Cyrus H. K. Curtis, a publisher from Portland, Maine, and his progressive Boston-born wife, Louisa Knapp Curtis, moved to Philadelphia in 1876 because it was cheaper to publish their newspaper, the People's Ledger, there. The newspaper field was crowded in Phildelphia, and the People's Ledger failed. For the next three years they struggled with various other publications until they borrowed $2,000 from a relative and founded the Tribune and the Farmer. Cyrus edited the newspaper while Louisa acted as business manager. In the summer of 1883 Cyrus proposed a "Women and Home" department to fill some vacant space in the paper. Louisa wrote the material, and the column ran regularly thereafter. It stimulated a great deal of reader interest and advertising, and consequently the Curtises decided to publish a monthly women's supplement to the weekly Tribune. The Ladies' Journal, the...