1905 Pawtucket, RI newspaper

I love looking through old newspapers because it provides a glimpse into what life was like at a certain day in time.
This set of old newspapers illustrate what I mean.

These papers are from 1905 from the city of Pawtucket in northern Rhode Island.
There are no bold headlines or memorable news events mentioned, but there are news-of-the-day stories and wonderful ads.
Papers like this are referred to as “atmosphere” newspapers.

Headlines from

The Evening Times

Women's Fashion Ad 1905

Men's Fashion Ad 1905

Issue #1

Issue #2

Each issue featured 32-pages of information including news, facts, pictures and more.
The editorial in each issue says it was written by one of the Stones.

The hardest (and thus most valuable) issue to find is the last one – #30. But the first two issues are also scarce.

Issue #30

The Saturday Evening Post from August 5, 1939

Summer Stock was the 188th cover Norman Rockwell did for The Saturday Evening Post.
Rockwell painted a total of 322 covers for the magazine, so this issue appears just about mid-career.
This issue was published August 5, 1939.

An alternate title for this painting is Actress Putting On Make Up.
Note the hens, hay and crate.
The program that reads The Summer Barn Theatre; hence the name Summer Stock.

LIFE magazine September 5, 1969

One of the most successful (ie. richest) pop artists of the last 40 years is Peter Max.
His work is instantly recognizable.

Much like Andy Warhol, Peter Max knows how to market his work.
His pieces go for thousands of dollars and he operates a million dollar industry.
At one time Max’s art was licensed by 72 corporations including General Electric, Continental Airlines and the World Cup.

Love him or hate him, Peter Max is a brand.
And his art will forever define a generation.

This bound set includes newspapers from February 1, 1932 to February 15, 1932.

The Third Winter Olympic Games were held during these two weeks.
The games took place in Lake Placid, NY.

Early ad for Mickey Mouse at the Roxy

This set includes two complete issues of the Sunday New York Times.
Here’s a book review for Aldous Huxley’s “A Brave New World.”

Andy Warhol cover 1981

If you love design and architecture, then you may be familiar with the Italian magazine Domus.

Domus was first published in 1928 and is still going strong.
The articles are printed in both Italian and English.

Issues from the 30s, 40s and 50s are the most sought after; but later issues featuring uber-famous artists, designers, and architects are also in demand.

These issues are from the 1980s.

Architect Zaha Hadid on cover 1981

Frank Gehry 1980 cover

Le Corbusier 1987 cover

Consumer Reports turns 75 this year.
The magazine first hit newstands in 1936.
It’s published monthly by the Consumers Union.

The following photos were taken from the January 2011 issue.

August 1966

The primary focus was music and to a lesser degree TV heart throbs.
The Beatles, The Monkees and Herman’s Hermits ruled the pages of 16 magazine in the mid-1960s.

Here’s a selection of photos and articles from that time.

Sonny & Cher

Batman & Robin

Summer 1965

If it was this week in August 1927, then this is the issue of Life magazine you’d be holding in your hands.

This issue isn’t terribly interesting or valuable.
There’s no juicy article by Dorothy Parker or classic illustration by Maxfield Parrish.

Still, it’s fun to look at and imagine we’re flappers or dappers, flipping through this issue.

Crawdaddy January 1967

Crawdaddy May 1967

The founder of Crawdaddy! described his magazine as the first to take “rock and roll seriously.”

Crawdaddy! was created at Swarthmore College in 1966 by student Paul Williams.
The first issue contained his own writings of music criticism.
He mimographed the pages and distributed them at school.
Soon after, he recruited other writers to help fill the pages.

The first two photos are from the Crawdaddy’s early years.

The issue below was published after Williams left the magazine, so he could concentrate on writing books.

Crawdaddy June 1969