The Masses (original) (raw)

Important note, 24 May 2016: We finished putting up the correct resolution issues of The Masses (for the Tamiment versions). We had indicated they were scanned at 400dpi when in fact we put up the 200dpi versions. We now have the correct, higher resolution scans listed on the page. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Presented here are three independent efforts to make quality digital archives of The Masses 1911-1917, one of the two or three most famous US radical journals. The reason for such special treatment is the enormous amount of artistic content, which we'd like to provide to all in as full detail and variety (up to and including ability to print it out to images worth framing) as possible.

This is the first and (at this time) only place on the web where one can freely download the complete set (all 79 issues) of full original high resolution (roughly 400 dpi on large format issues, roughly 600 dpi on small format issues) digital images of The Masses made by Tamiment Library. All other previous presentations of the scans of Tamiment Library's holdings here, on NYU's web site, and at the Brown University Modernist Journals web site, have been low resolution (150 to 200 dpi) screen display only files.

In a second digital archive of The Masses presented here are digital images of 42 issues in high resolution (600 and 1200 dpi), scanned specifically to archive the art inside, made by Marty Goodman and the Riazanov Library Digital Archive Project using a different approach to scanning (including digital restoration of aging pages) than the other two sets of scans. These issues are from Marty Goodman’s personal collection, the The Holt Labor Library, and the collection of Ted Watts, author of the definitive indexes of The Masses 1911-1917, The Liberator 1918-1924, and New Masses 1926-1936.

We also present the digital archive of The Masses made by Hathi Trust from the holdings of the Hatcher-Labadi special collection. (42 issues. A complete run from Vol 5 no. 12 onwards, plus another six earlier issues). Resolution of these scans tends to be around 270 dpi or less.

The Marxists Internet Archive would like to thank Dr. Marty Goodman of the Riazanov Project and the The Holt Labor Library. Marty Goodman spent hundreds of hours acquiring and organizing the digitized scans, restoring some of the artwork, as well as producing the over 50 Riazanov Library masses issues scans himself.

We also want to thank the digital archiving staff at the Tamiment Library for their great service to scholars and to the left in making the digital archive presented here, and its director Timothy Johnson for generously agreeing to our presentation of this material here. As well as University of Michigan’s Hatcher Labadie library and its curator, Julie Herrada, for assisting us in obtaining the digital images of their holdings presented here.

This presentation also includes restored high resolution images of all of the two page wide political art found in all issues of The Masses, the result of hundreds of hours of work by Dr. Marty Goodman and by Robin Palmer. We also present a search-able file of Theodore Watts’ definitive index to The Masses, here thanks to the permission and generosity of Theodore Watts and Tamiment Library.

Martin Goodman
San Pablo , CA
February 2017

Legal NOTE: All scans here are in the public domain, and may be shared in any fashion you see fit, including re-posting for re-distribution on other web sites. We strongly urge you to credit our site (MIA) as the source, and the people and institutions that made the digital archives in question, should you present them elsewhere.

Important notes for the user of these scans of The Masses

Introduction to the THREE collections of digital images of The Masses 1911 – 1917 found on this site
Introduction to The Masses from the Wiki entry written by MIA contributor Tim Davenport
The Masses Index by Theodore Watts (PDF)
The Masses Index by Theodore Watts (Doc format)
High resolution (800 to 1800 dpi), scanned from original issues, extensively restored art work from covers of The Masses Dec 1912 - Dec 1917 (those 59 issues during which Max Eastman was editor). Scanning and restoration by Marty Goodman. From his personal collection. Presented as five files. Each of these are between 100 to 200 megabytes in length.
a The Masses front cover art, restored. Dec 1912 – Dec 1913
b The Masses front cover art, restored. Jan 1914 – Dec 1914
c The Masses front cover art, restored. Jan 1915 – Dec 1915
d The Masses front cover art, restored. Jan 1916 – Nov 1916
e The Masses front cover art, restored. Dec 1916 – Dec 1917
Three files presenting meticulously restored back cover art from all issues of _The Masses, made by Marty Goodman from high resolution scans (600 to 1800 dpi) a The Masses back cover art, restored. 1912 and 1913
b The Masses back cover art, restored. 1914
c The Masses back cover art, restored. 1915 and 1916
Cover art from the 20 first issues of The Masses, Jan 1911 – Aug 1912, during which Piet Vlag was the editors. Scanned by Tamiment Library from their collection.
The collection of The Masses two page center art, scanned and introduced by Marty Goodman. [206MB]

