I mentioned on Facebook that Gwen and I have just completed 56 years of marriage. This is the photo of Gwen that I shared.
That must be her wedding dress because we could only have been six years old when we married. I mean, if that were not true, we’d be pushing 80 today.
Whatever the truth, we’ve been together for a very long time. During those years, we collected a great deal of stuff and now face what many other seniors experience. It is the need to downsize.
Our magazine collection is rather large. Beyond hundreds of Scientific American, Archaeology, craft, cooking and gardening publications, we have about 500 National Geographic, including editions from the middle of the last century to the beginning of the current one. This shows only part of the collection.
The oldest edition we have is from June 1922, and no, I was not the purchaser when it was published.
The content is amusing, particularly the advertisements. There is an offer of a brand new Chandler Six automobile for the price of $1,595, FOB Cleveland. If that was too much, a Maxwell motor car was available for $885.
Squibb was already more than 100 years old, so it had an extensive product line.
In 1922, crossing the Atlantic took days, not hours.
Seriously, it would be a shame if these publications ended up in paper recycling. If you want free reading material, contact me in the next few days. Rescue these old publications from destruction.
Categories: Smile
in-sights.ca 
There’s a balance between preserving things that connect us to heritage, increasingly important in a world where conservation serves sustainability, and letting go of material that doesn’t serve us any more – one of the challenges for this time in life. National Geographic is so full of relatable history and culture. I grew up with it too, was educated and inspired by it. Good luck finding a new home for your collection.
…and, thank you Norm for your inspired writing I welcome into my inbox.
(no need to post this… )
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Thanks for the kind words Rob. However, we should acknowledge the articulate and sensible comments left here by regular readers. I often admire the words added to IN-SIGHTS by other people.
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I suspect anyone over the age of, say, 60, has their own collection of these, and of other magazines that we cherished that long ago. Women’s magazines were totally amazing, nothing like the photogravure stuff of today: a full novel, delievered one week at a time, poetry, women’s events, health tips, recipes. I have a few from the 30s, and they’re enthralling. I also have three huge batches of the first edition of Yankee Magazine, never removed from it’s original wrapper. Valuable? I tried, no one is interested, These magazines were published in bulk, and everyone saved them. It will probably be 100 years before they have any value.
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