The Vegetarian Magazine

The Vegetarian Magazine
The Vegetarian Magazine, Vol. 9, No. 6, cover dated April 1905
CategoriesDiet, lifestyle
First issue1900 (1900)
Final issue1934
CompanyThe Vegetarian Company
CountryUnited States
Based in
LanguageEnglish

The Vegetarian Magazine was an American vegetarian magazine, published from 1900 to 1934. It was the official organ of several organizations, including the Vegetarian Society of America. In the early 20th century, the magazine also supported women's suffrage. The magazine advertised itself as standing for "a cleaner body, a healthier mentality and a higher morality".

History

In 1896, the Chicago Vegetarian Society published the Chicago Vegetarian magazine.: 511  In 1900, it merged with the Vegetarian Society of America's Food, Home and Garden to form The Vegetarian Magazine.

The magazine appeared under several titles. It was published as The Vegetarian and Our Fellow Creatures from January 1901 to April 1903, The Vegetarian Magazine from June 1903 to March 1925, The Vegetarian Magazine and Fruitarian from April 1925 to January 1926, The Vegetarian and Fruitarian from February 1926 to 1927, and Vegetarian Magazine and Fruitarian from February 1920 to August 1934.: 511  Publication was suspended from May 1913 to January 1919.: 649 

The magazine was the official organ of the Chicago Vegetarian Society from 1896 to 1899, the Vegetarian Society of America from 1900 to 1925, and the National Vegetarian Society from 1926 to 1934.[citation needed]

The Vegetarian Company

The Vegetarian Company in Chicago published the magazine until 1919 and carried advertisements for vegetarian restaurants. In 1909, the company's elected officers were Harlan Page Albert as president, George J. Drews and Walter E. Elfrink as vice-presidents, and Jean Roberts Albert as secretary. The company sold peanut butter, vegetarian soap, Ko Nut, a butter made from cocoa nut oil, and Kunghphy, a coffee substitute. In 1911, the company reported a magazine circulation of 16,000.

National Vegetarian Society

The magazine was published by Jean Roberts Albert of the National Vegetarian Society in Juliaetta, Idaho, from 1920.: 649  Publication moved to Lewiston, Idaho, in May 1927.: 511  Albert was also its editor from February 1919; according to Shurtleff and Aoyagi, Albert worked on the magazine in the evenings and on Sunday while maintaining paid employment, and used her savings to pay for printing and mailing.: 649  Leah Leneman described Albert as an early vegan, as she did not consume dairy or egg products.

The National Vegetarian Society's officers were L. J. C. Daniels as president, George Starr White as vice-president, and Jean Roberts Albert as secretary. The board of directors included Otto Carque, William Howard Hay, and Philip G. Peabody. Albert died from heat stroke in 1937.

Women's suffrage

Before the 20th century, the magazine rarely mentioned women's suffrage. In the early 1900s, editor Rena M. Atchison was a suffragist, and by 1910 the magazine advertised itself as a magazine for women and a "promulgator of Woman suffrage".

Collections

The Kansas Historical Society holds a large collection of the magazine's volumes.: 511 

References

  1. 1 2 "A Woman's Magazine By A Woman, For Women". The General Federation Bulletin. 7 (9): 30. 1910 – via HathiTrust.
  2. ↑ Armstrong, David (1991). The Great American Medicine Show: Being an Illustrated History of Hucksters, Healers, Health Evangelists, and Heroes from Plymouth Rock to the Present. Prentice Hall. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-13-364027-4.
  3. ↑ "Become a Vegetarian". The Animals' Defender. 7 (2): 2. 1902 – via HathiTrust.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Aoyagi, Akiko; Shurtleff, William (2022). History of Vegetarianism and Veganism Worldwide (1430 BCE to 1969) (PDF). Soyinfo Center. ISBN 978-1948436731.
  5. ↑ Shurtleff, William; Aoyagi, Akiko (2022). History of Vegetarianism and Veganism Worldwide (1430 BCE to 1969). Soyinfo Center. p. 511. ISBN 978-1948436731.
  6. ↑ Puskar-Pasewicz, Margaret (2010). Cultural Encyclopedia of Vegetarianism. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-313-37556-9.
  7. ↑ Malooley, Jake (2018). "Chicago's Forgotten Vegetarian Past—and the Woman Who Wants Us to Remember". Bon Appétit. Archived from the original on November 15, 2025. Retrieved June 4, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Annual Stockholder's Meeting". The Vegetarian Magazine. 13 (1): 19. 1909 – via HathiTrust.
  9. ↑ Aoyagi, Akiko; Shurtleff, William (2015). Origin and Early History of Peanut Butter (1884–2015). Soyinfo Center. pp. 198. ISBN 978-1-928914-72-3.
  10. ↑ Nelson Chesman & Co.'s Newspaper Rate Book. Nelson Chesman & Company. 1912. p. 53 – via Google Books.
  11. ↑ Leneman, Leah (Autumn 1999). "One Step Before". The Vegan. 1: 24–25 – via Issuu.
  12. ↑ Hartmann, William C. (1927). Who's Who in Occultism, New Thought, Psychism and Spiritualism. The Occult Press. p. 53 – via HathiTrust.
  13. 1 2 Aoyagi, Akiko; Shurtleff, William (2021). History of the Health Foods Movement Worldwide (1875–2021). Soyinfo Center. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-948436-45-8.
  14. ↑ "Jean Roberts Albert". The Starry Cross. 45: 26 – via Google Books.
  15. ↑ Shprintzen, Adam D. (2013). The Vegetarian Crusade: The Rise of an American Reform Movement, 1817–1921. University of North Carolina Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-4696-0891-4.
  16. ↑ Puskar-Pasewicz, Margaret (2003). "For the Good of the Whole": Vegetarianism in 19th-century America. Indiana University. p. 182.