HARPER'S MAGAZINE

monthly magazine published in New York City, one of the oldest and most prestigious literary and opinion journals in the United States. It was founded in 1850 as Harper's New Monthly, a literary journal, by the printing and publishing firm of the Harper brothers. Noted in its early years for its serialization of great English novels and for the fine quality of its own essays and other literature of the period, Harper's was the first U.S. magazine to introduce the extensive use of woodcut illustrations. It was a leader in publishing the writings of the most illustrious British and American authors, and before 1865 it had become the most successful periodical in the United States. In the late 1920s Harper's changed its editorial format to that of a forum on public affairs; its contributors included such figures as the philosopher-historian Charles A. Beard and the philosopher-mathematician Bertrand Russell. The periodical balanced its primary concern for social and political issues with short stories by Aldous Huxley and other contemporary writers. Increasing publication and mailing expenses exceeded revenues in the late 1960s, and the magazine's economic problems worsened until its certain closing in 1980 was averted by grants by a philanthropic organization, the John and Catherine MacArthur Foundation. Under the editorship of Lewis Lapham, the magazine changed its format during the 1980s, adding a Readings section that featured an eclectic collection of reprints of interesting documents. It continued to publish high-quality original essays and fiction and maintained a generally liberal political philosophy. The circulation of Harper's in the mid-1990's approximated 225,000.