American Heritage (magazine)
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American Heritage is a magazine dedicated to covering the history of the United States for a mainstream readership.
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. 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. You could choose the new regular newstand high-quality softcover or the "Collector's Edition", even plusher and thicker then the previous hardcover. After several ownership changes and accepting ads in the 1980s, they and sister publication American Heritage of Invention & Technology are now an affiliate of Forbes Inc. 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.
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.
The current editor in chief is Richard F. Snow, and the managing editor is Frederick E. Allen.
In addition to running four to six articles, American Heritage's regular features include:
Now on the Web - what's happening on their Web site
Corrspondence - readers' letters, which can be as interesting as the articles
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 they do annually include:
A travel issue,
"Overrated/Underrated," which features fresh perspectives from a variety of contributors on standards we've taken for granted,
"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.
