History of Southern Living Magazine (Birmingham, Butler: homes, restaurants, gardens)

[Made_it_To_the_Metroplex]

Slightly OT here, but I used to work for Southland Travel in B'ham, an escorted group tour operator which began as Southern Farm Tours, an offshoot of Southern Living/Southern Progress. It was later bought by Rural Route Tours of Overland Park, KS and eventually shut down. Worked for Alan & Cele Montgomery back in the 80's. I sure miss it!

[alabamatide]

Originally Posted by nevada smith

my grand gather and great grandfather were born in Starkville mississippi in 1894 and my great great grandfather was born in 1866 . in bermingham ALABAMA ! i know every thing there is to know about it because my father now owns it . so please ask any thing that you want my email.
nevadasmith41@gmail.com

Yes, Nevada, I was told by the corporate offices that your grandfather was one of the owners/publishers in the Mississippi office for Progressive Farmer Magazine. Didn't he graduate from Cornell University? You say that your father now owns it. Doesn't Time own it now? I was informed that Time bought the company in 1985 for 498 million... whew!! But unfortunately the Birmingham folks weren't the ones who reaped the rewards- it was the ones in Raleigh who did. Atleast that is what I was told by an old timer at the corporate offices in Alabama. I senses a little bit of resentment, to tell you the truth. But I think its all very interesting and I was able to get my hands on some of the very old magazines from way back when!! The articles are amazing. I also heard that one of the buildings at NC State was named after your grandfather. Is that true? Do you have any of his writings? I would love to read those.

[alabamatide]

Hey Nevada, I just found this information about your grandfather. I don't know how much you know about him but here is some cool info. I think I was wrong about the Mississippi office. Looks like he was the publisher in Texas, but I would still love to read some of his articles. Here is what I copied and pasted. Looks like he graduated from Cornell in 1916? I read somewhere that one of the other owners of the company graduated from Cornell around the same time.. can't think of his name right now. I wonder if those two talked about this stuff when they were in college together. Coincidental that they went to the same college and then owned a publishing company together.


Butler moved to Dallas, Texas, in 1922 and became the editor of the Progressive Farmer Texas edition. He began to campaign through the magazine for more accessible rural health, water and soil conservation, and farm legislation. He also worked with the legislature to get the government to require fertilizer labels to provide a specific chemical analysis. He was alarmed because fertilizer distributors would often sell bags of sand to unwitting farmers, claiming they were fertilizer. He also called for crop diversification to balance those that depleted the soil.
In 1939 Butler became a member of the executive committee of Progressive Farmer magazine and vice-president of the board of directors in 1943. In 1953 he was named president of Progressive Farmer Company, the magazine's parent company. He was also named chairman of the editorial board from 1964 to the mid-1980s and named editor-in-chief in 1958. In 1966 Butler helped found Southern Living magazine.

[gardenpaths]

Hi Alabama,
I am looking forward to hearing your comments about the neighborhoods in Birmingham. One of my closest friends is moving to your area. If you remember, I was the original poster on this topic because I wanted to know more about the history of Southern Living Magazine and so on. I have since then learned a great deal. Eugene Butler attended Cornell University with William LaRue who was in the Raleigh office with Clarence Poe. Neither of those men are alive now- from what I understand, but their families are still around in NC and parts of Florida. Eugene Butler and his father Tate Butler were from Mississippi so I assume the connection between William LaRue and Eugene Butler was either made at Cornell University or through Tate Butler, Eugene's father. I think the parent company, Southern Progress Corporation, that owned Southern Living, moved from Raleigh, NC to Birmingham, Alabama because of growth reasons. Apparently Progressive Farmer Magazine was a real hit and took off more than they ever anticipated. Thanks for the post a while back, it was informative and interesting at the same time.

[butlerlegend]

This is all correct, i am the great grandson of Eugene Butler.

[butlerlegend]

If someone could, please help me to correct the info that wikipedia has on its website about the magazine. Wikipedia isnt crediting him for anything and he very much deserves to be recognized on that page, so please!

[butlerlegend]

oh and the quote by Nevada Smith, disregard because he is my cousin and knows nothing about any of this, and no his father obviously does not own the magazine becuase it was sold for $497 million to Time Warner inc.

[CityofOaks_NC]

Hello everyone, I'm a newbie here so my apologies if this one is lengthy! I received an email on Sunday evening from a friend who thought this thread would interest me, and she was right.

I would rather remain anonymous but am the granddaughter of one of editors mentioned above. I'm surprised by the abundance of hits and magnitude of interest on this post. Having read these posts in their entirety, I am curious to know who you are, Alabamatide. Are you an editor or perhaps a writer who was researching the history of Southern Progress Corporation? Not long ago, our families were contacted in NC by some editors associated with a prominent newspaper, in their quest to obtain very dated information regarding the history of Progressive Farmer Magazine and Southern Progress Corporation. Apparently there was some confusion about the dates as to when Progressive Farmer newsletter, founded by Colonel Polk, evolved into a magazine, in the hands of the editors in Raleigh. It was also my understanding that one of the editors was hoping to obtain a journal that my grandfather had kept during his life at the magazine, though I don't think my family members were very cooperative. I only heard about these phone calls so wasn't able to obtain the names of the editors who imposed the questions during the calls.

