Revolutionary Suffragette with illustration by James Montgomery Flagg - Tank top for women

His illustration for the cover of Leslie’s July 6, 1916 issue (“What are you doing for preparedness?”) was later used in the iconic World War I recruiting poster that came out in 1917.  (The changed message follows the timeline from the start of the war in 1914 to the entry of the United States on April 6, 1917.)

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, later renamed Leslie's Weekly, was founded in 1855 and published until 1922. Frank Leslie was the pen name of Henry Carter (1821–1880), who had come to the United States from England and opened his own engraving shop.  P.T. Barnum was one of his early clients.

Leslie's Weekly averaged 16 pages long and, helped by earlier interest in the Civil War, by 1873 Leslie's Newspaper employed more than 300 people, including 70 illustrators, and was one of seven publications he put out. By 1897, the publication's circulation had grown to an estimated 65,000 copies.

Leslie died in 1880 and the publishing business was taken over by his widow, women's suffrage campaigner Miriam Florence Leslie. She died in 1914.  The magazine ceased publication in 1922.

Our thanks to Michelle Novak (mnd.nyc) for tracking down an original issue of the magazine—in pristine condition, no less—and to the New York Society Library for keeping it all these years and making it available to us to share with you.