Although I have always had an interest in history, I've never really done an assignment like this before where I've had to read an old news publication from a particular magazine or newspaper. I decided to read Time Magazine because I thought it would have the most complete coverage of news and advertisements from any time. Also, I was able to find an issue published on my birthdate of December 7th, 55 years before I was born.
The first thing that stands out to most people when reading a magazine are the advertisements. Immediately on the 4th page was an ad for Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind" with a caption that states "Those who have already read it will want a copy to own and keep close at hand." I found this very funny because I know that my family has atleast 3 different versions of the book lying around the house and because we are from Georgia they are definitely seen as prized possesions. It is interesting to think that this book that had only been on the market for about 6 months at the time of this publication is still viewed as one of the greatest novels from the era. Other advertisements that were hard not to notice were the ads for gin, whiskey, and tobacco which appeared on almost every other page. I'm guessing that because America was in the middle of the great depression these items were highly valued to "ease" people through the hard times. Another ad I found ammusing was one for aluminmun foil that depicted it as if it was cutting edge technology which I guess it was back then. Nowadays its only seen as a basic household supply but 75 years ago aluminum foil was a hot new item.
The language throughout the articles suprised me because it wasn't much different and was definitely not harder to understand. This was true for the most part, but as I started reading the business and finance section I was completely lost. Maybe the terminology has changed over the years or maybe TCU's Neeley School of Business hasn't prepared me as well as I'd hoped. Hopefully the latter is not true. The writing was a bit more formal but I thought it was just as easy to understand as today's magazines. One of the articles I enjoyed reading was about a plantation owner in Arkansas who had somehow been keeping slaves on his property to work his land 70 years after slavery had been abolished. The article itself was about the trial process and eventually the plantation owner was found guilty. Because the article was not a headlined story in the National Affairs section it appeared that this story was not deemed as important as the others. I can't even imagine what would happen if a story like that surfaced in one of today's newspapers. The story would be a national headline and there would most likely be an inevitable national uproar.
Another section I enjoyed reading about was the Music section. There was a particular article titled "Jazz on the Verge." In the article a jazz concert in Philadelhia was summarized. What I found most interesting was the language used to describe the actual music. The writer used words like "shrilled, thumped, crashed, and snorted" to describe the sounds that were being made. It sounded exactly how my parents would describe the new Hip Hop/Rap genre in today's world. In 1936, jazz was just starting tto gain popularity and there were obviously people who didn't understand how this new sound could appeal to anyone. I think its very funny to see a defintie similarity between how new music genres were looked down upon when they were getting started out.
Overall, I had a surpringly good time reading throught this old magazine. I was able to see ads and stories that both shocked me and made me laugh at loud. As a whole issue, Time Magazine depicted the world as fairly content even though the United States was in the midst of the hardest decades ever experienced. I am very much looking forward to our next assignment because I will hopefully be able to read a later issue and can compare the stories and advertisments right before World War II changes the world forever.
