A Selective Survey of the New Periodicals During the Year 1942

OF T H E NEW PERIODICALS a p p e a r i n g during the past year the majority are those directly concerned with the startling changes and growth of the war effort. Publications of technical societies, trade journals in special fields, and the many new house organs have become indispensable to research and to adult education. Technical and scientific publications —many of which are restricted at this time—are directed primarily toward the immediate projects of offense and defense. Trade journals serve an increased need through their record of manufacture and distribution of goods, the movements of raw materials, priorities, rationing, price fixing, and taxation. House organs, steadily gaining wider recognition, often give vital information illustrating production processes. Representative examples are those published by E. I. D u Pont de Nemours & Co., American Telephone and Telegraph Co., General Motors Corporation. Critical periodicals and those dealing specifically with subjects within the humanities have suffered under forced economies, and the lack of both means and men to develop any one field of interest has compelled many to cease publication. However, interest in universal changes is common to all readers, and those periodicals written in a more popular style and accompanied by colored and graphic illustrations reach a large and growing audience. T h e formerly desired "quality" group shows a noticeable decline of fiction and short stories. Under international relations the new publications from South America, Mexico, and Cuba make available more and better material, while within our own borders human relationship is evidenced by worthy Negro publications and more and more space devoted to racial problems through articles appearing in established periodicals. Lastly, no comment on the year's publications would be complete without mention of four well-known foreign periodicals which have taken up their exiled issuance in this country, namely: Byzantion, Erkenntnis (journal of unified science), Beaux Arts, and I sis. In attempting to review the most valuable additions of the year several librarians working with collections of specific subjects have been asked to contribute their findings.