The York Review in Review
The York Review has recently published our 25th issue and in celebration of this over-quarter-century of student publication, I wanted to take a moment to look at the York College of Pennsylvania’s Schmidt Library Archives. The York Review isn’t the only student-made, student-produced literary publication in the history of our school. There’s ESP which stands for Essays, Stories, and Poems and, by my estimation, was an earlier version of The York Review before we took on a new name.
There may be a gap in years, but our predecessors from the late 60s and early 70s have inspired us with the culture they left behind. Our #WriteOn! can be seen on the inner back cover of this issue from 1975.
The haiku was popular around the time of this literary magazine so much of the art and subject matter were inspired by Eastern cultural values. There are also beautiful splash pages, like these two which feature pen art from students and complement the content of the issue.
But ESP wasn’t the only student publication circulating. The Arts, though undated, still holds its beautiful cover imagery for the content within even after all these years. Much like today’s literary magazine and ESP, The Arts featured both fine art prints, literature, and poetry.
It was printed on large sheet paper and bound with staples, yet despite its low budget, the publication breathes with dignity and history. Schmidt Libaray’s archivist believes this issue of The Arts came out in 1979. And while I was unable to get an image of it, rest assured that much like our 25th issue of The York Review, there is an artistic and tasteful rendition of a nude woman. That’s what lets us know it really was a fine art magazine.
And before either of these, there was Agog, of which two issues I was able to look at were dated from 1969 and 1970, both donated to the Schmidt Library from the private collections of alumni.
So I hope this impresses upon all of you, at the end of our “Coming of Age” month, the importance of history. Even organizations of students can leave a legacy and bring their younger successors into a complicated world of engaging and unique ideas. And, with an eye towards history, let’s jump into the last three months of this year to bring back the Roaring Twenties with fewer mafias this time around, thanks guys.
