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In 1965, Helen Gurley Brown (1922-2012) assumed the top editing job at Cosmopolitan and transformed it from a failing title into one of magazine publishing's greatest successes. During an era of increasing publication specialization, Cosmopolitan was one of the few magazines to target and celebrate women's growing economic and social independence. Much of the scholarship on and critical appraisals of Brown and Cosmopolitan have focused on sexual politics and issues of taste. This paper takes an institutional approach by examining Brown's professional practices and how they contributed to Cosmopolitan's growth, profitability, and popularity: know your reader and always keep her in mind, prioritize good writing, and accommodate corporate and advertiser interests. In addition, it acknowledges Brown's role as a visionary editor and businesswoman, as well as Cosmopolitan's importance in magazine history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout her career, Jane Cunningham Croly (1829-1901), better known as "Jennie June," wrote extensively about women's rights in mainstream newspapers and magazines. This article revalues her work, considering the complexity of her journalistic stances on women's rights. Avoiding modern value statements that place cultural texts in hierarchal binaries of "liberal" or "conservative," it considers the motivation behind Croly's deployment of essentialist sex/gender logics. This study involved the historical analysis of more than sixty articles written by Croly about women's rights from 1855 until 1898, as well as additional primary sources that provided insight into her personal and professional lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]