Commercializing Childhood

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By Paul B. Ringel ’90

Published Feb. 3, 2016

As print culture grew in the 19th century, publishers raced to meet the demand for magazines aimed at middle- and upper-class children — especially those whose families had leisure time and cultural aspirations to gentility. Paul B. Ringel ’90 analyzes the content of these American children’s magazines and provides the stories of their authors and publishers to explain how the industry trained generations of children to become consumers.

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PAW's July/August 2025 issue cover, featuring a photo of people dressed in orange and black, marching in the P-rade, and the headline: Reunions, Back in Orange & Black.
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On the cover: Wilton Virgo ’00 and his classmates celebrate during the P-rade.