As She Saw It...
By Staff -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 2/1/2007
Every magazine needs an advice columnist, and in the early years of The Gift and Art Shop and The Gift and Art Buyer, that guiding voice was supplied by Grace P.T. Knudson.
Beginning in 1923, Mrs. Knudson wrote the "Gift and Art Merchandising" column, wherein she discussed everything from sourcing to advertising to store layout. By 1930, her renown had grown enough that the name of the column was changed to "As Mrs. Knudson Sees It."
In October 1930, Mrs. Knudson was considering advertising: "Why advertise in 1930 — nobody did in 1830? To me that is a stupendous question in modern business, as wide, as long, as high, as deep as the four dimensions of business history ... I wonder if one hundred years from now art enthusiasts will be tumbling over one another to possess prints from any of our 1930 magazines! Will there be any enduring feature in them? Who can tell?"
If only Mrs. Knudson could see us now.
