Peter
Collier
founded the periodical,
Collier's Once a Week
in
April 1888. It was advertised as a magazine of "fiction, fact,
sensation, wit, humour, news". By 1892 it had a circulation of
over 250,000 and was one of largest selling magazines in the
United
States
.
In 1895 its name was changed to
Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated
Journal
. The magazine now concentrating on news and became a leading
exponent of the half-tone news picture. To fully exploit this new
technology,
Peter Collier
recruited
James H. Hare, one of the pioneers of photo-journalism.
Norman Hapgood
became editor of
Collier's
Weekly
in 1903. He developed a reputation of employing the country's
leading writers. In May, 1906, he commissioned
Jack
London
to report on the
San Francisco
earthquake. As well as London's account there were sixteen pages of
pictures.
Under Hapgood's guidance,
Collier's Weekly
became involved
in what became known as
muckraking
journalism.
The most important of these writers who contributed to the journal
during this period included
Ida Tarbell
,
C. P. Connolly
,
Samuel
Hopkins Adams
and
Ray Stannard Baker
.
Campaigns instigated by
Norman Hapgood
involved the direct election of senators, reform of the child labour
laws, slum clearance and votes for women. In April 1905, an article
by
Upton Sinclair
,
Is Chicago Meat Clean
,
helped to persuade the Senate to pass the Pure Food and Drugs Act
(1906) and the Meat Inspection Act (1906).
In October, 1905,
Samuel Hopkins Adams
began a series of eleven articles
The Great American Fraud
in
Collier's Weekly
. Adams analyzed the contents of some of
the country's most popular medicines. He argued that many of the companies
producing these medicines were making false claims about their products.
Adams went on to point out that is some cases, these medicines were
actually damaging the health of those people using them.
The Great
American Fraud
had a tremendous impact on public opinion and resulted
in the passing of the Pure Food and Drugs Act (1906).
The passing of the the Pure Food and Drugs Act (1906) and the Meat
Inspection Act (1906) helped to establish
Collier's Weekly
as an agency of social reform. When attempts by various companies
to sue
Peter Collier
ended in failure,
other magazines became involved in what
Theodore
Roosevelt
unkindly described as
muckraking
journalism.
Norman Hapgood
left for
Harper's
Weekly
in 1912.
Robert Collier
,
son of the founder, became the new editor. Circulation continued to
grow and by 1917 circulation had reached a million. During this period
Collier's Weekley began to employ top illustrators such as
Will
Bradley
,
Sam Berman
,
Joseph
Leyendecker
and
Maxfield Parrish
.
By the late 1920s
Collier's Weekly
began to concentrate on
the serialization of novels. Produced in about ten parts, the magazine
ran two novels at a time. Non-fiction was also serialized, including
an account of the
First World War
by
Winston
Churchill
. In the 1930s Churchill was a regular contributor to
Collier's
but this came to an end in 1938 when he became a
minister in the British government.
During the
Second World War
the circulation
of
Collier's
had reached 2,500,000. One of the reasons for
the magazine's increased popularity was the art work of
Arthur
Szyk
. The magazine also employed the services of outstanding writers
such as
Martha Gellhorn
and
Ernest
Hemingway
.
Circulation of
Collier's
began to fall after the war and in
August 1953 it changed from a weekly to a fortnightly magazine. Collier's
continued to lose money and in January, 1957, the Crowell-Collier
Publishing Company decided to close the magazine down.
(1)
Samuel
Hopkins Adams
,
Collier's Weekly
(October, 1905)
Seventy-five million dollars
a year is a moderate estimate of the volume of business done by pseudo-medical
preparations which "eradicated" asthma with sugar and water,
"soothed" babies with concealed and deadly opiates, "relieved"
headaches through the agency of dangerous, heart-impairing, coal-tar
drugs, "dispelled" catarrh by cocaine mixtures, enticing
to a habit worse than death's very self, and "cured" tuberculosis,
cancer, and Bright's disease with disguised and flavoured whiskies
and gins.
(2)
In
his book,
The Era of the Muckrakers
,
C.
C. Regier wrote about the importance of
Collier's Weekly
(1932)
At the very outset
Collier's
adopted a liberal editorial policy, but it was not until 1905 that
it began to publish muckraking articles. By 1909 it had a circulation
of half a million copies a week, and by 1912 it passed the million
mark. Although chiefly devoted to fiction, the magazine published
fearless editorials, articles, and cartoons, and in the latter half
of the muckraking decade it assumed the position of leadership which
McClure's
had held for the first four or five years.
(2)
The Nation
(8th May, 1937)
At the height of his powers as editor of
Collier's
weekly during
the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt and President Taft,
Norman Hapgood exercised great public influence. A man of real ability
and the finest character, without selfish ambitions, he soon found
himself with a tremendous following.
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