Periodicals
Step into a time gone by with periodicals and find the generation or era you want to learn about. These old magazines are excellent windows into the past. Buy periodicals and explore magazine and journal articles across the ages. Follow the evolution of theories in different fields of study to see how we got to where we are today.
These timed publications release at set intervals, often weekly, monthly, or annually. From the beginning, periodicals encompassed not only magazines but also journal articles and scholarly publications. The advent of bulk printing brought with it newspapers, which are some of the earliest forms of periodical literature. But these publication types have been around since the 17th century when Edifying Monthly Discussion, arguably one of the first magazines published, came out. As the publishing process became easier and faster, there was more thirst for knowledge, so magazines and newspapers soon became dominant cultural references for the masses. It is, for this reason, we can delve into vintage periodicals and see what the defining thoughts and ethos of those ages were.
Dive into vintage periodicals that show you what women had at their fingertips in the 1840s with Peterson's Magazine, which focused on fashion of the time and domestic subjects, such as sewing and embroidery. View how American culture and national conversation has evolved through An American Album: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Harper's Magazine. Some consider this periodical one of the oldest running general interest magazines in America. For a more recent view of U.S. history, take a gander at the Saturday Evening Post, a publication almost 300 years old, that also offers its readers a little fiction and humor.
Add old magazines and other vintage periodicals to your collection that may give you clues about how your ancestors spent their days, or dive into current-day discussions.