Pro-Evolution Magazine “Evolution: A Journal of Nature,” 1927-1938

Evolution - A Journal of Nature - sample covers

This page provides information about this pro-evolution magazine, otherwise lost, from the 1920s and 1930s. It was devoted to promoting the teaching of evolution in US public schools. It was titled, Evolution: A Journal of Nature (EJN), produced following the Scopes Trial in 1925 to give teachers material for responding to creationist pressures. (I wrote on the Scopes Trial for ELS.net)

Contents

In the first issue, the Editor, Ludwig Erwin Albert Ketterfeld described the purpose:

“This magazine will help bridge that gap by furnishing a forum in which science itself can speak in popular language without fear of the restraints with which fundamentalists are seeking to shackle them.” (p. 8)

No index was produced for Evolution: A Journal of Nature, so I made one. In fact, two.

  • EJN contents sorted by author (link)
  • EJN contents sorted by issue (link)
  • EJN contents as Endnote 20 file (zip

Pro-Evolution Cartoons from the Journal

Each issue contained at least one political cartoon, commenting on recent events, such as the anti-evolution activity in Arkansas following the Tennessee anti-evolution trial. Nate Collier is the most frequent cartoonist used. A biography of Nate Collier appears in EJN 1(2): 12.

Editor’s Policy Was Deliberately Pro-Evolution

In the first issue, the Editor, Ludwig Erwin Ketterfeld described the pro-evolution magazine’s editorial policy:

Evolution will be non-political, so that all upholders of academic freedom can support and use it no matter how they differ on other issues. It will be non-religious, never making any effort to reconcile science with religion. Nor will it make atheism its mission. It will carry the positive message of facts from every field of natural science and leave it to the reader to make his own mental readjustment.” (p. 8)

Evolution - A Journal of Nature - Professor Joe Cain - 09 April 1929 List of Subscribers
This data about subscribers was published April 1929, after 12 issues of Evolution: A Journal of Nature.

Publication History

  • Cain 2003 Publication History of Evolution – A Journal of Nature
    Cain, Joe. 2003. “Publication history for Evolution: a Journal of Nature“, Archives of Natural History30: 168-171. Briefly describes the origins and publication history of this magazine. Includes the addendum: Cain, Joe. 2003. “Publication history for Evolution: a journal of nature: a correction”, Archives of natural history,30: 298. Corrects Table 1 in the previous publication, providing complete information on the publication history of the magazine.

Archives of natural history is produced by the Society for the History of Natural History. These pdfs are made available with the permission of the Society.

 

Read Evolution: a Journal of Nature

Read or download whole issues, 1927-1938.

The volumes also are available on Internet Archives:

date vol no download
1927, Dec 1 1 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 1, issue 1 (14Mb)
1928, Jan   2 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 1, issue 2 (13Mb)
1928, Feb   3 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 1, issue 3 (13Mb)
1928, Mar   4 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 1, issue 4 (12Mb)
1928, April   5 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 1, issue 5 (12Mb)
1928, Jul   6 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 1, issue 6 (13Mb)
1928, Aug   7 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 1, issue 7 (13Mb)
1928, Sep   8 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 1, issue 8 (14Mb)
1928, Oct   9 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 1, issue 9 (12Mb)
1928, Nov   10 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 1, issue 10 (13Mb)
1929, Jan 2 1 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 2, issue 1 (13Mb)
1929, Mar   2 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 2, issue 2 (13Mb)
1929, Apr   3 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 2, issue 3 (12Mb)
1929, Jul   4 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 2, issue 4 (13Mb)
1929, Aug   5 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 2, issue 5 (11Mb)
1930, Jun 3 1 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 3, issue 1 (16Mb)
1931, Feb   2 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 3, issue 2 (16Mb)
1931, Jun   3 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 3, issue 3 (16Mb)
1932, May   4 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 3, issue 4 (12Mb)
1937, Jun 4 1 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 4, issue 1 (13Mb)
1938, Jan   2 Evolution – A Journal of Nature, volume 4, issue 2 (13Mb)