American Magazine
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The American Magazine was founded in June of 1906 stemming from failed publications that had been purchased a few years earlier from publishing mogul Miriam Leslie and operated between 1904 and August of 1905 as Leslie's Magazine then until May of 1906 as the American Illustrated Magazine.
In June of 1906, muckraking journalists Ray Stannard Baker, Lincoln Steffens, and Ida M. Tarbell left McClure's Magazine to help create American Magazine. Ray Stannard Baker contributed articles under the pseudynom David Grayson. Under John S. Phillips, who served as editor until 1915, the monthly magazine departed somewhat from the muckraking style and focused on human interest stories, social issues, and fiction. Initially published by his Phillips Publishing Company of Springfield, Ohio, it later was taken over by Crowell Publishing Company then merged to become Crowell-Collier who published it until its closure in 1956. With the changes in 1915, the magazine's editor was John M. Siddall (1915-1923) and it expanded its market considerably by concentrating on female readership. The cover of the September 1917 issue announced: "This Magazines Circulation Has Doubled in 20 Months" and the September 1922 cover stated that circulation had reached 1.8 million.
Merle Crowell served as editor of American Magazine from 1923 until 1929 when Sumner Blossom took over. Blossom, who had been editor of Popular Science, was there for the last twenty-seven years of the magazine's existence. Fictional serials and short storys were a popular feature and the magazine published several winners of the O. Henry Awards. Other high-profile persons also contributed articles on a variety of topics. Contributing writers included:
- Walter Lippmann
- William J. Locke
- Edison Marshall
- John A. Moroso
- Honore Willsie Morrow
- Kathleen Norris
- Vance Packard
- William Dudley Pelley
- General John J. Pershing
- Channing Pollock
- Olive Higgins Prouty
- Mary Roberts Reinhart
- Grantland Rice
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Upton Sinclair
- Rex Stout
- Booth Tarkington
- S. S. Van Dine
- H. G. Wells
- P. G. Wodehouse
- Harold Bell Wright
However, editor Sumner Blossom wanted to encourage new fiction writers and during the 1930s the magazine adopted the almost unheard of policy of hiding the author's name on all works of fiction during the selection process. Magazine staff only learned the author's identity once they accepted or rejected a manuscript.
The American Magazine ceased publishing in August of 1956.
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