First Cover Photo

You get two posts tonight for the price of one!  This is the cover of my earliest issue - January, 1912.  As you can see, there is no real cover.  I am transcribing the project directions, so watch for that post in the very near future. 

One Small Step...

I'm making progress, at least on organizing my issues.  I got them all in order, culled out my duplicates (I will give them to my sister) and updated my list of issues that I have.  I also played around with starting a spreadsheet to list some of the basics, like price per issue, annual subscription price, number of pages in each issue, and editors/managers listed on the masthead.  Sometime between October, 1915 and January, 1917 (I have a big gap there), the magazine started using colored covers.  When they instutited the covers, they counted the cover as page one, which makes it easy to tell if a cover is missing from a particular issue.  That sure was considerate of them!  I'm also going through issues listing the different articles and their authors.  These will be classified by craft type (crochet, hardanger, etc).  For a time, there were also short stories included in each issue.  These will also be listed in the database.  I think the database will prove very interesting as far as following trends through the life of the magazine.  I'm also looking forward to posting some of the editorials.  It is very interesting to be reading about events being reported as they happened.

I'm still not sure how to put everything on the blog.  Start from my earliest issue and work forward?  One article per blog post? That method would take me close to a month to do each issue if I posted every day.  Wow, that could take a while!  The magazines are too large to scan, so I will have to photograph each page I decide to post.  Hopefully, some I will be able to break down in sections (like the fashion pages) and scan them.  But the covers will have to be photographed.  Don't be too critical of the photos!  I don't have a professional studio to work in. 

Anyhow, I got all my issues sorted (except for the 3 years' worth that I just bought this past weekend - they are in the mail!) and have stored them in my "new to me" antique music cabinet.  The shelves are the perfect size to fit the magazines!

If you know how to use a blog to it's fullest potential and wouldn't mind sharing your knowledge with me, please feel free to leave me input!  I want this blog to be fun AND user-friendly!  Thanks for joining me on my journey!

New Blog!

I have decided to start a new blog to showcase an obsession of mine!  I stumbled on Home Arts Needlecraft magazine about 2 or 3 years ago and just had to start collecting issues.  I would like to start sharing my issues online and thought a blog might be the way to go.  However, I am not sure of the best way to organize the information, so anyone stumbling across this blog is more than welcome to put in their 2c worth.  Should I have a page for each type of needlecraft / project (crochet, quilting, fashions, recipes, etc)?  Should I go thru all my issues and post on one discipline at a time?  Should I start with my oldest issue and post a whole issue at one time?  Decisions, decisions!  To start, I will begin with the oldest issue I have and just start choosing articles to post and decide sometime down the road how to better organize.  So feedback will be very welcome!!

A little history about Home Arts Needlecraft for you.  The first issue was September, 1909.  I based this on the Volumn / Issue numbers on each issue.  The latest issue I have seen is April / May 1941.  I think it is pretty safe to say that this is the last issue based on the fact that it is a "bimonthly" issue, when all (except one other issue) are monthly and also, it only has 8 pages.  Pretty skimpy!  There are no indications in this issue that it is the last issue as it contained information on ordering patterns and requests for hints and tips to be sent in to share with other readers.  Interestingly enough, all the issues state that the magazine was published monthly, up until this last issue which states that it was published 8 times a year.  Even the March, 1941 issue states that this was a monthly publication. 

Anyhow, here's to an adventure!  I hope I can keep up with posts to make this an active (and interactive) blog!  If there's anyone out there who also collects this magazine and would like to contribute articles to this blog, let me know!  Many hands make light work!  Thanks for coming along for the ride.