Old Magazines rule. But they were disposable. They were recycled during wartime, were fragile, and often stored in damp basements or stiflingly hot attics were their fate was sealed. So few survived in good condition, but against the odds, some of them did. Most people still scratch their heads at the sight of them as if to say,  "What are they still doing here??" On the whole, periodicals have yet to get that antiquey/collectabley "importance" across the board like books, comic books, baseball cards, etc. They are kind of like LP records were for a long time - people wonder who would want these things. They were done and only serve as a tripping hazard or something to throw your back out with.  With the exception of a few magazines: Life, Playboy, National Geographic, that everyone saved. Magazines were supposed to be thrown out.  God bless the pack rats I say.

It's always a pleasure to find interesting magazines, and when you do you can find a STACK of them! If one was saved, there might be 5 or 25 or 105 saved. That is the case with my recent find of 30(!) Buildings and Building Management Magazines from the teens to the early 1930's. I would have been delighted to find one. Discarded by the Connetecut State Library at some point, I discovered them at the Salvation Army. So interesting. What did they thing of the Empire State Building when it was built? How did they handle unruly tenents in 1930? I have the answers now; nevermind that I never asked the questions.

They inveriable touch my melancholy side too. Among pages this old, the adults are ALL GONE. They had to go of course, but the knife twists when some of their grand achievements are erased too.  I'm glad I know about Chicago's Art Deco Diana Court lobby...and sad that it was razed 36 years ago. In the words of Maxwell Smart: "Missed it by that much".

Some if them are going on eBay after I read them (I'm not a pack rat - not the 30 B&BM magazine variety anyway). One has some Portland stuff, so I'll blog about that later.