At the outbreak of the Civil War, Godey's Lady's Book was the most successful women's magazine in the United States, with a circulation of 150,000, and an estimated readership of a million persons. Subscribers from the cities of the northeast to the frontiers of the Pacific Northwest and the cotton plantations of the South enjoyed this monthly publication full of fashions, etiquette, receipts, patterns, house plans, crafts, helpful hints, health advice, short stories, poetry, book notices, and musical scores, all designed to inform "women" how to be "ladies." As the regions became increasingly politically estranged, Godey's remained a unifying force among elite women and those aspiring to that status. Literary editor Sarah Josepha Hale promoted such national concerns as the preservation of Mount Vernon and the importance of advanced education for young women.

The war and the blockade of the South eliminated a large percentage of Godey's readership, although the few scattered volumes that slipped in through the lines were treasured by Confederate ladies. What they saw would not offend them. Publisher Louis Godey, perhaps desiring not to antagonize his future Southern subscribers, allowed no mention of politics or the war in his magazine. No articles even appeared organizing or supporting Northern Sanitary Fairs and hospital relief, despite glowing articles on Florence Nightingale and her efforts in the Crimea. Instead, Godey's remained "a lodge in the wilderness," and "an oasis in the desert," "a quiet, cultured garden on which the burning lava had not even breathed." Despite the publisher's efforts, postwar subscriptions would never regain 1860 levels.

This site utilizes the semi-annual index originally published with each volume of Godey's, amplified with designators for fiction, poetry, and songs, and detailed lists of individual receipts, book titles, and topics in editorial columns. Please note that initial articles are used in alphabetizing as they were in the original. Page numbers refer to the first page of the article.

No photocopy service is provided with this index other than interlibrary loan. Most major libraries include backfiles of Godey's either in bound volumes or in microfilm. The Robert R. Muntz Library at the University of Texas at Tyler holds microfilm for Godey's Lady's Book for 1840-1892 and for Godey's Magazine for 1892-1898.