Home > Collier's Weekly

The periodical was founded as Collier's Once a Week in April 1888 as a magazine of "fiction, fact, sensation, wit, humor, news" by Peter Collier (1849-1918), an Irish immigrant who left Ireland when he was seventeen years old and founded a company producing books for the Roman Catholic market. 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 decided to focus primarily 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 photojournalism.

Norman Hapgood became editor of Collier's Weekly in 1903 and attracted many leading writers. In May, 1906, he commissioned Jack London to report on the San Francisco earthquake. His report was accompanied by sixteen pages of pictures.

Under Hapgood's guidance, Collier's Weekly began publishing the work of investigative journalists such as Ida Tarbell, C.P. Connolly, Samuel Hopkins Adams and Ray Stannard Baker. It had great impact, resulting in such changes as the reform of the child labor laws, slum clearance and women's suffrage. In April 1905, an article by Upton Sinclair, "Is Chicago Meat Clean?", helped to persuade the Senate to pass the 1906 Meat Inspection Act.

In October 1905, Adams contributed a series of eleven articles, "The Great American Fraud". Adams analyzed the contents of some of the country's most popular patent medicines, and pointed out that the companies producing these medicines were making false claims about their products, and that in some cases, these medicines were actually damaging the health of those people using them. The series had a tremendous impact on public opinion and resulted in the passing of the first Pure Food and Drug ActThe United States Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 provided for federal inspection of meat products, and forbade manufacture sale or transport of adulterated food products or poisonous patent medicines. See also Meat Inspection Act United States law. (1906).

As a result of this pioneering investigative journalism, Collier's Weekly established reputation as a proponent of social reform. When attempts by various companies to sue Peter Collier ended in failure, other magazines became involved in what Theodore Roosevelt described unflatteringly as "muckraking journalism."

Norman Hapgood left for Harper's WeeklyHarper's Magazine (frequently referred to as just Harper's is a monthly magazine, published in the United States. Harper's made its debut in June 1850, the brainchild of the prominent New York City book-publishing firm Harper & Brothers. The initial press in 1912. Robert Collier, son of the founder, became the new editor. Circulation continued to grow and by 1917Events January 2 The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank. January 22 World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe. January 25 The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million January 25 Anti- circulation had reached a million every week.

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 ChurchillChurchill" redirects here. For other meanings, see Churchill (disambiguation). The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG, OM, CH, FRS ( November 30, 1874 January 24, 1965) was a British politician, best known as Prime Minister of the U. 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 WarWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough the circulation of Collier's had reached two and a half million. partly due to its publishing writers such as Martha GellhornMartha Gellhorn ( 8 November 1908 15 February 1998) was an American novelist and journalist considered one of the greatest war correspondents of the 20th century. During her sixty-year career, she reported on virtually every major world conflict which too and Ernest HemingwayErnest Miller Hemingway ( July 21, 1899 July 2, 1961) was an American author. He was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and committed suicide in Ketchum, Idaho. Hemingway was one of the 20th century's most important and influential writers, and many details of h, who reported on the Spanish Civil War.

Circulation of Collier's began to fall after the war and in August 1953 it changed from a weekly to a biweekly magazine. Collier's continued to lose money and in January 1957 it closed down.