Nearly the entire run of The American Legion’s national magazine – from 1919 to 2012 – is now available online at the Legion’s Digital Archive.
Nearly 1,400 issues, with more than 70,000 pages, are full-text searchable and downloadable. The National Headquarters Library will retain a permanent collection of the original magazines.
The magazine debuted as a weekly on July 4, 1919, with a special message from Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing, who led the American Expeditionary Force to victory in World War I. It became a monthly publication in July 1926. This digital storehouse traces the Legion’s reaction to, and involvement in, national and world events over the decades. The magazines also include in-depth convention coverage, details on the Legion’s legislative efforts, post vignettes, interviews, cartoons and jokes.
The Digital Archive is the most convenient way to get the full run of The American Legion Magazine; school and library holdings are likely to be limited. The Legion is making this content available to help tell the Legion’s rich story and create a wider awareness of the organization’s history in anticipation of the Centennial Celebration in 1919.
The most recent two years of the magazine’s run are not included in the Digital Archive. The archive will continue to be updated.
http://archive.legion.org
