Plant of the Month: Cordyline
Plantfluencers? Back in the nineteenth century, it was the dazzling leaves of cordyline that set trends in domestic style.
Spectra: The Poetry Movement That Was All a Hoax
In the experimental world of modernist poetry, literary journals were vulnerable to fake submissions.
The Periodicals That Shaped American Boyhood
19th-century "story papers" gave boys stories they liked, while also encouraging readers to contribute their own material and tell their own stories.
An Ad Campaign for Ads
Back in the 1920s and ‘30s, the magazine Women’s Home Companion tried explicitly appealing to its readers to take the ads seriously.
How 19th Century Women Were Taught to Think About Native Americans
In nineteenth-century American women's magazines, Native American women were depicted as attractive, desirable, and pious.
The Enduring Humor of New Yorker Cartoons
With 90 years of New Yorker cartoons, readers learn much about changing trends in political and social history, all while celebrating through laughter.
The Bloody History of the True Crime Genre
True Crime is having a renaissance with popular TV series and podcasts. But the history of the genre dates back much further.
Dali, Surrealism and…Fashion Magazines?
Salvador Dail injected Surrealism into fashion magazines in the 1930s and 1940s, to lasting influence.