A Short History of Betsy McCall
After emigrating from Scotland, James McCall and his wife, Belle, started a tailor shop and a pattern company.
They soon realized that it would pay to advertise so in 1876 they started a four-page pamphlet, called The Queen—Illustrated Magazine of Fashion to spotlight their patterns.
After his death in 1884, the magazine was renamed McCall’s Magazine, the Queen of Fashion.
In 1897 it was renamed McCall's.
I believe that Marvin Pierce -- father of Barbara Bush and grandfather of George W. Bush – who became president of the McCall's company in 1946 was in charge when Betsy McCall started in 1951.
In 1987, McCall's was sold to publisher Dale Lang.
He sold it in 1989 to the New York Times.
They sold it to Gruner & Jahr in the mid-'90s.
It became Rosie in April, 2001 and went out of publication soon after.
Before the advent of Betsy McCall, they had other paper dolls and cutouts. Their first paper doll was in June 1904.
I did the majority of my research at the University of Oregon Library.
I am not affiliated with the McCall Corporation. This began as a research project I was doing at school and I got hooked on Betsy and decided to post my paper. If I have used any graphics that belong to anyone, please let me know and I will remove them from this page.
Please e-mail me if you can provide any information I do not have and I will give the contributor credit. If you find errors, please e-mail me and I will make the correction.
Below are two of the cutouts that I found during my research.
After emigrating from Scotland, James McCall and his wife, Belle, started a tailor shop and a pattern company.
They soon realized that it would pay to advertise so in 1876 they started a four-page pamphlet, called The Queen—Illustrated Magazine of Fashion to spotlight their patterns.
After his death in 1884, the magazine was renamed McCall’s Magazine, the Queen of Fashion.
In 1897 it was renamed McCall's.
I believe that Marvin Pierce -- father of Barbara Bush and grandfather of George W. Bush – who became president of the McCall's company in 1946 was in charge when Betsy McCall started in 1951.
In 1987, McCall's was sold to publisher Dale Lang.
He sold it in 1989 to the New York Times.
They sold it to Gruner & Jahr in the mid-'90s.
It became Rosie in April, 2001 and went out of publication soon after.
Before the advent of Betsy McCall, they had other paper dolls and cutouts. Their first paper doll was in June 1904.
I did the majority of my research at the University of Oregon Library.
I am not affiliated with the McCall Corporation. This began as a research project I was doing at school and I got hooked on Betsy and decided to post my paper. If I have used any graphics that belong to anyone, please let me know and I will remove them from this page.
Please e-mail me if you can provide any information I do not have and I will give the contributor credit. If you find errors, please e-mail me and I will make the correction.
Below are two of the cutouts that I found during my research.
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September 1911 edition page 23
A Circus Made to Order Cut-Outs for Little People By Carolyn Sherwin Bailey Drawings by John B. Gruelle Story and instructions on page 22 |
