lafayette
.
[41]
[42]
Hale "made sure the 221-foot obelisk that commemorates the battle of Bunker Hill got built."
[41]
Liberty Ship
#1538 (1943?1972) was named in Hale's honor, as was a
New York City Board of Education
vocational high school on the corner of Dean St. and 4th Avenue in
Brooklyn, New York
. However, the school closed in June 2001.
A literary prize, the Sarah Josepha Hale Award, is named for her.
[43]
Notable winners of the Hale Award include
Robert Frost
in 1956,
Ogden Nash
in 1964,
Elizabeth Yates
in 1970,
Arthur Miller
in 1990, and
Julia Alvarez
in 2017.
[44]
Hale was further honored as the fourth in a series of historical
bobblehead dolls
created by the New Hampshire Historical Society and sold in their museum store in
Concord, New Hampshire
.
[45]
She is featured on a
New Hampshire historical marker
(
number 6
) along
New Hampshire Route 103
in Newport.
[46]
She is commemorated on the
Boston Women's Heritage Trail
.
[47]
A box of her correspondence, containing 28 folders, is in the collections of the
Athenaeum of Philadelphia
.
[48]
Selected works
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Rose, Anne C. (2004).
Voices of the Marketplace: American Thought and Culture, 1830?1860
. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, p. 75,
ISBN
978-0-7425-3262-5
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Howe, Daniel Walker.
What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815?1848
. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007: 608.
ISBN
978-0-19-507894-7
- ^
a
b
Parker, Gail Underwood.
More Than Petticoats: Remarkable New Hampshire Women
. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot, 2009: 25.
ISBN
978-0-7627-4002-4
- ^
Parker, Gail Underwood.
More Than Petticoats: Remarkable New Hampshire Women
. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot, 2009: 26?27.
ISBN
978-0-7627-4002-4
- ^
Douglas, Ann
.
The Feminization of American Culture.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977: 332.
ISBN
0-394-40532-3
- ^
a
b
c
d
Rose, Anne C.
Transcendentalism as a Social Movement, 1830?1850
. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981: 24.
ISBN
0-300-02587-4
- ^
David G. Hackett,
That Religion in Which All Men Agree: Freemasonry in American Culture
(U of California Press, 2015) pp 122-123.
- ^
Parker, Gail Underwood.
More Than Petticoats: Remarkable New Hampshire Women
. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot, 2009: 27?28.
ISBN
978-0-7627-4002-4
- ^
Fleischmann, Fritz (1983).
A Right View of the Subject: Feminism in the Works of Charles Brockden Brown and John Neal
. Erlangen, Germany: Verlag Palm & Enke Erlangen. p. 168.
ISBN
9783789601477
.
- ^
Nelson, Randy F.
The Almanac of American Letters
. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 283.
ISBN
0-86576-008-X
- ^
Wilson, Susan.
Literary Trail of Greater Boston
. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000: 24.
ISBN
0-618-05013-2
- ^
Watts, Emily Stipes. The Poetry of American Women from 1632 to 1945. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1978: 94.
ISBN
0-292-76450-2
- ^
a
b
O'Connor, Thomas H.
Civil War Boston: Home Front and Battlefield
. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1997: 8.
ISBN
1-55553-318-3
- ^
Parker, Gail Underwood.
More Than Petticoats: Remarkable New Hampshire Women
. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot, 2009: 29?30.
ISBN
978-0-7627-4002-4
- ^
a
b
Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. (1906)
The Literary History of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co.: 230.
- ^
Mott, Frank Luther.
A History of American Magazines
. Cambridge, MA: Published by Harvard University Press, 1930: 584.
- ^
Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson.
The Literary History of Philadelphia
. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906: 231.
- ^
Howe, Daniel (2007).
What Hath God Wrought
. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 608?611.
ISBN
978-0-19-539243-2
.
- ^
Douglas, p. 94.
- ^
Parker, Gail Underwood.
More Than Petticoats: Remarkable New Hampshire Women
. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot, 2009: 35.
ISBN
978-0-7627-4002-4
- ^
Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth.
The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States
. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982: 205.
ISBN
0-19-503186-5
- ^
"Sarah Josepha Hale"
.
www.thelaurelhillcemetery.org
. Laurel Hill Cemetery
. Retrieved
February 18,
2022
.
- ^
Park, Roberta J. "Embodied Selves: The Rise and Development of Concern for Physical Education, Active Games and Recreation for American Women, 1776?1865",
Sport in America: From Wicked Amusement to National Obsession
, David Kenneth Wiggins, editor. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1995: 80.
ISBN
0-87322-520-1
- ^
Von Mehren, Joan.
The Minerva and the Muse: A Life of Margaret Fuller.
Amherst, MA:
University of Massachusetts Press
, 1994: 166.
ISBN
1-55849-015-9
- ^
Vassar Female College and Sarah Josepha Hale ? Vassar College Encyclopedia
- ^
Parker, Gail Underwood.
More Than Petticoats: Remarkable New Hampshire Women
. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot, 2009: 31.
ISBN
978-0-7627-4002-4
- ^
Amanda W. Benckhuysen (2019).
The Gospel According to Eve: A History of Women's Interpretation
. InterVarsity Press. p. 159.
ISBN
9780830873654
.
- ^
Nina Baym, "Onward Christian Women: Sarah J. Hale's History of the World."
New England Quarterly
63.2 (1990): 249-270.
online
- ^
Riley, Glenda.
Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1825?1915
. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1984: 8.
ISBN
0-8263-0780-9
- ^
Parker, Gail Underwood.
More Than Petticoats: Remarkable New Hampshire Women
. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot, 2009: 33.
ISBN
978-0-7627-4002-4
- ^
Appelbaum, Diana Karter.
Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, An American History
. New York, Facts on File, 1984
- ^
Schenone, Laura
.
A Thousand Years Over A Hot Stove: A History Of American Women Told Through Food, Recipes, And Remembrances
. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004: 118.
ISBN
978-0-393-32627-7
- ^
Wilson, Susan.
Literary Trail of Greater Boston
. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 200: 23.
ISBN
0-618-05013-2
- ^
Schenone, Laura.
A Thousand Years Over A Hot Stove: A History Of American Women Told Through Food, Recipes, And Remembrances
. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004: 119.
ISBN
978-0-393-32627-7
- ^
Smith, Andrew F.
The Turkey: An American Story
. University of Illinois Press, 2006: 74.
ISBN
978-0-252-03163-2
- ^
"Thanksgiving 2020 ? Tradition, Origins & Meaning ? HISTORY"
.
www.history.com
. Retrieved
October 24,
2020
.
- ^
Barber, Casey (November 14, 2022).
"This is the best dish you could serve at Thanksgiving"
.
CNN
. Retrieved
November 14,
2022
.
- ^
Smith, Andrew.
Food and Drink in American History: A "Full Course" Encyclopedia
. ABC-CLIO. p. 914.
- ^
Mary S. Benson, "Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell," in John A. Garraty, ed.,
Encyclopedia of American Biography
(1975) pp. 466-467.
- ^
Howe, Daniel Walker.
What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815?1848
. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007: 609.
ISBN
978-0-19-507894-7
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Abby Goodnough, "Living History at National Landmarks: Championing An Unsung Hero",
New York Times
, National Section p. 10, Sunday, July 4, 2010. Found at
Times archives
. Accessed August 10, 2010.
- ^
Parker, Gail Underwood.
More Than Petticoats: Remarkable New Hampshire Women
. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot, 2009: 24.
ISBN
978-0-7627-4002-4
- ^
Sarah Josepha Hale Award
, Richards Free Library
- ^
"Hale Award Winners | Richards Free Library"
.
- ^
NH Historical Society
Archived
July 17, 2011, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"List of Markers by Marker Number"
(PDF)
.
nh.gov
. New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources. November 2, 2018
. Retrieved
July 5,
2019
.
- ^
"Sarah Josepha Hale"
.
Boston Women's Heritage Trail
.
- ^
"[Correspondence of Sarah Josepha Hale]"
.
WorldCat
. Retrieved
January 15,
2023
.
- ^
Etsuko Taketani, "Postcolonial Liberia: Sarah Josepha Hale's Africa."
American Literary History
14.3 (2002): 479-504.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Anderson, Laurie Halse.
Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving
. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002.
ISBN
0-689-85143-X
- Aronson, Amy Beth. "Domesticity and Women's Collective Agency: Contribution and Collaboration in America's First Successful Women's Magazine."
American Periodicals
11 (2001): 1-23
online
.
- Baym, Nina. "Onward Christian Women: Sarah J. Hale's History of the World",
The New England Quarterly
. Vol. 63, No. 2, p. 249. June 1990.
- Dubois, Muriel L.
To My Countrywomen: The Life of Sarah Josepha Hale.
Bedfored, New Hampshire: Apprentice Shop Books, 2006.
ISBN
978-0-9723410-1-1
- Finley, Ruth Elbright.
The Lady of Godey's
. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1931.
- Fryatt, Norma R.
Sarah Josepha Hale: The Life and Times of a Nineteenth-Century Woman
. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1975.
ISBN
0-8015-6568-5
- Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell.
Woman's Record: Or, Sketches of All Distinguished Women, from" the Beginning" Till AD 1850. Arranged in Four Eras. With Selections from Female Writers of Every Age
(Harper & brothers, 1876)
online
- Langston, Camille A. "Sarah Josepha Hale's Rhetoric of Mental Improvement and Women's Sphere in
Godey's Lady's Book
."
Popular Nineteenth-century American Women Writers and the Literary Marketplace.
Eds. Earl Yarington and Mary De Jong. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007: 118-136.
- Mott, Frank Luther.
A History of American Magazines
. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press
, 1968.
- Okker, Patricia
.
Our Sister Editors: Sarah J. Hale and the Tradition of Nineteenth-century American Women Editors
. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1995.
- Rogers, Sherbrooke.
Sarah Josepha Hale: A New England Pioneer, 1788-1879
. Grantham, New Hampshire: Tompson & Rutter, 1985.
ISBN
0-936988-10-X
- Ryan, Susan M. "Errand into Africa: colonization and nation building in Sarah J. Hale's Liberia."
New England Quarterly
68.4 (1995): 558-583
online
.
- Sommers, Joseph Michael. "Godey's Lady's Book: Sarah Hale and the Construction of Sentimental Nationalism."
College Literature
(2010): 43?61.
- Tonkovich, Nicole.
Domesticity with a Difference: The Nonfiction of Catharine Beecher, Sarah J. Hale, Fanny Fern, and Margaret Fuller
. Jackson, Mississippi:
University Press of Mississippi
, 1997.
ISBN
0-87805-993-8
External links
[
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]
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