Editing Cyrus Curtis (section)

== Publishing Origins ==

Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis was born on June 18, 1850, in Portland, Maine, his early publishing ventures including a small paper he produced during his youth. His move to Philadelphia in 1876, coinciding with the Centennial Exhibition, brought him to the city where his publishing empire would develop. His purchase of a struggling weekly called Tribune and Farmer, and his wife Louisa's suggestion that he publish a women's supplement, led to the creation of Ladies' Home Journal in 1883—the publication that would establish his fortune.<ref name="cohn">{{cite book |last=Cohn |first=Jan |title=Creating America: George Horace Lorimer and the Saturday Evening Post |year=1989 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |location=Pittsburgh}}</ref>

His marriage to Louisa Knapp, who edited Ladies' Home Journal during its formative years, created partnership that combined his business abilities with her editorial instincts. Her understanding of women readers, and her willingness to address subjects that other publications avoided, established the magazine's distinctive voice. The circulation growth that resulted—from tens of thousands to over a million—validated an approach that other publishers would imitate.<ref name="tebbel"/>

His acquisition of The Saturday Evening Post in 1897, and his appointment of George Horace Lorimer as editor, extended his influence from women's publications to general interest magazines that shaped American culture. The Post's combination of fiction, journalism, and illustration, including the Norman Rockwell covers that would define American iconography, created publication that reached audiences throughout the nation. Curtis's willingness to invest in talent and to accept losses until circulation justified advertising rates demonstrated the long-term thinking that sustained success required.<ref name="cohn"/>