MetaFilter posts tagged with journalism and history

Before there was Photoshop

starman — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:45:06 -0800

The New York Evening Graphic was published by Bernarr Macfadden, body builder, health crusader, and prolific author (Strong Eyes [1901], How Success is Won [1904], and Brain Energy [1906] to name a few of his hundred titles). After his failed "Physical Culture City" and before the ethical breach of using Photoshop for news your photographer couldn't gain access or wanted an early jump on, Macfadden began The New York Evening Graphic in 1924. Perhaps the paper's most well-known composograph was of Kip and Alice Rhinelander's divorce trial, which helped earn the paper the nickname, "The Porno Graphic." Future variety TV host Ed Sullivan even had an "I'm above writing about divorces and gossip" Broadway column in the paper, in which he avoided divorces and gossip for about two days. And by the way, next time you jump in that icy pond, you can thank Macfadden.

Times Archive,

languagehat — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:50:55 -0800

Every issue of The Times published between 1785-1985, digitally scanned and fully searchable. (Via Wordorigins.org.)

The Saddam Sessions

kliuless — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 22:33:50 -0800

Saddam's Confessions - Given Saddam Hussein's central place in the American Consciousness over the last couple decades and particularly in recent years, I found 60 minutes' interview with FBI interrogator George Piro pretty fascinating.

OldMagazineArticles.com

mediareport — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 07:44:19 -0800

Old Magazine Articles Neat little database of .pdf copies of vintage magazine articles like Gilbert Seldes' 1922 review of Krazy Kat in Vanity Fair, a 1910 look at "Horse Versus Automobile," early nose jobs, an interview with James Joyce and more. [via ResearchBuzz]

One evening in November, 1914, I found myself in Calais

mwhybark — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 14:58:22 -0800

The Great War: "People at the time experienced it differently. We may think they were misinformed and deluded, and perhaps they were, or maybe we have become incredibly cynical and mistrusting. What were once considered to be civic virtues are now thought to be quaint anachronisms at best or grand delusions at worst. Things change." The site proffers an incredible variety of popular-press articles and imagery concerning the unfortunate European events of 1914 to 1918.

Edmund Wilson and American culture

matteo — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 19:21:27 -0800

"When I read his work, I forgive him all his sins". Edmund Wilson disliked being called a critic. He thought of himself as a journalist, and nearly all his work was done for commercial magazines, principally Vanity Fair, in the nineteen-twenties; The New Republic, in the nineteen-twenties and thirties; The New Yorker, beginning in the nineteen-forties; and The New York Review of Books, in the nineteen-sixties. He was exceptionally well read: he had had a first-class education in English, French, and Italian literature, and he kept adding languages all his life. He learned to read German, Russian, and Hebrew; when he died, in 1972, he was working on Hungarian.
Edmund Wilson and American culture. (more inside)

Scotsman Newspaper Digital Archive 1817-1950

ClanvidHorse — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 13:20:13 -0800

Edinburgh's Scotsman newspaper has launched a digital archive covering all editions from 1817-1950. There are several stories with an American slant which may be something that interests you. There is coverage on such things as the hanging of the notorious bodysnatchers Burke and Hare. Unfortunately, after viewing the free archives it is a paysite, but I still think it's worth a look as there is easily a couple of hours of interesting reading on the free articles that are included. The set-up and look of this site is brilliant as well.

comics about criminals

Peter H — Mon, 11 Oct 2004 09:06:58 -0800

Bush Junta: A Field Guide to Corruption in Government - A substantial visual document (200 pages of comics from Fantagraphics, fact-checked with an extensive bibliography; the link goes to a number of sample pages) on the Bush Dynasty, from its beginnings benefitting off of Hitler and WW2 (that entire piece, which is printed in english, is posted in its original dutch online here), to the Bush's connection to Reagan's assassination, CIA and Iran-Contra, ending with the unsettling origins and profiles of the current administration. A great election primer, featuring comics and art by Steve Brodner, Ralph Steadman, Spain Rodriguez and many others. (Amazon link provided for a better description)

photographs of hiroshima

crush-onastick — Tue, 20 Apr 2004 15:02:40 -0800

The only photographs known to have been taken immediately after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
The photographer's (Yoshito Matsushige) testimony from Hiroshima Witness, talking about taking the pictures. This article waxes on about how few exposures he made, how many he framed but did not take.

memento mori

stupidsexyFlanders — Tue, 02 Sep 2003 07:15:13 -0800

Obitpage, dedicated to the writer's art of the obituary. Recommended among the greats in the (partial) "hall-of-fame" archive is Idi Amin's: "One of the Most Reviled Figures In Recent History."

Su — Fri, 30 Aug 2002 19:56:33 -0800

Paper of Record provides a hi-res, searchable(!), archive of historical newspapers, generated from microfilm collections. Looks like one for Cory at Wrote['nother couple of similar links there]. Kind of new and largely Canadian at the moment, but worth watching, and subscriptions are cheap. Remember, those are Canadian dollars.

MiguelCardoso — Fri, 09 Aug 2002 01:05:04 -0800

Life Is A Magazine, Chum... Come to the Magazine! A lot of us grew up with Life Magazine and there's a certain nostalgic/narcissistic pleasure in looking at the cover of the week you (if you're over 30, that is) or your parents were born in. Their wacky and classic covers are also worth checking out, even though there are some inevitable repeats. Oh - and never forgetting their astonishing classic photographs, of course.

Yelling At Nothing — Sat, 26 Jan 2002 23:51:05 -0800

Great article about the decline of obituary writing in American journalism. Notable obits it names include Hunter Thompson's unflattering rendition of Nixon and H.L. Mencken's scathing posthumous indictment of William Jennings Bryan.

Should we go back to obits like these? Damn right we should, says suck.com.