The History of Magazines

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how since the magazine industry was born in 1732 in the United States it has changed regularly, adapting itself in response to changes in society. It describes its development over the years by considering both where it has been and where it is going. It also examines the rise of the Internet and its effect on print publications. It evaluates the future of the magazine industry with an emphasis on the one place where new money is available, the youth market.

From the Paper:

"The first magazines published in the United States did not enjoy considerable financial success. In 1732 Benjamin Franklin began publishing the Poor Richard's Almanac. At this time, the general public was generally uneducated with Franklin creating the magazine as a means of educating the common people. Franklin describes this purpose in his autobiography saying, "I considered it as a proper vehicle for conveying instruction among the common people, who bought scarcely any other books; I therefore filled all the little spaces that occurred between the remarkable days in the calendar with proverbial sentences" (Franklin). This publication contained these maxims as guidance for people's lives, while also including useful information such as the weather. This publication was reasonably successful. However, in saying this it must be remembered that Franklin created it as a tool for educating people. In the financial sense, the magazine was not successful."

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