Historical Journals

The historical journal collection consists of periodicals published between 1665 and 1940. It comprises 231 titles, about three-fourths of which (168) are represented by four volumes or fewer.  Of these 168 titles, eleven are 18th c., 106 are 19th c., and fifty-one are 20th c.  These volumes were usually acquired for single articles or because that was all available; examples include the first volume (1842-1843) of a scarce American magazine called The Magnet, devoted to articles exploring magnetic forces in relation to human magnetism, a single volume from 1897 of The Electro-therapeutist, and volumes one and two of The Electrical Age for Women, 1926-1935, which dropped its gender and changed its name to The Electrical Age in 1932.

The remaining sixty-three journal titles are represented by longer or complete runs.  Two are 17th c., eleven are 18th c., thirty-one are 19th c. (or began in those centuries), and nineteen are 20th c.  The longest continuous run is the Philosophical Transactions published by the Royal Society of London beginning in 1665.  Other lengthy runs include the Annalen der Physik (1795 on), the Philosophical Magazine (1798 on), the Journal de Physique, 1771-1817, the Journal für Chemie und Physik, 1811-1833, the Opuscoli Scelti sulle Scienze, 1778-1803, the 1792-1795 series of "Brugnatelli’s Journal" entitled the Giornale fisico-medico, and three titles from the Academy of Sciences at Bologna, the Commentarii, 1748-1791, the Memorie, 1850-1907, and the Novi commentarii, 1834-1849.

There are incomplete but goodly portions of the Annals of Electricity, Magnetism and Chemistry, 1837-1842, the Année Electrique, Electrotherapique, et Radiographique, 1901-1909, The Doctor, a medical and philosophical penny magazine, 1833-1836, and Isis… von Oken, 1817-1836, among others.  Many journals undergo name-changes in their lifetime.  One example is a French journal that began as the Annales du Magnétisme Animal (1814-1816), became the Bibliothèque du Magnétisme Animal (1817-1819), then the Archives du Magnétisme Animal (1820-1823).  Other journals on this subject include the Archiv für den thierischen Magnetismus, 1817-1824, and The Zoist, 1844-1856.

The Journal du Galvanisme, de Vaccine, etc. is in a category all its own--it is the shortest complete run as well as one of the rarest journals in the collection.  Published in 1803 in Paris, it consists of two volumes bound together as one and contains articles about vaccination, galvanism, and electrical medicine.  The historical journal collection is informally catalogued on cards, providing verified titles, place of publication, and Bakken holdings.  For further information, contact Elizabeth Ihrig, Librarian, at 612-926-3878 ext. 217 or via e-mail using her last name @thebakken.org.