Amateur journalism is by no means a new pastime, but probably at no time in its long history has it been thought as much of as at present.
It would be a difficult matter to even roughly estimate the number of papers which have been issued in the amateur world. Mr. Edwin Hadley Smith of New York City has the largest collection now in existence. This at present consists of 22,600 amateur papers, 500 amateur books, 800 photographs of amateur journalists, 800 professional clippings, and 2,500 miscellaneous printed relics dating as far back as 1845. The collection, which is the result of many years' work, is sorted and catalogued, and will soon be placed in one of our large libraries, where the public may inspect the work that has been turned out by amateurs for the past half century.
A Group of Amateur Papers.
It is said Benjamin Franklin published an amateur paper in 1723, when a lad of seventeen years; and in tracing the history of amateur journalism down to the present time, a person would be surprised to find what a large number of the most successful statesmen, writers, and scientific men this country has had were amateur journalists in their younger days.
There are at present in the neighborhood of two hundred amateur papers published in the United States. A few of these papers, representative of amateurs from all parts of the country, have been grouped together and reproduced opposite [page 142], and several others are shown in Figs. [162], [163], [164], [165], and [166]. It is to be regretted that lack of space forbids a larger display of these papers, many of which are quite unique and reflect credit upon their publishers.
Fig. 162.—A School Paper.
32 pages. Size 2-¼" × 2-¾".