In view of the posts you have submitted here, it appears as though you may have been one of the writers working on this project. You obviously wanted to "get the facts straight" and went as far as phoning the corporate office for Southern Progress so I don't think I am off base in my assumption here, since it appears that you and the editors who contacted my family had similar interests and goals. They stated at the time that one of the Butlers had contacted them and wanted some of the information on the internet changed. Butlerlegend, do you know about this? If so, what was the information you wanted changed?

As the granddaughter of one of the editors and someone who was present in Birmingham when our company was acquired by Time in 1985, I am fully informed about the history of the company, the creation and development of The Progressive Farmer Company, Oxmoor House and SLM; I also know about the events that led up to the sale of the company and the core reason the corporation was sold to Time. I also regret that I and some other Southern Progress family members have been made aware of some recent attempts on behalf of other egotistical individuals to rewrite history on this matter, in their efforts to misrepresent the old guards of the corporation. There have been inaccurate books and postings written on the internet regarding the history of the company, and while some of it is annoying; much if it is comical because it's so inaccurate. I'm grateful as one of the family members who witnessed much of it, as a young child and adult, to have some very illuminating information to substantiate the history.

For the most part, Alabamatide's initial post is correct. SLM was created as an extension of PFM; its purpose was intended to appeal to the city folks, while PFM would continue to reach out and speak to the rural communities.
I have read many times that people want to know who founded SLM. If you are interested in the individual who initiated the idea for the magazine, it was indeed Emory Cunningham from Alabama (I will insert here that he is probably very proud of his alma mater's football team right now.) Emory Cunningham was not a writer; nor was he an editor or publisher. When he was hired as an advertising sales representative at PFM, he quickly rose to success as a visionary talent within the corporation and saw a need for another magazine. He was a young man and the editors and owners of PFM were old enough to be his father. The owners of SPC loved Mr. Cunningham and his ideas so they, as editors, were on board with Mr. Cunningham and contributed to getting SLM off the ground. Many people don't know that one of the owners of the corporation wasn't so fond of a new magazine, so it took an abundance of meetings and presentations to make it happen.

If you are interested in knowing how SLM came to be, divert your attention to Mr. Emory Cunningham, as the magazine was in fact his idea. The editors of PFM were the individuals responsible for creating the magazine itself; they were the writers, editors and creative force supporting the magazine.

In 1985, when Time, Inc. offered to acquire Southern Progress Corporation, which at the time comprised of Progressive Farmer Magazine, Southern Living Magazine and Oxmoor House, the owners of the company from Raleigh and Eugene Butler made the decision to sell because of their old age. At the time, the corporation was privately held by the editors and their family members; it was not a publicly held company. When the profits of the company grew to a level that would legally require the company to go public, the owners made the decision to sell it. Thereafter, the company continued to grow in the hands of Birmingham, AL only and NC has been out of the picture completely.

Still today, however, some of the family members are still around and care immensely about the magazines success and of course, their integrity. So far, we have been very proud of what it has become and all that Time has managed to do with it.

Butlerlegend, I must wonder if you ever had the chance to know your great-grandfather? I know he lived in Dallas. Are you there now? I understand your frustration in wanting Mr. Butler to be recognized on Wikipedia but I ope you know that anyone who knows southern history is well aware of the great and commendable contributions he made to the south and its progression.

As for my grandfather, he was a whiz when it came to farming and horticulture, gardening, landscaping, home decor (yes a man knew this stuff) and I feel fortunate to have learned about values in the south from him.
Please do feel free to contact me if you want to connect, as I would be delighted to know Eugene Butlers great-grandchild! (:

[AnnieA]

WOW ! what a great thread !! Thxs to all who contributed. To have so many family members show up and speak their piece was very informative. I am a huge SL fan though I liked the earlier editions better. Some of my most cherished possessions are the SL cookbooks and one set I would cheerfully have buried with me if I could.....LOL.

Again, thx to all who responded.

[Southlander]

Personally, I think the new publishers are trying to make Southern Living another Better Homes and Gardens. Certainly, SL was probably somewhat modeled on BH&G, but its flavor was most definitely Southern. It was wonderful to see Southern cooking, gardening, travel destinations etc. featured with the same high level of photography etc. as a major national publication.
But make-up tips? Fashion pages?
Bleh!
And the current editors and writers don't seem to have a clue about what "Southern" means. Most of the recipes now are either southwest, Mexican, or Italian.