Hale, Sarah Josepha (Buell)

Hale, Sarah Josepha (Buell), 1788–1879, American author, editor, and feminist, b. near Newport, N.H. In 1828 she became editor of the Ladies' Magazine, Boston, and in 1837 of Godey's Lady's Book, Philadelphia, where she remained over 40 years. The illustrated Lady's Book strongly influenced fashions and manners of her day. Mrs. Hale cultivated female authors and constantly urged the higher education of women. She also advocated a national Thanksgiving holiday. Her poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb" was published in her Poems for Our Children (1830).

Bibliography

See O. W. Burt, First Woman Editor (1960).