This magazine was re-issued in 1848, from April to December, continued through 1849, and until March, 1850, when it was discontinued for want of means, and perhaps new contributors. Miss Farley was the editor, publisher, and proprietor of The New England Offering.
There are about seven volumes of the magazines in all,—five of The Lowell Offering, and two of The New England Offering, including the first four numbers in 1840, and the odd numbers of 1847 and 1850.
The prospectus of The Lowell Offering, as issued by its women-editors in 1845, is as follows:—
THE
LOWELL OFFERING,
WRITTEN, EDITED, AND PUBLISHED
BY FEMALE OPERATIVES.
Our magazine is the only one which America has produced, of which no other country has produced the like. The Offering is prima facie evidence, not only of the American “factory-girls,” but of the intelligence of the mass of our country. And it is in the intelligence of the mass that the permanency of our republican institutions depends.
And our last appeal is to those who should support us, if for no other reason but their interest in “the cultivation of humanity,” and the maintenance of true democracy. There is little but this of which we, as a people, can be proud. Other nations can look upon the relics of a glory come and gone—upon their magnificent ruins—upon worn-out institutions, not only tolerated, but hallowed because they are old—upon the splendors of costly pageant—upon the tokens of a wealth, which has increased for ages—but we can take pride in these. We have other and better things. Let us look upon our “free suffrage,” our Lyceums, our Common Schools, our Mechanics’ Literary Associations, the Periodical of our Laboring Females; upon all that is indigenous to our Republic, and say, with the spirit of the Roman Cornelia, These, these are our jewels.
Terms: One dollar per year in advance. Postage: 100 miles and under, 1½ cents. Over 100, 2½ cents.
Published at Lowell, Mass., monthly, by
MISSES CURTIS & FARLEY.
In order to combat the prejudice which then existed against “female” editors and publishers, it was thought best (as Mr. Thomas had advised) that the enterprise should be indorsed by some of the leading men of the city; and in the original document, now before me, these gentlemen said:—