This past week, the Toyon staff had the chance to visit Humboldt State's "Humboldt Room." This is a special collections room located on the third floor of our library. It is a space where all special documents, maps, pictures, books, and magazines are stored. Also located in this space are all passed issues of Toyon. We all took the class period and examined two previous issues each. The hope of us visiting the Humboldt room was for us both as a staff and individually, to get an idea of how previous issues have changed over time, and what we may want to do similarly or differently for our issue of Toyon this year.
In Paper Dreams, Eric Staley states in his article Influence, Commerce, and The Little Magazine, that "Magazines are subject to the tastes of their time, and their longevity is often determined by how quickly they can adjust to changes in taste or how readily they can abandon a formula that is not saleable to the degree necessary for survival" (30). I could relate what Staley was saying back to the two issues of Toyon that I studied in the Humboldt Room. I looked at an issue from 1977 and an issue from 2002. It was really interesting to see how much of a difference there was between the two. Twenty five years defiantly had an influence on what the issue had inside and also on how it was put together.
The 1977 issue was very different compared to the newer issues of Toyon. More current issues(including the 2002 issue) have every genre separated into sections, which in my opinion makes them very organized and easy to read. The 1977 issue had all genres mixed through out it and it was weird for me to jump to poetry to a short story. One element within this issue that I liked was that it had the artwork that was within it go together with its poetry. This created a smooth and clear feeling while reading and I really liked that. It may be an element that we can incorporate into this years issue.
Another difference between the two issues was how personal they felt. The 1977 issue wasn't personal at all in my mind. It just felt like something that was put together quickly without thinking about the authors who submitted to the magazine. There were no Bio's for the authors inside, no dedications and lacked an editorial statement. Now, I am not in any way trying to criticize this issue, I am just pointing out how much Toyon has changed in 25+ years. As Staley says, a magazine can live a long life if they are able to change and abandon certain aspects to the magazine. Toyon has done a good job being flexible over time which has helped this magazine stay alive for 62 years. I really enjoyed visiting the Humboldt Room,and will definitely try to go again during my free time to study other previous issues to gather ideas on how to make this years issue another great one.
In Paper Dreams, Eric Staley states in his article Influence, Commerce, and The Little Magazine, that "Magazines are subject to the tastes of their time, and their longevity is often determined by how quickly they can adjust to changes in taste or how readily they can abandon a formula that is not saleable to the degree necessary for survival" (30). I could relate what Staley was saying back to the two issues of Toyon that I studied in the Humboldt Room. I looked at an issue from 1977 and an issue from 2002. It was really interesting to see how much of a difference there was between the two. Twenty five years defiantly had an influence on what the issue had inside and also on how it was put together.
The 1977 issue was very different compared to the newer issues of Toyon. More current issues(including the 2002 issue) have every genre separated into sections, which in my opinion makes them very organized and easy to read. The 1977 issue had all genres mixed through out it and it was weird for me to jump to poetry to a short story. One element within this issue that I liked was that it had the artwork that was within it go together with its poetry. This created a smooth and clear feeling while reading and I really liked that. It may be an element that we can incorporate into this years issue.
Another difference between the two issues was how personal they felt. The 1977 issue wasn't personal at all in my mind. It just felt like something that was put together quickly without thinking about the authors who submitted to the magazine. There were no Bio's for the authors inside, no dedications and lacked an editorial statement. Now, I am not in any way trying to criticize this issue, I am just pointing out how much Toyon has changed in 25+ years. As Staley says, a magazine can live a long life if they are able to change and abandon certain aspects to the magazine. Toyon has done a good job being flexible over time which has helped this magazine stay alive for 62 years. I really enjoyed visiting the Humboldt Room,and will definitely try to go again during my free time to study other previous issues to gather ideas on how to make this years issue another great one.
September 19, 2016