For girls aged 14-18 years there was a ‘cheerful, sound, and robust magazine’ that was meant to describe ‘a girl’s life in the best sense’, as the publisher put it. Meisjesleven was meant for girls of well-to-do parents and with a good education, who needed to be prepared for the future. In the very first issue, the editors called upon the readers to let them know what contemporary girls were interested in.

Every issue opened with a leading article dealing with subjects such as how to put leisure time to good use and the emancipation of women, but also contained wise lessons on character building. The remaining space was filled with stories and poems. The first volume included, for instance, the serial Joop’s correspondentie (Joop’s correspondence) by Cissy van Marxveldt. Furthermore, the readers were offered features with all kinds of interesting information on sports, the choice of a career, fancywork, photography, music, travel, and fashion. Experts in the field were asked to write these features. Wouter Paap, for instance, wrote about music, and Willy Corsari dealt with the stage in the feature Achter de schermen (Behind the curtain). The most popular feature was palm-reading, but it was later no longer offered as a free service.

Meisjesleven also invited contributions from readers in the section Uit onze pen (From our pen). Writers could earn prizes like silver watches, floor lamps, or a camera. Moreover, there was an extensive column featuring letters to the editor with vital questions from readers, to which the editor Willy Pétillon wrote lengthy replies.

Among the artists who produced drawings for the magazine were Hans Borrebach and Willy Bredijk.

Digitized: vol. 1 (1933); vol. 3 (1935) and vol. 6 (1938)

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