Primary Source Report on The Home, 1 March 1939.
By Sarah Burke
The Home: the Australian Journal of Quality began in 1920 as a periodical, and boasted a healthy readership that allowed it to print 230 issues over 23 years. It was quite expensive, averaging at £0.10.6. which translates to a $37.32 per year subscription.
As a magazine that imported trends from overseas, it was quite popular with readership ranging from those in the upper middle-class, to those that aspired to a higher economic, and social position.
Vol. 20, No. 3 released on March 1st 1939, had a cover price of 1 shilling and threepence or $0.12 or $5.58 in current money.
Fig. 1. Front cover of The Home, 1 March, 1939
Editors
The first
editor was Bertram Stevens a popular journalist, literary and art critic whose
open-mindedness, and eclectic tastes often bought him derision in regard to his
liberal views.
In 1922 Bertram Stevens passed away. Ure Smith and Leon Gellert co-edited the magazine until 1939.
Ure Smith was trained in the fine arts, and specialised in pen and pencil drawing. He attempted to change incorporate quality art into advertising by co-founding Smith & Julius, the earliest advertising agency to feature high-end artwork and colour printing. His influence can be seen in the contemporary graphic design and aesthetics that adorned the pages, and of which the magazine was most popular for.
Leon Gellert was a soldier and a writer. He penned the famous Songs of a Campaign (1917) which won him literary prizes and accolades from the Bulletin. His use of everyday language ensure that the magazine spoke to the ‘everyday-woman’, as he ensured that the magazine was full of grace, and felt personalised to the modern tastes of the growing middle-class.
Fig. 2. Ure smith Co-editor Fig. 3. Leon Gellert Co/Editor
1922 – 1942 1922 – 1939
Implied
Reader
The readership
for this magazine is a female, housewife or career woman who has easy access to
finances. While there are some fictional
stories, the articles tend to focus on opinions, and social events. The age
range would be 21 to 50, those who prefer experiences over academic pursuits,
and would be familiar with or interested in the 8 full pages of social
information that is written in dot points, and short sentences.
Contents
This issue is a special one as it printed a story The Sea Woman by Australian Author Vance Palmer. The magazine content is heavily weighted on advertisements as can be seen in Fig. 4. These advertisements range from full page to sitting in the margins surrounding another article. Articles on trends are the next biggest content filler, followed by the social pages. There is an interesting article with a Black American performing artist, however, the article does not contain any politically motivated discourse, and is primarily to advertise a tour.
The advertisements range from vehicles, artworks, overseas, and local travel, beauty products and services, and events.
Fig. 4. Number of pages per content.
|
Social pages |
13 |
|
Commentary |
12 |
|
Articles on trends
social/fashion/homes/gardens/the Arts |
32 |
|
Political article |
|
|
fiction |
9 |
|
Interviews |
2 |
|
Events |
4 |
|
Advertisements |
38
|
|
|
Format
From cover to back page this issue had 96 pages. Printed in book style, even though it was not for literary purposes, its layout is styled like an art book with full page prints, and photos. The advertisements were either left to the margins of each page or were full page’ and reminiscent of a gallery catalogue. The pages alternated between colour drawings, coloured photographs, and black and white prints. Fonts were varied, which shows the publisher had wide access to printing blocks.
Interestingly the magazine breaks articles up into blocks, that are the printed into the book with advertisements and social pages in between. The reader must then ‘flick’ through the pages to search for the remainder of an article or story to continue their reading.
List of Figures.
Fig. 1. Fig. 1. Front cover
of The Home, 1 March, 1939. Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/234012652?keyword=the%20home%20%281%20March%201939%29
Fig. 2. Sydney George Ure Smith (1887-1949), by Max Dupain, 1948. Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/smith-sydney-george-ure-8485
Fig. 3. Leon Maxwell Gellert 91892-1977), by May Moore, 1920s. Australian dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gellert-leon-maxwell-10288
Fig. 4. Number of pages used per content. Sarah Burke
Works Cited
"Pre-Decimal Inflation Counter." Reserve Bank of Australia, 2020. https://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html
"The Home (1920-42)." State Library New South Wales, 2017. https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/blogs/home-1920-42
"The Home (1920-42)." Transported
Imagination, 2020. http://transportedimagination.com/home_main/
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