The Magazine Collector: aviation archives

Friday, March 11, 2011

Magazine Publishers Are Members, Too

The Magazine Collector online community networks magazine collectors and aviation publishers of both online and print periodicals.

The history of magazine publishing – especially aviation periodicals -- is a topic that members of The Magazine Collector online community consider a priority. Our founder’s background as a retired aviation author and magazine publisher/editor, as well as an acknowledged rare periodicals collector, keeps The Magazine Collector website focused on the publishing side of the membership’s magazine collections.

A savvy magazine collector always looks into the publishing side of the periodicals in his/her holdings. Information about publisher Street & Smith, for example, is integral to any collector holding copies of Air Trails. This and other pulp classics of the pre-WWII “Golden Age of Publishing” were produced by the longest-extant publisher in history (1855 – 1959). How every issue went from raw content to distribution is, in itself, a fascinating story of publishing innovation and survival.

Whether you publish online or in print, our site’s membership is likely your target readership. Our members are aviation buffs first, and are collectors as a hobby or avocation. Your participation in our online community would bring value to you and our networked community of magazine collectors. Our user-friendly sight provides you with a number of resources, such as our open-discussion Forum page, and the Resources page. You can even post your own guest blogs!

Want to pitch your subscription promos or back issues/archives? Use our Buy/Sell page to get the attention of our universe of magazine collectors. Our website is open to the public, and we provide non-members access to many of the web pages.

Read an observer's review of our site at: (http://www.scribd.com/doc/50314778/The-Magazine-Collector-Website-Review).

You can help make this site prosper as an publication-lovers’ portal by signing up as a member.

Members and Non-Members Welcome

Membership is FREE, and by joining you get to:

· Engage other members on the discussion Forum page

· Post your own guest blogs

· Contribute to the Resources page

· Submit photos and images to the Gallery page

· Sell collectable magazines and aviation paraphernalia on the Buy/Sell page

o Includes a free e-mail blast promoting your offering

Click here to sign up as a Member.

You don’t necessarily have to become a member of The Magazine Collector community to get access to and use of this website. Non-members can:

· Access all web pages, except members-only Forum and Buy/Sell

· Pose questions on the Q&A page

· Get advance e-mail notification of the latest happenings at The Magazine Collector

Click here to sign up as a Non-Member.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Librarians and Museum Curators Are Welcome Here

Aviation collections attract The Magazine Collector online collector community.

The Magazine Collector services those who are attracted to the archives and holdings of libraries and museums. Our members, as collectors of primarily historical aviation periodicals, rely on museums and libraries. Part of being a collector involves historical research into not only the magazines themselves and their contents, but also finding information about publishing and other related aspects of the historical environment in which these collectables existed.

Librarians and museum curators have a definite place in our online community, as invaluable resources. Not just their knowledge in primary research, but they bring insights as “professional” collectors themselves. In a way, every one of our membership’s collectors is a librarian and curator, too. Each of them is a conservator who preserves documents of the past. Like the acquisition specialists in a museum or library, they find and bring into their holdings what are often very rare or scarce materials that should be archived.

For the most part, collectors’ closely-held holdings have usually been private and inaccessible. However, The Magazine Collector provides an online community where these curators and conservationists can socially network with each other, as well as interact with museum curators and librarians. Thus, making your institution accessible and visible on our website brings an opportunity to communicate with people who share a common interest in you and your institution’s holdings.

Perhaps you want to have a brief write up and link to your aviation periodicals archives. That belongs on The Magazine Collector Resources page. Maybe you can contribute information to our collector membership using our discussion Forum page. There are pages on our website for just about anything you want to do…even post guest blogs!

Read an observer’s review of our site on Scribd (http://www.scribd.com/doc/50314204/The-Magazine-Collector-An-Alternative-to-Recycling)

Our founder is an acknowledged rare books and periodicals collector. A background as the assistant curator of archives at a major metropolitan library brings an appreciation of the relationship between institutions like yours and the collector community. Also, being a retired aviation author, publisher and editor also helps keep The Magazine Collector focused.

You can help make this site prosper as an archivist’s portal by signing up as a member.

Members and Non-Members Welcome