One of the joys of caring for aging parents (or in-laws) is that often as the inevitable downsizing begins, you get their stuff. This might be cool if 99% of it weren’t junk. Ancient tools, stacks of picture frames, geological surveys from 1950–you get the picture.
But then, every so often something interesting pops up.
This is the case with the hundreds of boxed National Geographic Magazines Margaret and Conrad gave us a couple of years ago. Despite their the cool pictures and somewhat historical nature, they’re not worth anything–believe me, I checked. But you can’t help but keep them. They’re just so darned neat. Many of the pictures are stunning, and the stories are still fascinating–especially if you look at them like an artifact.
After awhile though, the novelty runs out and you realize you can’t keep hundreds of old magazines in your garage forever.
And then you find a 1939 issue that includes a 32 page story entitled “NEWS OF THE UNIVERSE”. So what did we know about space in 1939?
Well, for one thing–using water melting from its polar ice caps, green green vegetation flourished seasonally on Mars.
Anyway, I thought it might be fun to share some of the photos and illustrations from that article. I kept the pictures in order as they appeared in the story.
So without further ado:
The caption was too far in the binding for me to get a good scan of it, but it read, “Saturn, with its strange revolving rings, as seen from an asteroid 500,000 miles away.”
I think this one’s my favorite:
About the artist:
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11 responses so far ↓
1 Mrs. Chili // Nov 24, 2007 at 8:03 pm
THAT is totally cool. We stand to inherit literally decades worth of National Geographics when my in-laws pass, but I don’t know if they have the entire run from the very first issue….
Thanks Mrs Chili,
I was hoping someone else would appreciate that. The whole thing is kind of a double edged sword. It’s just so much junk, but every now and then I’ll find something cool. Like that issue with that famous picture of the the young Afghanistan girl with her piercing eyes–I found that issue.
And it’s always fun to look at those old advertisements.
Thanks again for stopping by!
Chris
Chris
2 Sam Sizer // Nov 25, 2007 at 3:23 am
Very interesting! Vegetation on Mars? Absurd! Though, it was 1939. Very interesting! My Grandparents sent me an issue of something back in the 1960’s and that sort of stuff is interesting to read I think. Great blog!
3 National Geographic: Trash or Treasure Slideshow // Nov 28, 2007 at 2:17 pm
[…] were so many pictures in my post about space from a 1939 National Geographic Magazine, I thought it might be fun to make a slideshow of them all. So here you […]
4 Darren Clark // Dec 5, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Thanks for the neat look. I’ve never seen an issue quite that old before. My fiancee and I both grew up in households where NG arrived monthly, was thoroughly read by everyone in the house, and eventually each issue (after residing in the magazine rack for far too long) was dutifully packed away into Bankers’ boxes by our mothers, rarely or never to be enjoyed again. Both matriarchs still have their ever-growing dusty collections of magazines that everyone has read yet nobody dares throw away.
I decided to challenge the NG paradigm once and for all this September when my son was assigned a Grade 7 collage project. He couldn’t believe it when I told him to start cutting up my NGs and initially flat-out refused (Gramma taught him well!) I surprised myself when I immediately and definitively told him I would much rather see them used for a school project than hanging around in dusty boxes years from now. He received an excellent grade on his collage, his friends were able to utilize many of the quality images as well, and now his teacher will gladly accept donations of my older issues - A finer recyclying program I cannot imagine!
I’m a huge supporter of the idea that life is far better the less one forms attachments to ‘things’ , but the family has collectively agreed not to tell “the Grammas” about putting the shears to a NG, just in case.
Hi Darren,
I know what you mean. It takes a bit of an adjustment to start cutting up artifacts from the grandparents. But just think if we had to save everything. My house has enough clutter.
Welcome. It’s always nice to meet someone with common interests. Great to see you around.
Chris
5 Sally // Dec 6, 2007 at 5:46 am
Does this National Geographic have an ad for
“The Little Leather Library Corp.” on the back of it? If it does I would love a copy of that ad..
Thanks for all your time.
Sally
Hi Sally,
Nope. Sorry.
The back ad on this issue is for “Grace Line Caribbean-South American Cruises”
But I’ll keep an eye out for you and drop you an email if I find one for “The Little Leather Library Corp.” I love looking at the old ads. I was actually thinking of posting some of the more interesting ones.
May I ask why you are looking for that ad? What did/does “The Little Leather Library Corp do?”
Chris
6 Darren Clark // Dec 12, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Chris,
If Sally comes back to check or if you somehow log an email address when she posts, she’s looking for one of the following NG issues:
1922 - January, April, June, October
1923 - January, April, October
1924 - January, March, October
I’m assuming Sally is looking for an original, but scans of every NG ad can be found at http://home.earthlink.net/~littlelibrary/history.html
Hope this helps!
Hi Darren,
I was actually just looking a bit last night. I think the earliest issues I have are from 1934.
Thanks for the link! That is pretty cool.
Chris
7 Darrell Mott // Mar 2, 2008 at 11:36 am
I am looking for National Geor. Magazine slip
covers for my collection Thanks
Darrell Mott
8 todd // Apr 19, 2008 at 8:19 am
I have 1960’s to 1990’s I know they contain so much cultural info, but they take up a lot of room
9 Jayne Youdan // Aug 8, 2008 at 4:07 am
Hi All
Having recently moved into our new home, we uncovered many “treasures” in the loft! Stamps, old clocks and about 30 years of NGs. We often pondered on the value of them, the clocks and stamps having already been taken to the tip after valuation! Well I guess I’ve got my answer! It seems such a shame but thanks to your website and comments of others I can now do the necessary with a clear conscience - and not expect to retire early on the fruits of our find!
10 Jan Claes, Hasselt, Belgium // Aug 18, 2008 at 11:40 am
Hi Chris, I love old magazines and in 2000 I actually BOUGHT at a garage sale one (1) old (1943) issue of NG and now, reading a book about the war, once again this issue proves to be an interesting and relevant addition and gives me hours of nice reading!
Would’nt separate from it even if I got ten times what I paid it. ( 5 dollar or so, I guess)
If I had a garage full of these, I’d spent some time with them now and then.
So…save them for posterity.
Greetz,
Jan
11 Liz // Sep 29, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I own the cd collection of the magazine from the first issue up till 1997, I hope that one day NG re-releases the set. Now with computers running faster the program no longer works *curse vista* I do love spending a rainy day browsing a cd or two since without the program there is no search engine for articles.
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