ABSTRACT
The editorial matter in the Ladies' Home Journal during the 1910s and 1920s urged women to accept modern roles and responsibilities while they held on to the traditional feminine qualities that were supposedly innate and timeless. When the editorial matter addressed women's responsibilities at home, the Journal as forum followed the lead of its readers by providing them with what they asked for: money-saving recipes, household cleaning tips, pep talks about the importance of housework, decorating ideas. The Journal as advocate, however, regardless of changing demographics or the changing interests and needs of its readers, consistently promoted housekeeping as women's only true work. Edward Bok knew enough about running a women's magazine to allow his readers to help frame the discussion of housekeeping. Housekeeping remained both unpaid and unskilled work. Groups of women did experiment with alternative housekeeping arrangements throughout the early twentieth century, inside and outside of the Ladies' Home Journal.
