Peter
Fenelon Collier was born in County Carlow,
Ireland in 1849. He emigrated to the United
States when he was seventeen years old. He entered publishing
and eventually he formed his own company producing books for the Roman
Catholic market.
Collier decided to move into the magazine market and in April 1888
he founded Collier's Once a Week.
It was advertised as a magazine of "fiction, fact, sensation,
wit, humour, news". By 1892 it had a circulation of over 250,000
and was one of largest selling magazines in the United
States.
In 1895 its name was changed to Collier's
Weekly: An Illustrated Journal. The magazine now concentrating
on news and became a leading exponent of the half-tone news picture.
To fully exploit this new technology, Collier recruited James H. Hare,
one of the pioneers of photo-journalism.
Norman Hapgood became editor of Collier's
Weekly in 1903. He developed a reputation of employing the
country's leading writers. In May, 1906, he commissioned Jack
London to report on the San Francisco
earthquake. As well as London's account there were sixteen pages of
pictures.
Under Hapgood's guidance, Collier's Weekly
became involved in what became known as muckraking
journalism. The most important of these writers who contributed to
the journal during this period included Ida
Tarbell, C. P. Connolly and Ray
Stannard Baker. Campaigns instigated by Norman
Hapgood involved the direct election of senators, reform of the
child labour laws, slum clearance and votes for women. In April 1905,
an article by Upton Sinclair, Is Chicago
Meat Clean, helped to persuade the Senate to pass the Pure Food
and Drugs Act (1906) and the Meat Inspection Act (1906).
Peter Collier died in 1909 and his son, Robert Collier, took over
Collier's Weekly. When Norman Hapgood
left for Harper's Weekly in 1912.
Robert became the new editor. Circulation continued to grow and by
1917 circulation had reached a million.
Robert Collier died on 9th November, 1918. In his will he left the
magazine to three of his friends, Samuel Dunn, Harry Payne Whitney
and Francis P. Garvan.
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