The American Boy Magazine

Nashville Public Library has 2 volumes: November 1922-October 1923 and 1930.

The American Boy magazine was published from 1899-1941.  Its creator, editor, and publisher was Griffith Ogden Ellis who had been Senior V.P. of the Bank of Detroit and was the former president of the Detroit Street Railway Commission.  Ellis came up with the idea for the magazine when his newphew Willie Sprague was quarantined and only allowed by his mother to read Youth's Companion, which he considered to "namby pamby."  So Ellis introduced the mroe adventurous American Boy, which printed exciting features and fiction, and continued the magazine with schoolboy Willie in mind even as Willie grew to be an adult.

Willie Sprague was killed in the war at age 27.  At that point, Ellis created an imaginary character to serve as inspiration for the magazine--Skeeter Bennet, a 15 1/2-year-old high school sophomore. 

Time article about American Boy

 

The American Boy was the largest magazine for youth at the time.  In 1929, Ellise bought and merged his magazine with its biggest rival Youth's Companion.  This almost doubled The American Boy's circulation, which was already over 300,000. 

Time article about American Boy

 

In 1939, Ellis sold The American Boy to his business manager, Elmer Presley Grierson, whom he had been grooming to take over the magazine for many years.  Grierson had a new boy to inspire the magazine once he took over--his 15-year-old son John.

 



Time August 12, 1929 "The Press: Boys," p. 36.



Time March 27, 1939 "The Press: Willie to Skeeter to John," p. 38.



What's Special About The American Boy?

Exciting fictional stories about pirates, soliders, sports, animals, and adventures of all kinds.

Advertisements for toys and games, sporting and camping gear.

 A "Friendly Talks with the Editor" section on the front page of every issue in which the editor offered advice on topics like loyalty, sportsmanship, and work ethic.  From the November 1922 issue on Thanksgiving: "We believe the best way of giving thanks is by doing thanks.  The old Pilgrim Fathers who instituted Thanksgiving Day put their thanks into words and into a feast, but they also did their thanks as well.  They lived their thanks.  It is easy to say you are much obliged for a favor; but to show you are much obliged is a far different thing.  If you have received favors during the past year; if your life has been pleasant; if you have known prosperity and good health, the best thanks you can offer is to live your thanks next year."



Feature about Dr. James Naismith, who invented basketball.

High-interest educational articles like:

• "Where Money Comes From" about the printing and minting of money at the Treasury.
•  "What Makes Good Pictures Good" about moviemaking.
•  "Friends or Enemies?" about identifying snakes.

Profiles about successful men called "Boys Who Used their Brains."



Craft and building projects, articles

about technology

and how things work, puzzles, a regular feature on stamp collecting, articles about how to make money, profiles of real boys and their accomplishments or hobbies (horseshoe champion, mountain climbing, business ventures), and jokes.

The bound volumes in our collection don't include the magazine covers, but you can get an idea what the covers looked like here.

More information to come about the very popular Youth's Companion mentioned above in a future post!