''Reedy's Mirror'' was a literary journal in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

in the

fin de siècle () is a French term meaning "end of century,” a phrase which typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom "turn of the century" and also makes reference to the closing of one era and onset of another. Without context, ...

era.Joseph Griffin
''The Small Canvas: Introduction to Dreiser's Short Stories''

Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (FDU Press) is a publishing house under the operation and oversight of Fairleigh Dickinson University, the largest private university in New Jersey, which has international campuses in Vancouver, British Colum ...

, 1985, p. 36 It billed itself "The Mid-West Weekly." Contributors included

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. She wrote much of he ...

, Robert Frost,

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

, Ezra Pound,

Vachel Lindsay Nicholas Vachel Lindsay (; November 10, 1879 – December 5, 1931) was an American poet. He is considered a founder of modern ''singing poetry,'' as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted. Early years Lindsay was bor ...

, Harris Merton Lyon,

Sara Teasdale Sara Teasdale (August 8, 1884January 29, 1933) was an American lyric poet. She was born Sarah Trevor Teasdale in St. Louis, Missouri, and used the name Sara Teasdale Filsinger after her marriage in 1914. In 1918 she won a Pulitzer Prize for he ...

, Albert Bloch and

Theodore Dreiser Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (; August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm mora ...

Edgar Lee Masters Edgar Lee Masters (August 23, 1868 – March 5, 1950) was an American attorney, poet, biographer, and dramatist. He is the author of ''Spoon River Anthology'', ''The New Star Chamber and Other Essays'', ''Songs and Satires'', ''The Great V ...

first published parts of his ''

Spoon River Anthology ''Spoon River Anthology'' (1915), by Edgar Lee Masters, is a collection of short free verse poems that collectively narrates the epitaphs of the residents of Spoon River, a fictional small town named after the Spoon River, which ran near Masters' ...

'' in ''Reedy's Mirror'' over the course of 1914.

Overview

The journal first appeared on February 25, 1891, under the title of the ''Sunday Mirror'', published by

The Sunday Mirror Company ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

in St. Louis.Max J. Puzel
''The Man in the Mirror: William Marion Reedy and His Magazine''
Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1998, pp. 299-300. On February 28, 1895, the title was changed to ''The Mirror''. On October 1896, it was bought back by James Campbell, and

William Marion Reedy William Marion Reedy (1862 – July 28, 1920) was a St. Louis-based editor best known for his promotion of the poets Sara Teasdale, Edgar Lee Masters, and Carl Sandburg to the audience of his newspaper, '' Reedy's Mirror''. Politically, Reedy was ...

became the editor in December 1896. He operated on a shoestring budget. The journal was renamed ''Reedy's Paper'' until May 30, 1913, when it became known as ''Reedy's Mirror''. An offspring of that journal called ''The Mirror'' was revived from 1920 to 1944, edited first by Charles J. FingerMax J. Putzel,
''Genius of Place''
Louisiana State University Press, 1985, p. 17. and finally by Barry Lewis.

References

{{Reflist Biannual magazines published in the United States Defunct literary magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1891 Magazines disestablished in 1944 Magazines published in St. Louis Weekly magazines published in the United States