What Are Life Magazines?

Series Summary

From 1936 to 1972, the story of America took place in the pages of Life Magazine. The devastation and drama of the second world war came to life in this magazine, which placed an emphasis on photojournalism unknown in the United States at that time. The best photographers wanted to be publishing in this magazine and Life took pride in the quality of their publication. Anyone interested in the history or culture of our nation will find it all in these pages, from Bing Crosby to Muhammad Ali, from Marilyn Monroe to Jane Fonda, Life was the ultimate pictorial document of our time.

In this free series of antique collecting videos, our antique store owner gives you advice and strategies for collecting old issues of Life magazine. Learn which years and stories are the most collectible. Our expert begins with a brief history of the magazine, then shares the insight she has gained as a longtime antiques enthusiast.

Video Transcript

"This is Jan, your fun antiquer at expert village.com. Today we're going to do some fun things, but let me introduce myself, I am an antique appraiser. I was a college administrator but I said, "This is boring." And so I said, "I don't want to do this anymore." Went to school forever, got PhD?s and all that nonsense, who needs it? Boring. What I like is antique and collectibles and it's fun, it's very much fun and I don't have to sit in movies, in meeting, they're like movies, they're quite dramatic. But I don't have to sit in them all the time and so it's much better. So I'm an antique appraiser and I have a big antique mall. And I would like to say that it's really a lot of fun. And there's still a lot of great stuff to find out there and that's what we're going to be looking at, things that are available, things that are historic, things that are wonderful to own and put away for the future. And, if anything, Life magazines are wonderful. There is a history to life in Life magazines. It kind of reminds me of the time I went to the Coca-Cola museum. And the Coca-Cola museum is in Atlanta and it is just so wonderful to take a look at the most famous trademark ever, that trademark of Coca-Cola. Through the years, as they capitalized on what was going on at every particular year in the decade and they used that in their advertising. And we can follow history as we know it through these Life magazines. So let's embark on a tour of history through the eyes of Life magazine. It'll be great fun."