I’ve been cycling through Popular Science Magazines, ever since I found out that all of them are now available online, from 1872 to 2000. Every page. Covers, articles, advertisements - the entire magazine, every month, every issue for 128 years. Free. Just a wealth of time-capsule-esque goodness.
I mean, how can you not love the first few pages of this? “Coming in 2 Years!!” Or the baby car seat on the last page here?
It’s really quite spectacular. Check it out.
Up to March, 2009. Cool!
I would drive that car right now!
Does being part of Google Books make searching easier than it was three weeks ago?
I can’t wait till 2012.
Much easier for me, when I just compared the two. (Didn’t know about the other site)
Hoo boy now THERE is a time sink!
And a time machine as well.
Thanks for the link… I guess.
At last! Now maybe I can figure out what the hell happened to my flying car.
Is there some trick to get to the oldest issues via the Google interface? Using the “Goooogle” thing at the bottom the oldest I can get to Apr 1926 on the 33rd page.
Thanks I have read books here, but never thought to look for magazine.
I can hardly wait to read
Australian Mammal Society
Wow, just the May 1950 issue alone has the de Havilland Comet test flights and the USAF ram jet helicopter prototype, a submarine launched cruise missile (German V1), a full pod ejection system like the F-111, an Indy 500 race engine with an aluminum crank and forged steel connecting rods, …
You bastard. This is nothing short of internet cocaine.
Cooool, Morbo! Thanks for the link.
I hunt down those old PM mags at antique stores, etc. I’ve got August, 1947 here on my desk (reading at at lunch). It’s the one with the Rocket Brakes (for trains) on the cover. I don’t think that technology ever caught on.
I love looking at the old ads. I’m tempted to fill out one of the forms for a Weatherby rifle ($37) and send it in. Wonder what the company would do?
Whoa - 1934, Page 32: “Alligators are frequently owned as pets and, as the photo indicates, can be handled with comparative safety. In captivity they lack the vicious nature found in crocodiles.”
Or Feb 1949: What You Want To Know About Television. The whole article is great. Some highlights: Where should you put your TV? “Obvious location for set is focal point of room…often this is the fireplace.” “The dining room makes a good video theater, since it has easy-to-move chairs and a big table for refreshments and ash trays.”
GAH! Must…navigate…away…from…website…vortex…
I goofed. I don’t think it was Aug 45 (May maybe?). The covers have all come off and I picked it from the stack and got the wrong cover.
Apparently I grabbed a Popular “Mechanics” magazine off my shelf. Wrong shelf. Never mind. [slinks away to read]
I never thought to check for magazines on Google Books…this is awesome!
Oh wow. I had a gift subcription in the mid-70s, when I was in my teens. What a great magazine!
A whopping 7 inch TV set could be had for only $200! To put that in other terms, when I look at average salaries in 1949 compared with today, that would be $2890 in today’s salary dollars. That amount would get you a 72 inch HD TV, with perhaps an HD player thrown in for free.
Can anybody go to issues before Apr 1926? Is it just me who cannot?
Cover view only seems to go back to April 1926; list view goes back to June 1925 for me.