Old Reliables: The Enduring Legacy of Century-Long Magazines
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/jamierubin.net/wp-c..." data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/jamierubin.net/wp-c..." src="https://i0.wp.com/jamierubin.net/wp-c..." alt="assorted book lot" class="wp-image-25787" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/jamierubin.net/wp-c... 1880w, https://i0.wp.com/jamierubin.net/wp-c... 400w, https://i0.wp.com/jamierubin.net/wp-c... 550w, https://i0.wp.com/jamierubin.net/wp-c... 768w, https://i0.wp.com/jamierubin.net/wp-c... 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/jamierubin.net/wp-c... 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/jamierubin.net/wp-c... 1800w" sizes="(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px" />Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.comAside from finding out that your favorite magazine is ceasing publishing–something I experienced when the wonderful SCIENCE FICTION AGE ended its 8-year run nearly a quarter century ago–one of the more depressing trends for a magazine reader is to find your magazine putting out fewer issues in the space of a year than it once did. Declining subscriptions and magazine readership has been a trend for decades now. I remember first becoming aware of this when reading the Summations in Gardner Dozois’s Year’s Best Science Fiction annual anthologies.
Perhaps that’s what drove me toward a stable of magazines that have stood the test of time. I didn’t want to be disappointed by a magazine’s sudden demise. I’m a subscriber to SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, THE NEW YORKER, HARPER’S and THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY, all of which boast (or are about to boast) at least century-long runs. THE NEW YORKER was first published in February 1925, making next month its 100th anniversary. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN has been around since 1845, 179 years as of this writing. HARPER’S has been around since 1850, or 174 years. And THE ATLANTIC has been around since 1857, or 167 years.
The February 2025 issue of THE ATLANTIC arrived in the mail today and after reading through “The Commons” on various takes on David Brooks’ article “How The Ivy League Broke America,” my eye caught on a box at the bottom right of the page titled “A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR IN CHIEF.” My heart sank. I’d been through this before and I knew the drill. Here we go, I thought, and I girded myself and read on.
The note began, “More than two decades ago, The Atlantic decided to reduce the number of print issues published each year, dropping from 12 to 10 and thus ending the run of what had been previously called The Atlantic Monthly.” The internet was, in part, to blame. But the next two sentences surprised and delighted me:
But the history of our magazine is filled with improbabilities, and today, more people subscribe to our print magazine than at any time since its birth, in 1857. Which is why we’ve decided to restore The Atlantic to monthly print publication beginning with the issue you are currently reading.
How about that? The editor goes on to tell us that The Atlantic crossed the million-subscription threshold in 2024. I was delighted to read this.
There is a certain feeling of bonding with the past–of continuity–that I get when reading these magazines. E. B. White’s “One Man’s Meat” column appeared in HARPER’S. Countless writers I admire, not the least of which being John McPhee, have written for THE NEW YORKER. Mark Twain wrote pieces for THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. And I’m always delighted reading the “50, 100 & 150 Years” section of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN to see what the magazine was publishing at those milestones. Part of it is their connection to history, and part of it is that in reading these magazines, I feel a part of the history that is unfolding today. As the Note from the Editor in Chief says, “The broader trends in the magazine business, and across journalism generally, are not promising.” But in these days of substacks and newsletters that come and go, there is something comforting about these old reliables.
Did you enjoy this post?
If so, consider subscribing to the blog using the form below or clicking on the button below to follow the blog. And consider telling a friend about it. Already a reader or subscriber to the blog? Thanks for reading!
