Roaring Twenties magazine project

Creating a 1920′s Magazine

ASSIGNMENT SHEET

US History and American Literature

Your job is to create a magazine covering aspects of culture, politics, arts, music, lifestyles and the like from the 1920′s. You will create this magazine in a group of three, each person working to create a product that is reflective of the time period. Your magazine will be published in the classroom and should be reflective of the 1920′s as much as possible. In the course of your project, you will mimic a magazine’s content and style, making a 1920′s edition that is reflective of that magazine’s format.

Magazine Requirements:

You will choose a magazine format which you will imitate. After analyzing the current magazine’s format and describing the relevant style and content of the magazine’s creators + the typical reader, you will create a magazine that mimics that format. The magazines you can choose from are (most of these magazines did not exist in the 1920′s, but we are more concerned with their format):
1. Time
2. Newsweek
3. Sports Illustrated
4. Vogue
5. McCall’s Vanity Fair
6. Harper’s
7. Ladies Home Journal
8. Life
9. Entertainment Weekly
10. People
11. Forbes
12. Fortune
13. Rolling Stone
14. Vibe
15. Outdoors

Newspaper resource sites

http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/1920s_magazine_information.php

http://lancefuhrer.com/life1.htm

You will create a magazine with the following components according to the format of one above:

Cover Page (Lead story, picture, title of magazine, editors/contributors, & date)
Table of Contents (this has to be created last)
Four feature or news articles. Articles must be written as if they could be in your model magazine during the 1920′s (e.g. in a 1920′s issue of Time). Each group member is responsible for one. They can be about any significant event, trend or development during the 1920′s.
Articles should be typed in column format, like a newspaper or magazine
Use Pages (Newsletter template of your choice)
No color will be used for the paper. Do not include colorful cartoons, ads or titles.

Keep margins of 1 inch all around

The pages on which your article is written should be in magazine format; that is, no large expanses of blank paper. You might wrap the article around a picture or an advertisement.

Your articles must correspond to the date of your magazine and have some perspective of time. For instance, if your magazine is written in 1927, you cannot write about the stock market crash of 1929, and any articles about Babe Ruth must either be about the glorious 1927 season or retrospectives about his still vibrant career.

– BIBLIOGRAPHY: Include a properly formatted bibliography at the end of your article. For each article, you must use at least two sources of information.

Four supplementary pieces to the magazine. Each group member is responsible for two of the following. You may not have more than two of each type in the magazine (These items should be original creations – not a print out from a CD-rom or a copy of an advertisement you have seen in your research. They should combine your historical knowledge with your imagination. Each should be tailored to your magazine’s audience).

	A graphic (map, chart, etc. with contextual explanation of at least 150 words)
	2 Advertisement (by private organizations or the government) You may copy images but you must create the text yourself. The ads must suit the audience of the magazine and be a popular product of the era.
	Letter to the Editor – on a current controversial issue
	Political Cartoon (must be created, not copied)

Grading Standards and Due Dates

General Guidelines:

Content:

1. Accuracy in reporting.

2. Accounts that are rich in detail, factual evidence, and that are interesting to read. The person who reads your magazine should learn much about the era!

3. Each group member will fulfill his/her responsibility

Style:

1. Imagination and creativity, both in writing and presentation

2. Well-written articles including proper grammar and spelling. Use rich details in a logical order.

3. A neat, professional, aesthetically pleasing magazine that is consistent with the model magazine you have chosen. If I were from the target audience would I pick it off the shelf in the 1920′s?

Point Values:

100 points total for each person

50 points for your news/ feature article: Graded on quality of research, writing and analysis. Must be appropriate to time period and interesting to read. Article must fit the style of the magazine type chosen (Time, People etc.)

20 points for each supplementary piece: Quality of artwork or writing essential. Appropriate analysis of 1920′s should be evident in piece. Must fit the style of the magazine type chosen.

30 points for overall group/magazine grade: How well do the articles fit together? Does the magazine feel like an issue of Vogue or Time? Does the cover and table of contents give a good sense of the magazine? The editor and cover page artist will earn 5 points each for their efforts.