Background

Jane Cunningham Croly was born on December 19, 1829 in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England, the daughter of the Rev. Joseph H. and Jane Cunningham, and came to the United States with her father when she was twelve years old.

Education

In her childhood she was taught by her father and brother at their home in Poughkeepsie and later in New York City.

In her early girlhood she attended school at Southbridge, Massachusetts, where she edited the school paper, wrote plays, and acted as stage manager.

Career

In 1855, she gained a place on the staff of the Sunday Times and Noah’s Weekly Messenger, writing under the pseudonym, “Jennie June, ” because she felt the traditional shyness concerning women in public life.

She was editor, for a time, of Demorest’s Quarterly Mirror of Fashion, and in 1860, when that journal and the Neiv York Weekly Illustrated News were incorporated into Demorest s Illustrated Monthly, she became its editor, remaining as such until 1887.

She was also connected with Godey's and with the HomeMaker. Jane Croly was probably the first woman correspondent in New York for out-of-town papers.

For fifteen years she wrote letters for the Nezu Orleans Picayune and the Baltimore American. She represented in New York the New Orleans Delta, the Richmond Enquirer, and the Louisville Journal.

At various times she was editorially connected with the New York World, and the Graphic Daily Times, and, for nine years with the New York Times.

She was also dramatic critic and assistant editor of the Messenger from 1861 to 1866.

In 1868 Mrs. Croly in common with a number of New York women, was extremely indignant because her sex was completely ignored at the Charles Dickens reception.

When her husband attempted to teach in America the philosophy of Positivism originated by Auguste Comte, Mrs. Croly endeavored to aid him.

In 1898 she met with an accident which crippled her, and subsequently she spent much of her time in England seeking rest and cure. She died in New York City.

Achievements

• She became a special writer on women’s fashions and was among the first to “syndicate” her articles. For over forty years she held various editorial positions on newspapers and magazines. In the year of her marriage she called the first Woman’s Congress, to meet in New York. As a protest, in harmony with her advocacy of everything she considered for the betterment of women, she founded Sorosis, which was not the first woman’s club, but was the first of any consequence or endurance. Mrs. Croly was the first president of the New York State Federation of Women’s Clubs. In 1889 she founded the Women’s Press Club in New York. Of her separate publications the most notable was The History of the Woman’s Club Movement in America, a large volume published in 1898. In 1866 she published Jennie June’s American Cookery Book, and in 1875 published For Better or Worse. A Book for Some Men and All Women. In 1994, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Jennie June's American Cookery Book: Containing Upwards of Twelve Hundred Choice and Carefully Tested Receipts, Embracing All the Popular Dishes, and ... Invalids, for Infants, One On Jewish Cookery,

    (Jennie June's American Cookery Book: Containing Upwards o...)

  • Memories of Jane Cunningham Croly, "Jenny June"

    (Leopold Classic Library is delighted to publish this clas...)

  • Jennie June's American Cookery Book: Containing Upwards Of Twelve Hundred Choice And Carefully Tested Recipes

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Jennie Juneiana: Talks On Women's Topics (1864)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Thrown On Her Own Resources: Or What Girls Can Do (1891)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • The History Of The Woman's Club Movement In America, Volume 1

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Views

She called for more efficiency in women's dress, and ridiculed bloomers as bizarre. She insisted that women's finest work was to be "the caretakers, the homemakers, the educators of children". Croly sympathized with the women's suffrage movement but was not active in it. She strongly supported equality and equal rights, giving special emphasis to new careers for middle-class women such as secretary, bookkeeper, nursing and department store clerk, in addition to traditional roles of teaching.

Connections

In 1856 she married David Goodman Croly, a New York journalist. Five children were born to them.

Father:

Joseph H. Cunningham

Mother:

Jane Cunningham

Daughter:

Alice

Daughter:

Viola

Daughter:

Minnie

Son:

Herbert

husband:

David Goodman Croly

References

• Memories of Jane Cunningham Croly, 'Jenny June