19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, October 16, 1914: << no entry>>
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma didn’t write anything a hundred-years-ago today, I thought you might enjoy seeing the cover of the October 1, 1914 issue of Kimball’s Dairy Farmer Magazine.
The orange cover design with the picture of a woman (with lipstick ?) and two cows doesn’t quite work for me—but it may have been considered progressive at the time.
A Hundred Years Ago 
That does seem a bit odd?!
Even a hundred years later, the orange is very intense. This cover is so much brighter than any of the covers for other months for this magazine.
Just a girl and her cows . . .
I bet Grandma didn’t look like that when she was milking her family’s cows. 🙂
It does seem progressive, maybe trying to keep up with the avant garde art happening in the Soviet Union at that time (the color, especially, if not the constructivism). I actually like it 🙂
Interesting . . . I’m familiar with social realism a little later in the 20th century. Your comment makes me want to learn a little more about related movements a little earlier in time. It’s intriguing to consider that a farm magazine based in Iowa may have had designers who were familiar with global art trends.
I’m sure it’s hard to have to fill in the blanks Grandma left in her diary. I love all the advertisements you have found to insert into those blanks while you keep us hanging! LOL!
It’s helpful to know that you enjoy the ads.
The ads are the best part – but only when Grandma’s pen is at rest! 😊
I quite like the odd cover – almost a parody of farming realities.
What a fun take on the cover!
Advanced advertising!
Dor, I think you are exactly on target. See my comment, below. Mr. Kimball seems to have been a mover and a shaker.
Some things never change.
A little spooky if nothing else
The magazine really seemed to be getting into the spirit of Halloween. The orange is an unbelievably intense hue.
Shoot! I’ve read copies of that magazine! It was published in Waterloo, Iowa, and the Kimballs were a big family there at the time. My maternal grandfather lived in Waterloo when I was growing up, and we used to go to an ice cream parlor on — Kimball Avenue!
I found a link to a page here. It was part of a book about marketing strategy, so it looks to me like Dorannrule was on target. It had a circulation of nearly sixty thousand people.
Wow, what an wonderful find! I’m amazed that you found this information about Kimball’s Dairy Farmer Magazine. It sure sounds like the magazine was positioned to be of interest to the larger, more progressive farmers (and the ones who probably could afford to buy more of the products advertised in the magazine).
I also enjoyed reading about your personal connection to Waterloo and the information about the Kimball’s.
It would be progressive today in NZ. We rarely see photos of women with cows yet they do a lot in the dairy industry.