Click on the name of one of the three digital collections presented here: Tamiment Library (the only full resolution poresentation of their project on the web), the Riazanov Library (the highest resolution and most restored images) or the Labadie Library collection (digitized by Google) associated with a given thumbnail or issue number to view or download the full issue. Thus, on this page, we are presenting different runs of The Masses digitized by various institutions. As noted , the different versions were scanned at different resolutions using differing techniques. As of April 2023, we present ALL 79 issues of The Masses in scans by Tamiment Library, all 61 issues of The Masses over which Max Eastman presided as editor (Dec 1912 - Nov-Dec 1917) as scanned from originals by (51 issues) or as restored from other scans and reprints (10 issues) by the Riazanov Library project, and a respectable showing of of low resolution images made by Google of the incomplete but substantial collection of The Masses as the Labadie library.

1911

January 1911, Volume 1, No. 1: Tamiment | Riazanov | Labadie
The Masses
Published by The Masses Publishing Co., 112 East 19th St., New York City

Thomas Seltzer, Editor Eugene Wood, President

Hayden Carruth, Vice-President Andre Tridon, Secretary

February 1911, Volume 1, No. 2: Tamiment | Riazanov | Labadie
The Masses
Published by The Masses Publishing Co., 112 East 19th St., New York City

Thomas Seltzer, Editor Eugene Wood, President

Hayden Carruth, Vice-President Andre Tridon, Secretary

March 1911, Volume 1, No. 3: Tamiment | Riazanov | Labadie
The Masses
Published by The Masses Publishing Co., 112 East 19th St., New York City

Thomas Seltzer, Editor Eugene Wood, President

Hayden Carruth, Vice-President Andre Tridon, Secretary

April 1911, Volume 1, No. 4: Tamiment | Riazanov | Labadie
The Masses
Published by The Masses Publishing Co., 112 East 19th St., New York City

Thomas Seltzer, Editor Eugene Wood, President

Hayden Carruth, Vice-President Andre Tridon, Secretary

May 1911, Volume 1, No. 5: Tamiment | Riazanov | Labadie
The Masses
Published by The Masses Publishing Co., 112 East 19th St., New York City

Horatio Winslow, Editor Eugene Wood, President

Hayden Carruth, Vice-President Rose Greenburg, Secretary

June 1911, Volume 1, No. 6: Tamiment | Riazanov | Labadie
The Masses
Published by The Masses Publishing Co., 112 East 19th St., New York City

Horatio Winslow, Editor Eugene Wood, President

Hayden Carruth, Vice-President Rose Greenburg, Secretary

July 1911, Volume 1, No. 7: Tamiment | Riazanov | Labadie
The Masses
Published by The Masses Publishing Co., 112 East 19th St., New York City

Horatio Winslow, Editor Eugene Wood, President

Hayden Carruth, Vice-President Rose Greenburg, Secretary

August 1911, Volume 1, No. 8: Tamiment | Riazanov | Labadie
The Masses
Published by The Masses Publishing Co., 112 East 19th St., New York City

Horatio Winslow, Editor Eugene Wood, President

Hayden Carruth, Vice-President Rose Greenburg, Secretary

September 1911, Volume 1, No. 9: Tamiment | Riazanov | Labadie
The Masses
Published by The Masses Publishing Co., 112 East 19th St., New York City

Horatio Winslow, Editor Eugene Wood, President

Hayden Carruth, Vice-President Rose Greenburg, Secretary

October 1911, Volume 1, No. 10: Tamiment | Riazanov | Labadie
The Masses
Published by The Masses Publishing Co., 209 East 45th St., New York City

Horatio Winslow, Editor Eugene Wood, President

Hayden Carruth, Vice-President Rose Greenburg, Secretary

November 1911, Volume 1, No. 11: Tamiment | Riazanov | Labadie
The Masses
Published by The Masses Publishing Co., 209 East 45th St., New York City

Horatio Winslow, Editor Eugene Wood, President

Hayden Carruth, Vice-President Rose Greenburg, Secretary

December 1911, Volume 1, No. 12: Tamiment | Riazanov | Labadie
The Masses
Published by The Masses Publishing Co., 209 East 45th St., New York City

Horatio Winslow, Editor Eugene Wood, President

Hayden Carruth, Vice-President Piet Vlag, Secretary

1912

January 1912, Volume 3, No. 1: Tamiment | Riazanov | Labadie
The Masses
Published by The Masses Publishing Co., 209 East 45th St., New York City