The Nautilus Magazine: A History of New Thought’s Most Widely Circulated Periodical

Introduction

For more than half a century, The Nautilus magazine served as the most enduring and widely circulated periodical of the New Thought movement. Founded in 1898 by Elizabeth Towne, the magazine grew from a modest regional publication into a national phenomenon, reaching a circulation of 90,000 by 1928. Its pages carried the work of nearly every significant New Thought writer of the era—William Walker Atkinson, Wallace Wattles, Orison Swett Marden, Horatio W. Dresser, and many others—and its slogan, “Self-Help through Self-Knowledge,” encapsulated the practical, optimistic philosophy that defined the movement. This article traces the magazine’s history from its origins in Portland, Oregon, through its relocation to Holyoke, Massachusetts, to its final issue in 1953, examining its role in shaping New Thought’s institutional development and its lasting influence on American self-help culture.

Historical Context

The New Thought movement emerged in the late nineteenth century from a confluence of intellectual and spiritual currents that had been gathering strength in America for decades. Transcendentalism, with its emphasis on the innate divinity of the individual and the reality of spiritual intuition, provided a philosophical foundation. The writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and the German idealists he popularized were, as one historian of the movement noted, part of the intellectual inheritance of early New Thought leaders. Swedenborgianism contributed a mystical cosmology and the idea of correspondence between spiritual and material worlds. Mesmerism and the mind-cure movement of the 1840s and 1850s introduced the practical techniques of suggestion and mental healing that would become central to New Thought practice.

The immediate catalyst, however, was the work of Phineas Quimby, a Maine clockmaker and mesmerist who developed a system of mental healing in the 1850s and 1860s. Quimby’s central insight—that illness was fundamentally a matter of mistaken belief and that correct thinking could restore health—spread through his patients, including Mary Baker Eddy, who would found Christian Science, and Warren Felt Evans, who became one of New Thought’s earliest authors. By the 1880s and 1890s, a loose network of healers, teachers, and writers had formed around these ideas, and figures like Emma Curtis Hopkins, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, Malinda Cramer, and Nona Brooks began establishing the institutions that would define the movement: Divine Science, Unity, and the International New Thought Alliance.

It was into this ferment that Elizabeth Towne launched The Nautilus in 1898. The magazine’s founding coincided with a period of explosive growth in New Thought, as its ideas spread from the healing rooms of Boston and New York into the rapidly expanding middle-class reading public of the American West.

Main Narrative

Origins and Early Years (1898–1900)

Elizabeth Jones was born in Portland, Oregon, on May 11, 1865. She married at age fourteen to Joseph Holt Struble, with whom she had two children, Catherine and Chester. At age twenty-seven, she experienced what she described as cosmic consciousness, the state of expanded awareness that Richard M. Bucke had described in his 1901 book of the same name. This experience set her on a path toward New Thought teaching and writing.

In November 1898, Towne published the first issue of The Nautilus in Portland. The magazine’s early subtitle, “Journal of Practical Ideality,” reflected its pragmatic approach to spiritual ideas. It was, from the beginning, a personal enterprise: Towne served as editor, and her commitment to the movement’s principles was evident in every issue. The magazine was briefly published in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1899, before Towne’s divorce from Struble and her marriage to William E. Towne in 1900. That same year, the couple relocated to Holyoke, Massachusetts, which would remain the magazine’s home for the next fifty-three years.

Growth and Institutional Development (1900–1920)

Under the joint editorship of Elizabeth and William Towne, The Nautilus grew steadily in the first two decades of the twentieth century. The magazine’s subtitle evolved to reflect its expanding scope: “Self Help through Self Knowledge,” then “Devoted to the Practical Application of Mental Science in Every Day Living,” and finally “Magazine of New Thought.” This evolution mirrored the broader movement’s shift from a focus on healing to a comprehensive philosophy of personal development.

The magazine’s masthead proclaimed its independence: “The Organ of no School, bound by no Creed. ‘Consistency’ and ‘Conformity’ clipped from its vocabulary. Growth and usefulness, Good and Joy of all, its object.” This editorial stance allowed Towne to publish a remarkable diversity of voices within the New Thought spectrum. William Walker Atkinson, one of the most prolific New Thought writers of the era, joined the staff and contributed regularly. Other contributors included Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Edwin Markham, Anne Warner, Edward B. Warman, Horatio W. Dresser, Orison Swett Marden, Brown Landone, Wallace Wattles, Paul Ellsworth, and Genevieve Behrend.

