Good Housekeeping

American monthly magazine, published since May 1885 and currently based in New York. Good Housekeeping features a broad range of topics, from dieting to product testing and short fiction, and was the most popular women's magazine by 1966, with a circulation exceeding 5.5 million. Established first as a bi-weekly magazine in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Good Housekeeping switched to a monthly calendar in 1891. By the time The Hearst Corporation purchased the periodical in 1911, its circulation had reached 300,000. Surpassing one million subscribers by the mid-1920s, Good Housekeeping continued steadily growing even at the Great Depression peak — with 22% less advertisement in 1938, it still brought $2,5+ million operating profits, triple over eight other Hearst periodicals combined. Many distinguished American writers and poets contributed to "Good Housekeeping" over the years, including A.J. Cronin, Betty Friedan, Edwin Markham, W. Somerset Maugham, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Evelyn Waugh, and Virginia Woolf. Good Housekeeping is one of three "Seven Sisters" magazines still in print today, alongside Woman's Day (est. 1931), also published by Hearst, and Better Homes & Gardens (since 1922). In 1909, the magazine established the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval," assigned to products tested by the Good Housekeeping Research Institute (GHRI). The organization set rigorous standards and testing criteria, hiring Harvey W. Wiley, the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner, as GHRI director and contributing editor. In 1939, the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against the magazine, citing "misleading and deceptive" guarantees provided by the Seal of Approval and "exaggerated and false" claims in advertisements. After the two-year proceedings, in which two of the competing "Sisters," Ladies' Home Journal (1883—2016) and McCall's (1873—2002), testified against Good Housekeeping, FTC ruled against the magazine, forcing it to remove words "Tested & Approved" from the iconic Seal. However, it didn't affect the publication's general popularity or readership.