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The World's Work
(1900–1932) was a monthly magazine that covered national affairs
from a pro-business point of view. It was produced by the publishing
house Doubleday, Page and Company, which provided the first editor,
Walter Hines Page. The first issue appeared in November 1900, with
an initial press run of 35,000. With the backing of the mail order
department at Doubleday, Page, the magazine climbed to a circulation
of 100,000.
The World's Work cost 25 cents an issue and was a physically
attractive product; there were photo essays, some of which after
1916 contained color images. The magazine tracked closely with
Page's ideas: the feature articles worried about immigration from
non-English-speaking countries and the declining birth rate among
more educated Americans. Concerns about the spread of labor unions
and socialism also played out in the magazine. But the overarching
editorial purpose of World's Work was to defend the integrity of big
business, even as other magazines were beginning the muckraking
tradition.
There were sections each issue highlighting industries'
contributions to society. The more people knew about how business
operated, World's Work argued, the more they would approve. The
spirit of that message was captured in a multipart article from 1911
by Arthur Wallace Dunn, "How a Business Man Would Run the
Government: The Specific Items in Which He Would Save 300 Millions a
Year."
In 1932, The World's Work was purchased by and merged into the
journal Review of Reviews. But its vision lived on in Arthur, who
later became a vice president and director at AT&T, where he is
credited as the "father of corporate public relations."
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume
3
President Roosevelt's first month in
office. |
