American Heritage (magazine)

American Heritage (magazine)

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American Heritage (magazine)

American Heritage is a monthly magazine dedicated to covering the history of the United States for a mainstream readership. Up to 2007, the magazine was published by Forbes, and since then, by Edwin S. Grosvenor.

History
Contents
Notable staff members and contributing editors
References
See also
External links

History

From 1947 to 1949 the American Association for State and Local History published a house organ, American Heritage: A Journal of Community History. In September 1949, they started a quarterly with broader scope for the general public but keeping some features geared to educators. It never really took off, and a group of concerned people formed the American Heritage Publishing Company and introduced the hardcover, 120 page advertising-free "magazine" in with Volume 6, Number 1 in December 1954.^[1] Although in essence a whole new magazine, the publishers kept the volume numbering because the previous incarnation had been indexed in the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature. By 1980 costs made the hardcover version prohibitive for a regular subscription. Subscribers could choose the new regular newsstand high-quality softcover or the "Collector's Edition", even plusher and thicker then the previous hardcover. Each is usually about 80 pages and has more "relevant" features and shorter articles than in the early years, but the scope and direction and purpose have not changed.

On May 17, 2007, the magazine announced that it had "stopped publication, at least temporarily, with the April/May 2007 issue."^[2] On October 27, 2007, the great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell, Edwin S. Grosvenor, purchased the magazine from Forbes for $500,000 in cash and $10 million in subscription liabilities^[3]. The magazine was revived and began publishing again in December 2007 with the Winter 2008 issue.

For a magazine that has lasted one-fourth as long as the United States, its way of covering history has changed a lot over the years. Today there are mentions of television shows and Web sites, as well as short pieces on items the history buff can find on eBay. Each issue is still an eclectic collection of articles on the people, places, and events from the entire history of the United States.

In addition to running four to six articles, American Heritages regular features include

Now on the Web - what's happening on their Web site
Correspondence - readers' letters
History Now - happenings in museums, historic sites, pop culture, TV, movies
In the News - a historical look at current political and social issues
History Happened Here - what to see and do and where to stay and eat in historic American cities
My Brush With History - readers' own stories about incidents in their lives that have some interesting historical significance

Some things included annually

A travel issue
Overrated/Underrated, which features fresh perspectives from a variety of contributors on standards
Great American Place Award, a periodic special issue that features an in-depth article on a historic American city or region

During the early 1960s, American Heritage sponsored a series of popular military board games produced by the Milton Bradley Company.

The editor-in-chief of American Heritage is Edwin S. Grosvenor, the former editor of the fine arts magazine, Portfolio, which was nominated for the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 1983. Grosvenor was also the editor of the literary magazine, Current Books, and magazines for Marriott and Hyatt Hotels. He was also the CEO of KnowledgeMax, Inc., an online bookseller which became publically traded in 2000.

The executive editor is John F. Ross, the former senior editor of the Smithsonian Magazine.