[markwannop]

All the Fawcett comics (Captain Marvel, etc.) have ads for Mechanix Illustrated, in which no less a personage as the Big Red Cheese says we should have a look at the publication. I'm with Cap, the ads intrigue me, and I'd also love to read old issues of Poplar Mechanics, which goes back to the turn of the last century. Obviously it's not the purpose of this site to have scans of these, but if anyone can point me to a site that does cover this sort of thing I would greatly appreciate it.
Some of those old issues had nifty construction articles, and the features of devices we'd have in the future (like 1970) are delightful science fiction (personal helicopters in every driveway or flying wheelless autos).

[John C]

I was under the impression that Scientific American had started selling scans of their oldest issues to DVD, but I seem to be mistaken.  Maybe I'm just thinking of the "Amateur Scientist" CD from a few years back.

Anyway, I did some poking around that ended in complete failure.  However, you might want to try getting in touch with Rick Prelinger's team.  I think of the Prelinger Archives as this site for the rest of the universe, except that they're primarily a library.

http://www.prelingerlibrary.org/

They're associated with the Internet Archive (archive.org, if you haven't seen it--there's a devoted Prelinger section), so they obviously have intentions of scanning things, and I do see Mechanix Illustrated on their list.  There are obvious copyright issues to clear before scanning them, of course, but they might be good people to talk to, and while I've never personally been in contact with him (something that I really should rectify), I hear Rick is a great guy.

Alternatively, if you live near San Francisco, they ARE a real library with (as I read the page) visiting hours and an offer to use their scanner.

[LOHAD]

magazine freaks of the world, unite:

http://www.lohad.com/?p=2040

Enjoy!