The Delineator

The Delineator was an American women's magazine of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, founded by the Butterick Publishing Company in 1869 under the name The Metropolitan Monthly. Its name was changed in 1875. The magazine was published on a monthly basis in New York City.^[1] In November 1926, under the editorship of Mrs. William Brown Meloney, it absorbed The Designer, founded in 1887 and published by the Standard Fashion Company, a Butterick subsidiary.^[2]

One of its managing editors was writer Theodore Dreiser, who worked with other members of the staff such as Sarah Field Splint (later known for writing cookbooks ) and Arthur Sullivant Hoffman. ^[3] The novelist and short story writer, Honoré Willsie Morrow served as editor, 1914–19.^[4]

The Delineator featured the Butterick sewing patterns and provided an in-depth look at the fashion of the day. Butterick also produced quarterly catalogs of fashion patterns in the 1920s and early 1930s.^{[citation needed]}

In addition to clothing patterns, the magazine published photos and drawings of embroidery and needlework that could be used to adorn both clothing and items for the home. It also included articles on all forms of home decor. It also published fiction, including many short stories by L. Frank Baum.^{[citation needed]}

The magazine also published articles on social and political reform. Charles Dwyer, editor from 1894-1906, expanded the magazine's coverage to include editorials, fiction, and women's increasing involvement in public life.^[5] His successor, Theodore Dreiser published articles addressing women's roles as consumers, and invited readers to write in about current social problems.^[6]

In the late 1920s, it featured covers by noted fashion artist Helen Dryden.^[7]

It ceased publication in 1937 when it was merged with The Pictorial Review.^[8]