Over the weekend, a historic date slipped by, but not unnoticed, the anniversary of the first published issue of Life Magazine, at least the Life Magazine that most of us Baby Boomers, and pre-Boomers are familiar with.  I love coming across old Life Magazines when I attend historic book and paper auctions, and can imagine how many early photographers also loved the publication, because it was all about presenting news and entertainment in a photographic context.

Take a moment to imagine what it must have been like…we’re talking November of 1936, there were no televisions, and if you wanted to see news, you may have been able to view a brief newsreel before a feature presentation at the movies, but there was nothing like Life Magazine to bring visual images from around the world, and in the USA, into the living room.  Life was immensely popular, at it’s height, had a readership of 8+million readers.  At that time, the magazine gave you a visual of what you were hearing about on the radio.  So different than our present time, when we are on “information overload” if that is possible.

Google has recently started an archive of popular Life Magazine photographs categorized by year, a wonderful resource.

Here’s to LIFE!