CHAPTER 4 TIMELINE

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  • 1741 Colonial Magazines
 First appearing in Philadelphia and Boston, these magazines mainly reprinted material from London newspapers.
  • 1821 National Magazines
 The Saturday Evening Post is launched, becoming the first major magazine to appeal directly to women and the longest-running magazine in U.S. history.
  • 1850s Engravings and Illustrations
 Drawings, woodcuts, and other forms of illustration begin to fill the pages of magazines.
  • 1879 Postal Act of 1879
 Both postal rates and rail transportation costs plummet, allowing magazine distribution to thrive.
  • Early 1900s Muckraking Magazines
 McClure’s, Collier’s, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Cosmopolitan push progressive social reforms with their investigative reports.
  • 1903 Ladies’ Home Journal
 The magazine reaches a circulation of one million.
  • 1922 Reader’s Digest
 The pocket-size monthly becomes the leading magazine in the nation.
  • 1923 Time
 Time is launched and develops a new brand of journalism where stories are written in narrative form.
  • 1936 Life
 Life is launched and pioneers fashion spreads and advances in photo-journalism.
  • 1953 TV Guide
 TV Guide becomes an overnight success as a niche publication.
  • 1965 Cosmopolitan
 Editor Helen Gurley Brown turns Cosmopolitan into a leading magazine by targeting women ages eighteen to thirty-four with an interest in love, sex, fashion, and careers.
  • 1969–1972 Shutdowns
 The Saturday Evening Post, Look, and Life shut down; competition from television is a chief factor.
  • 1974 People
 The first successful mass market magazine in decades is published.
  • 1998 ESPN The Magazine
 The magazine launches, successfully capitalizing on the growing ESPN sports media empire.
  • 2008 AARP Bulletin and AARP The Magazine
 These subscription-only publications continue to boast the highest circulations of any magazine in the United States.
  • 2009 Recession
 The economic recession leads to the closing of several leading magazines, including Country Home, Domino, Nickelodeon Magazine, Gourmet, Modern Bride, Portfolio, Teen, Vibe, and Blender.