This collection consists of four periodicals representing the mass culture phenomenon during the years 1897-1949. The periodicals are Pic, Smith’s Magazine, The Shadow, and Success Magazine (merged with National Post. Together, they provide valuable and varied source material for Pop Culture research. Flashy photos and gossipy stories are a part of this series as well as the ever-present Horatio Alger “strive and succeed” philosophy.

Calvin’s collection is contained on 48 reels of 35mm film. It includes 20 volumes of Pic, 55 volumes of The Shadow, 14 volumes of Success Magazine and the National Post, and 34 volumes of Smith’s Magazine.

The four mass market magazines in this collection provide students of American fiction, journalism, film, radio, and advertising a compendium of information on the mass culture phenomenon in the first half of the 20th century. Smith's Magazine featured fiction and articles on fashion, theater, science and invention in early issues but began targeting women as its audience during and after World War I, thus providing materials for women's studies. Success Magazine began in 1897 as a nonfiction monthly featuring biographical sketches and articles espousing the virtue of success. After a year it began to include fiction, and after 1906 an editorial shift brought it to join the popular muckraking movement. In 1911 it merged with The National Post but ceased five months later. The Shadow (1931-1949), created to exploit the success of the popular radio character of the same name, provides information on the impact of early radio on the day's popular culture. The first issue included the full-length novel "The Living Shadow" by Walter B. Gibson writing under the pen name Maxwell Grant. Pic, a pictorial magazine which began in 1937, emphasized photographic series of famous figures except during the war years when it specialized in sensationalism and "cheesecake" photos. This collection is equivalent to 123 volumes.

This microform collection is located in the microforms area on the 2nd Floor of the library.