CMP Review 2025-10-16

October 16, 2025

Sometimes I am asked how the Library of Congress obtained its collection of Parents’ Review and PNEU Journal volumes. I can’t say for sure but I can speculate. Unlike the volumes at the Armitt, the bound volumes at the Library of Congress include the original covers of each issue, usually of blue card stock.

For example, this cover appears in the bound volume for 1927 just after the index for the year. Notice the stamp. It says “Library of Congress,” and, if I’m reading it correctly, “Jan. 10 1927.” This suggests that the January issue was received by the library shortly after it was published. Then sometime after the end of 1927, when all the issues for the year had been received, the Library of Congress bound the 12 issues into a single volume.

These original issues also include the advertisements, something I don’t recall seeing in the bound volumes at the Armitt. It is fascinating to see ads for PNEU schools and uniforms. And it is fascinating to think of a clerk stamping each issue of the Parents’ Review as it arrived 100 years ago. I, for one, am glad they did.

@artmiddlekauff