Recent Articles – Page 124 – Old Magazine Articles

An Advertisement for W.W. I Officer Boots
(Stars and Stripes, 1918)

A black and white illustration showing the sort of British made boot favored by American officers during World War One. A look at the many pictures which depicted the officers of the A.E.F. and it is clear to see that the lace-to-the-knee style of trench boot was much preferred over other varieties. However, many pictures from the closing days of the war tend to also indicate the line officer’s preference for ankle-boots with puttees.

A.E.F. Deployment Compared to B.E.F. Deployment
(U.S. Gov. 1931)

Attached is a graph comparing the amount of time it took for both the British Army and the American Army to have 2,000,000 soldiers on the Western Front during World War One:

The British sent to France many more men in their first year in the war than we did in our first year. On the other hand, it took England three years to reach a strength of 2,000,000 men in France and the United States accomplished it in one half the time.

American Negros in the Great War
(Leslie’s Weekly, 1920)

This is a World War I article listing many of the patriotic commitments that the African-American community devoted to the 1917 – 1918 war efforts:

The war has transformed the American Negro into the Negro American. Because he has been doing big things for his country his sense of national unity grown; his citizenship became a living reality.

They have contributed 300,000 of their young men to the American Army. Of these 1,000 are commissioned officers of the line…One entire regiment was decorated for bravery and several individual soldiers have been cited for deeds of great valor.

Women Win Office in 1916
(The Nation, 1916)

A brief account of the 1916 November elections in the United States and how well women candidates fared, particularly in the West where gains where strongest:

The continued election of women to minor offices may be taken as showing that suffrage has increased the number of those from whom fit choices can be made.

1924 was a very important year for American women in politics…

Meet Ann Fish: Conde Nast Illustrator
(Vanity Fair, 1919)

Some ninety-three years ago, Fish was the name scribbled on those unique cartoon illustrations that could be found throughout VOGUE (both American and British) and VANITY FAIR. The editor of American VOGUE between the years 1914 and 1952, Edna Woolman Chase (1877 – 1957) called this English cartoonist brilliant and began running her drawings from her earliest days in that office; her full name was Ann Fish and this article will tell you all we know about her.

This most cosmopolitan of living black-and-white satirists has never stirred from England in all her days. She has never especially extended herself as a spectator of the London life which she so amusingly depicts. She has never gazed on Fifth Avenue.

The Evolution of the U.S. Army Web Belt
(Outing Magazine, 1918)

The attached article, How Our Soldiers Carry Their Ammunition, was originally published in a 1918 sporting magazine and gives an account as to how one uniform element unique to the U.S. and British military establishments came into prominence during the earliest years of the Twentieth Century. Written by Paul A Curtis, Jr., the essay describes the difficulties inherit with leather belting, the British need for an alternate material in order to maintain colonial regiments in India and the father of the American web belt, General Anson Mills (1834 – 1924).

When the Doughboys complained, they complained heavily about their uniforms; read about it here.

‘Down-With Suffrage!”
(Literary Digest, 1908)

The great meeting held recently in London to launch the Women’s National Anti-suffrage League was made additionally noteworthy by the participation of Mrs. Humphry Ward…

The real reason why women ought not to have the political franchise is the very simple reason that they are not men, and that according to a well-known dictum, even an act of Parliament can not make them men. Men govern the world, and, so far as it is possible to foresee, they must always govern it.

Reminiscences of August Rodin
(Vanity Fair, 1918)

Not long after the death of Auguste Rodin (1840 – 1917) Paris-based artist Stephen Haweis (1878 – 1969) remembered his friendship with the French sculptor:

He loved flattery, as all human beings do, and would listen attentively to rhapsodies from almost anybody, though they do say that a pretty lady got more attention from him than a half-starved journalist.

Rodin proclaimed himself the culminator of one era of sculpture, the inspirer, and nearly the author of another. He was the father of various schools which are lumped under the title of Modern Art.

Augustus John by Aldous Huxley
(Vanity Fair, Undated)

The British writer Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) had much praise for the artist Augustus John (1878 – 1961) and his skill as a portrait painter:

With his few fellows he stands apart, reminding us in the most salutary fashion that it is the gift of God, not the correct education, that produces genuine art…

Beethoven and his Deafness
(The Literary Digest, 1894)

Musical historian W.S.B. Mathews considers the three musical styles of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) and entirely dismisses the possibility that his deafness in later years effected his compositions not one jot.

The Experiences of a Bombardier in the Young French Air Corps
(Vanity Fair, 1916)

In this letter from the artist Bernard Boutet de Monvel (1884 – 1949) the fellow explains thoroughly his thoughts and adventures as a bombardier in a Vosin bi-plane; experiences which contrast greatly with his days in the trenches and he writes well on the feelings of loneliness that an aviator can experience at 2000 feet.

For those who are interested in learning about the living conditions and daily life of World War One pilot officers this article can only help you.

British Snipers on the Western Front
(The English Review, 1920)

Written by Major E. Penberthy, former Commandant of the British Third Army Sniping School, this is an account of the training and organization of snipers as they functioned within the British Army at the time of the Great War.

In the early days of the war, when reports of German ‘sniping’ began to be published, it was commonly considered a ‘dirty’ method of fighting and as not ‘playing the game’.

3-D Movies Arrive
(Quick Magazine, 1953)

This article confirms that the 3-D film format was brought into existence in 1952 for the same reasons it exists today: to get TV audiences off of their wallets and into the theaters.

If 3-D didn’t work, the producers could always attract audiences with this…

A Letter from the Trenches
(New York Times, 1915)

An interesting letter written during the opening weeks of the war by a Canadian officer stationed with a British Guard regiment. The letter is filled with earnest enthusiasm:

We are all one in aim, in spirit and in that indefinable quality of loyal co-operation which holds together the British Army fighting against enormous odds in France, as it binds together the British Empire by bonds not less strong because they are invisible.

Meet Ann Fish: Conde Nast Illustrator
(Vanity Fair, 1919)

A Child’s Interview With Charles Dickens
(The Literary Digest, 1912)

Kate Douglas Wiggins recalled her childhood train ride in the 1840’s in which she was able to have a chat with one of her favorite author, Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870), as he traveled the United States on a reading tour.

‘Of course, I do skip some of the very dull parts once and a while; not the short dull parts but the long ones.’ He laughed heartily. ‘Now that is something that I hear very little about’ he said’.

Britain Buries Her Own
(Literary Digest, 1919)

Aside from scanning and posting vast numbers of historic magazine articles, the only other activity that has heightened our sense of inner tranquility has been our various walks through British and Commonwealth World War I graveyards. They are truly unique and beautiful gardens that can be appreciated on a number of different levels and it was not surprising to learn that many of the finest aesthetic minds in Britain had a hand in their creation.

This article, printed six months after the last shot was fired, is about the Imperial War Graves Commission (now called The Commonwealth War Graves Commission) and their plans as to how the dead of the British Empire were to be interred.

Click here to read about a 1920 visit the grave of poet Rupert Brooke.

The Czar’s Paper
(Coronet Magazine, 1941)

This is the story of a news daily that was published between the years 1894 and 1917 and its entire readership could be counted with one finger,the subscriber’s name was Czar Nicholas II of Russia. This unique periodical employed hundreds of correspondents (both foreign and domestic), and although only one printing of each issue was ever run, it cost the Russian taxpayers more than $40,000.00 a day to maintain.

Click here to read another article about the Czar.