Magazine Research at the BPL

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What is a popular magazine?

Popular magazines are periodicals designed to inform or entertain a general audience. They usually use accessible language, a very visual format, and glossy paper. They often focus on news, entertainment, or specific interests. Examples include Time, People, and National Geographic.

Why should I use popular magazines for research?

Magazines can show how popular media covered a particular historical moment or era. Some of the most famous photos in history originally appeared in magazines! Advertisements are also a rich primary source, especially for studying gender, race, consumerism, the history of technology, and popular culture. 

Where can I find recent (last 5-10 years) magazines online?

The best places to look are PressReader, Flipster, and OverDrive Magazines. You can find current digital issues here, too! They are easily accessible through a browser or apps on a phone or tablet. Like other streaming services, what's available in these databases can change depending on what rights they have at a given time. This is why magazines from these databases aren't included in the full reproduction list below.

These e-resources are designed for casual readers rather than researchers. Usually, you can search inside an issue, but searching across issues is more difficult. This is why I usually start with Flipster.  They have a smaller selection of magazines, but you can search across multiple issues of a publication. In order to search all available issues:

  1. Log in to Flipster using your BPL card.
  2. Search for the magazine you're looking for.
  3. Select "Read Now."
  4. In the upper right-hand corner, click on the search icon (a magnifying glass).
  5. Click on the dropdown that says "This Issue." Change it to "All Issues." 

What historical magazines do you have online?

To answer this question, it's important to know the different types of magazine archives.

  • Full reproductions: Full scans of the original magazine (see list below).
  • Full text: All of the articles in the magazine are available. However, it isn't formatted like a magazine. You (usually) won't see any ads or pictures. This is also sometimes called text-only. These can be found in databases like Gale OneFile: Popular Magazines and ProQuest Digital Collections. 
  • Abstracts and citations: If you're not sure what issue an article might be in, citations can help. Readers Guide Retrospective (1890-1982) indexes an incredible amount of content from popular magazines. Gale OneFile and ProQuest Digital Collections can also have abstracts and citations. 

Full Reproductions Online

This list shares magazine archives available with your library card. Available years are in parentheses, though text-only and citations may be available for a longer stretch of time. This list doesn't include all the magazines that you can access. Instead, it provides quick links to popular titles so you don't have to search multiple databases. A few trade or professional magazines (like Women's Wear Daily) are also included; academic journals and alternative press publications are not included. All of these magazines are text-searchable. 

Front cover of Fortune featuring an illustration of a white deer jumping past arrows.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stark_Davis,_Fortune_front_cover,_1929.jpg, opens a new window
September 1929 cover of Fortune, illustrated by Stark Davis. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Art and Architecture

Business

Children's and Parenting

Clay rendering of Mario jumping on a mushroom. He is being pursued by King K. Rool, a crocodile character in a crown.
Cover of the July/August issue of Nintendo Power. Via Bryan Ochalla on Flickr.

Computers & Gaming

Film, Theater, and Opera

Fashion

Health and Fitness

Home and Garden

Illustration of two cats looking at each other. A potted tree is between them.
Image from the July 1898 issue of Harper's, illustrated by Edward Penfield.

Lifestyle and Celebrity

LGBTQ

Creem_Magazine_July_1974_cover
Creem Magazine July 1974 cover featuring The Rolling Stones. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Men's Magazines

Music and Dance

Black and white photo of infantrymen walking through knee-high water while deboarding a ship.
Front cover of the March 27, 1944, issue of Life magazine, featuring a photograph captioned "Landing Craft, Infantry." Via Wikimedia Commons.

Politics and Current Events

Science and Nature

Sports

Teen

Ms. Magazine, Summer 2014 issue featuring author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Women's Magazines

Do you have physical copies of magazines?

You can browse current or recent issues of popular magazines while at the library. If you're looking to browse a certain magazine, feel free to contact us ahead of time. We do have physical archives of select magazines. Because we often store these offsite, we encourage you to use digital reproductions when possible. If you need to look at the physical version, please email us at ask@bpl.org.  

What if I still can't find the magazine article I'm looking for?

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