Or, issues with issues…
I’ve been a subscriber to Lapidary Journal almost continuously since
1961. Only recently, in July 2004, did I finally complete my
Lapidary Journal collection back to the first issue in 1947. Sadly,
I’m still hunting for a couple of the early Buyers’ Guides, when
they were separate publications rather than being the regular April
issue. In any event, I am a fan of Lapidary Journal. Even with this
sort of dedication I, too, have let my subscription lapse a couple
of times due to the changes the magazine has experienced since the
late 1980s.
The move of the editorial offices in the early 90s from California
to Pennsylvania was a marker for change in the size, format, and
content of Lapidary Journal. The change in overt ownership to
Primedia brought even more dramatic adjustments of content and
focus. However, none of these are really “new” sorts of events for
Lapidary Journal. Plus, in the annals of periodical publishing,
Lapidary Journal is a remarkable survivor - a niche publication
which has endured for almost six decades now.
The early years of LJ were unusual, and I’m really sorry that Leland
Quick sold his interests when he did: he was a truly amazing man,
and he brought some challenging content to the forefront of his
young magazine. He was interested in some very esoteric stuff, so
some of the early issues included topics verging on the scandalous -
stone healing and the use of stones by seers. He included art where
it pertained to esoteric stone use, and he also had a strong bias
toward hard stone sculpture; several early covers were of the work
of then renown West Coast sculptor Donal Hord (bare breasts depicted
on the cover of a 1950s mag!). All of this speaks to Quick’s vision
for post-WWII America. In addition, he traveled back and forth
across the country encouraging the growth of all the rock hobbies,
and the formation of clubs and associations. In short, he had a
"mission" and the Lapidary Journal was his major tool to put it
across to the public. For the first six or seven years his “letters
to the editor” column was almost entirely given over to lauds for
the magazine.
After Leland Quick left the helm the magazine changed directions;
there were fewer mentions of sculpture, there were no more
discussions of the more “woo-woo” aspects of stone use for healing
or any such stuff. The magazine had become “legitimate”, and the
editorial content was adjusting to meet the new direction of the
hobby of lapidary within the larger hobby of rockhounding. Still, LJ
focused public attention on lapidary, and served as both a sounding
board and a publicity agent for lapidary artists. During succeeding
decades there were other editorial adjustments, changes in format,
upsizings and downsizings to reflect the relative health of lapidary
as a hobby.
The real bellwether in lapidary publishing occurred in 1986, with
the cessation, after over four decades in print, of the magazine
Jewelry Making, Gems and Minerals. In its original guise as Gems and
Minerals, this magazine had been one of Quick’s early inspirations
(and aggravations, because he felt he could meet that need more
effectively). Its demise marked a new era in lapidary publishing,
because until June of 1986 JMG&M had been the official magazine of
the California Federation, the largest and most vibrant of the
regional federations within the American Federation of Mineralogical
Societies. It was a loss which never saw a recovery: publication
lead times had become such that a magazine with a national
readership no longer was able to serve as the official communication
of a federation, primarily due to the lead times required for
publishing the magazine itself. Lapidary Journal also went through
some profound changes in 1986, trying to adjust to the new playing
field in both the lapidary hobby and the lapidary publishing
industry.
The bottom line is that Lapidary Journal has never been a static
publication serving a static public. The magazine was created as an
innovation to meet the needs of a new and vibrantly growing hobby
after WWII. Following it’s first decade of existence it has rarely
led the way in any of the manifest changes which have effected
lapidary, or lapidary in the public eye. For most of the last half
century Lapidary Journal has mostly reported on, or reflected,
changes in rockhounding and lapidary. If folks want it to be a more
vibrant part of lapidary, then they need to get on the stick, and
submit timely articles about what they see/feel are the important
aspects of lapidary.
Whether Lapidary Journal continues to play any sort of major role
will depend as much on reader participation as it does on editorial
direction and the health of the lapidary hobby and marketplace.
just my thoughts on a complex topic
Jim Small
Small Wonders Lapidary
Carol