Vintage Magazine Archive: General Interest & Fiction

Chatterbox

1872-1923 (Internet Archive)

London, UK: Wells, Gardner, Darton

Chatterbox was founded in 1866 by British clergyman John Erskine Clarke as a weekly ‘paper’ for children of both genders at around their pre-teens. Publication continued until 1955. Each issued contains short stories, serialized novels, nonfiction pieces, and many drawn illustrations.

Country Life

1901-1930 (HathiTrust)

New York

The magazine began in 1901 with a target audience of people living in rural America, but changed its focus to city dwellers looking for ideas on country living. It provides a window into prosperous suburban life in the 19-teens and ’20s. It ceased publication in 1942.

Everybody’s Magazine

1899-1923 (HathiTrust)

1899-1929 (B&W)

NY: North American Company

Founded in 1899, it contained a mix of non-fiction and fiction. A series of muckraking articles called “Frenzied Finance” in 1904 boosted circulation and it stayed high for many years, while changing its content to mainly fiction.

Hearst’s Magazine

1913-1924 (HathiTrust)

The World Today 1902-1912 (HathiTrust)

Chicago and New York

Hearst’s Magazine was a 1912 renaming of ‘The World Today’. It continued the volume numbering of that periodical, and thus began with Volume 22. In the mid-1920s, it combined publication with Cosmopolitan, which eventually absorbed it.

Liberty Magazine

1925-1948 (Assorted Issues, Internet Archive)

1924-1929 (Internet Archive)

NY: McCormick-Patterson et al.

An American weekly, general-interest magazine launched in 1924. At one time it was said to be “the second greatest magazine in America,” ranking behind The Saturday Evening Post in circulation. It featured contributions from some of the biggest politicians, celebrities, authors, and artists of the 20th century.

Modern Man

1908-1915 (Internet Archive)

London: Modern Man

British weekly journal for men. In 1914 the name changed to “Modern Life”.

National Geographic

National Geographic Magazine Website

Magazines 1888-2024 Archive at Century Past

Washington DC: National Geographic

The flagship magazine of the National Geographic Society chronicles exploration and adventure worldwide. Major topics include culture, nature, geography, ecology, science and technology.

Outdoor Life

1898-1961 (B&W)

Denver, Colorado: Bonnier

Launched in 1898 in Denver, the magazine was aimed at men who enjoyed hunting and fishing.

Outing. An Illustrated Monthly Magazine of Recreation

1883-1923 (HathiTrust)

Boston

A late 19th- and early 20th-century American magazine covering a variety of sporting activities. It began publication in 1882 as the “Wheelman” for bicycling enthusiasts, but soon broadened its subject matter.

Pan American

1908-1930 (HathiTrust)

Washington, D.C.

The Pan-American Magazine and New World Review was a monthly founded in 1900 in London. It contained economic news and travel articles about South and Central America.

Popular Magazine

1904-1930 (Internet Archive)

NY: Street & Smith

An early American literary magazine that ran for 612 issues from November 1903 to October 1931. It featured short fiction, novellas, serialized larger works, and even entire short novels. In October 1931, The Popular Magazine was merged with another Street & Smith pulp, ‘Complete Stories’.

Punch

1841-1930 (HathiTrust)

London, UK

Punch, or ‘The London Charivari’ was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841. It was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s. After the 1940s, when its circulation peaked, it went into a long decline, closing in 1992.

Saturday Evening Post

Magazine Website

1821-1930 (Online Books Page)

1897-1930 (B&W)

U.S.

“The Saturday Evening Post is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influential magazines within the American middle class, with fiction, non-fiction, cartoons and features that reached millions of homes every week. The magazine declined in readership through the 1960s, and in 1969 folded for two years before being revived.

Saturday Night

1887-1927 (B&W)

Toronto, Canada

Saturday Night was a Canadian magazine founded in 1887. Up until ceasing publication in 2005, it was Canada’s oldest general interest magazine. When first launched, the magazine was a weekly broadsheet newspaper about public affairs and the arts before expanding into general interest.

Suburban Life; the Countryside Magazine

Jun 1905 Jan-Dec 1906 Jan-Jun 1907

Jul-Dec 1907 Jan-Jun 1908 Jul 1908-Jun 1909

Jul-Dec 1909 Jul-Dec 1910 Jan-Jun 1911

Jul-Dec 1911 Jan-Jun 1912 Jul-Dec 1912

Jan-Jun 1913 Jul-Dec 1913 Jan-Dec 1914

Jan-Dec 1915 Jan-Dec 1916

Harrisburg, PA

A popular lifestyle magazine at the beginning of the 20th century for affluent people who lived – or aspired to live – comfortably outside the city.

Uncle Remus’s Magazine

1907-1912 (Internet Archive)

Atlanta: Sunny South Publishing

A short-lived literary and cultural magazine from the American south.

American Humor & Show Biz Magazine Variety

1919-1923 (Internet Archive)

U.S. – Various publishers

Here is a selection of American humorous magazines from around 1920, including some with show business or celebrity themes. Humor magazines include ‘Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang, ‘Cap’n Joey’s Jazza Ka Jazza’, and ‘Hot Dog’. Show biz-themed magazines include ‘The Tatler’ and ‘Broadway Brevities.’

Collection of 19th Century British Periodicals

ca. 1806-1899 (HathiTrust)

This curated collection of vintage magazines at HathiTrust contains long runs of a number of 19th Century periodicals. Over 400 issues.

Detective & Mystery Magazine Collection

1870-2020 (Internet Archive)

U.S. – Various publishers

This popular collection contains over 500 issues of old magazines to read online. The majority are from the 1930s through the early 1950s, but there are also issues from the 19th century up through 2013. Some titles: Famous Detective Stories, The Phantom Detective, Spicy Detective Stories, The Armchair Detective, Popular Detective, Dime Detective Magazine, Black Mask Detective, Thrilling Detective, 5 Detective Novels, True Detective Mysteries Magazine, New Detective, Dime Detective Magazine PDF, Hollywood Detective, Strange Detective Mysteries, Ten Detective Aces, Private Detective Stories, Startling Detective Adventures, 10-Story Detective, Front Page Detective, Dorcas Dene Detective, Bulldog Drummond, Crack Detective and Mystery, Clues, New Nick Carter Weekly.

Movie Fan Magazine Collection

1912-1923 (Internet Archive)

Various publishers

This collection of early fan magazines includes Screenland, Movie Pictorial, Photo-Play World, Close-Up, New Zealand Theatre & Motion Picture, Film Fun, Movie Weekly, and other titles.

Pulp Fantasy Miscellaneous

1937-1954 (Internet Archive)

U.S.

A collection of various titles of old fantasy magazines free online, mostly from the mid-20th century, including these titles and more: Beyond Fantasy Fiction, 10 Story Fantasy, Avon Fantasy Reader, A. Merritt’s Fantasy Magazine, Fantasy Tales, Frank Frazetta Fantasy Illustrated (1999), Fantasynopsis.

Sports Magazines Variety

1905-1958 (Internet Archive)

Various Publishers

Various vintage sports magazines, including Popular Sports, Ten-Story Sports, Complete Sports, thrilling Sports, Super Sports, Fight Stories, Exciting Football, All-American Football, Motor Boating, Body Builder, Basketball Stories, Baseball Digest, Physical Culture, Official Wrestling.