Ideas, Trends, and Thoughts — R M Crosby

In 1883, Harvard graduates John Ames Mitchell, Andrew Miller, and Edward S. Martin, set out to create their answer to the already-established Puck, Judge, and Punch magazines. Life was its name, and its premise was a simple one: “We shall endeavor to be neither too sweet to live," ran the mission statement on its first issue, "nor too good to be true.” It was “fun” for “an unfriendly world”. Its masthead (pictured below), which remained a part of the magazine for decades, drives that point home further by declaring "While there is Life, there's Hope." While they were still students,...