The Lily (newspaper)

The Lily
The Lily in February 1849
TypeNewspaper
Owner(s)Amelia Bloomer; Mary Birdsall
EditorAmelia Bloomer
Founded1 January 1849 (1849-01-01)
Political alignmentTemperance and Women's Rights
HeadquartersNew York City
Sister newspapersSeneca Falls County Courier

The Lily was the first U.S. newspaper edited by and for women. It was published from 1849 to 1853 by Amelia Jenks Bloomer (1818–1894) before she sold the newspaper to Mary Birdsall in 1854. While the newspaper initially focused on temperance, it soon broadened its focus to include the many issues of women's rights activists in the 1850s. It grew in its distribution as a result of its discussion of bloomers, a comfortable fashion popularized by Bloomer in the paper.