The magazine also served as a vehicle for book publication. Under the “Elizabeth Towne” imprint, the publisher released books that had first appeared as serialized articles in the magazine, with Towne often supplying introductions. This practice helped consolidate the careers of several major New Thought authors and made the magazine a crucial node in the movement’s literary network.

Peak Years and Influence (1920–1940)

By the 1920s, The Nautilus had become the most widely circulated New Thought periodical in the United States. Its peak circulation of 90,000 in 1928 placed it among the most successful religious magazines of the era, rivaling mainstream Protestant publications. This success reflected both Towne’s editorial skill and the growing popularity of New Thought ideas in American culture.

Elizabeth Towne’s leadership extended beyond the magazine itself. She and William served for many years on the board of the International New Thought Alliance (INTA), the movement’s principal organizing body, and Elizabeth served as INTA’s president in 1924. This institutional engagement allowed The Nautilus to function not merely as a publication but as a connecting tissue for the movement’s diverse organizations, including Divine Science, Unity, and Religious Science.

The magazine’s content during these years reflected the full range of New Thought teaching: articles on mental healing, prosperity consciousness, the power of affirmation, and the nature of God as infinite Mind. But it also maintained a practical, down-to-earth tone that distinguished it from more esoteric publications. Towne’s own writing, which appeared regularly in the magazine, was characterized by warmth, humor, and a no-nonsense approach to spiritual practice.

Later Years and Closure (1940–1953)

The Great Depression and World War II brought challenges to all religious periodicals, and The Nautilus was no exception. Circulation declined from its 1928 peak, though the magazine remained viable. Elizabeth Towne continued as editor into her eighties, maintaining the magazine’s distinctive voice even as the New Thought movement itself evolved. By the late 1940s, the movement was shifting toward the psychological language of the emerging human potential movement, and The Nautilus‘s older style of practical idealism seemed increasingly dated to some younger readers.

The final issue appeared in August 1953, when Towne retired from publishing at age eighty-eight. The magazine had run continuously for fifty-five years, a remarkable achievement for any periodical and especially for one devoted to a movement as diffuse and decentralized as New Thought. Towne died on June 1, 1960, at age ninety-five, and was buried in Springfield Cemetery in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Why It Matters in New Thought History

The Nautilus occupies a unique position in New Thought history. It was the movement’s most long-lived periodical—a record that remains unsurpassed—and its circulation made it the most widely read New Thought publication of its time. But its significance extends beyond these quantitative measures.

First, The Nautilus provided a unifying platform for a movement that was, by its very nature, fragmented and individualistic. New Thought had no central authority, no creed, and no single organizational structure. What held it together was a shared vocabulary of ideas and a network of publications. The Nautilus was the most important node in that network, publishing authors from across the movement’s spectrum and introducing readers to the full range of New Thought teaching.

Second, the magazine served as a bridge between New Thought’s nineteenth-century origins and its twentieth-century successors. Its early issues carried the direct influence of the mind-cure movement and the intellectual heirs of Emerson; its later issues anticipated the psychological turn that would produce the human potential movement. In this sense, The Nautilus documents the evolution of American metaphysical religion over more than half a century.

Third, Elizabeth Towne’s editorial philosophy—practical, optimistic, and resolutely non-sectarian—helped shape the tone of American self-help culture. The magazine’s slogan, “Self-Help through Self-Knowledge,” captured an approach to spiritual and personal development that would echo through later movements from Dale Carnegie to the New Age. Students of New Thought history who study The Nautilus are studying not only a periodical but a crucial link in the chain of American metaphysical thought.

Primary Sources

Researchers seeking to study The Nautilus directly have several options:

• The Nautilus (complete run, 1898–1953) — The full run of the magazine is available in several research libraries. The International Association for the Preservation of Spiritualist and Occult Periodicals (IAPSOP) maintains an archive of the magazine’s early issues at iapsop.com, providing access to the complete text of volumes from 1898 through the early twentieth century.
• Elizabeth Towne’s published books — Under the “Elizabeth Towne” imprint, the publisher released numerous volumes compiled from magazine content, including works by William Walker Atkinson, Wallace Wattles, and others. These books provide insight into the magazine’s editorial approach and its role in developing New Thought literature.
• International New Thought Alliance records — The INTA archives document Elizabeth Towne’s leadership in the movement, including her presidency in 1924, and provide context for the magazine’s institutional relationships.
• Elizabeth Towne papers — Personal papers and correspondence are held in several collections, including those at the Springfield, Massachusetts, area repositories where Towne lived and worked.