Outing (magazine)

Outing (magazine)
Title	Outing
Frequency	Monthly
Category	Sports magazine
Firstdate	1882
Finaldate	1923
Country	United States
Language	English

Outing (magazine) was an American periodical published between 1882 and 1923 that focused on outdoor recreation, travel, sports, and leisure pursuits. It covered topics ranging from hunting and fishing to bicycling and camping, and featured contributions by leading journalists, athletes, naturalists, and literary figures of its era. The magazine sought to connect urban readers with wilderness pursuits and helped popularize organized amateur athletics, illustrated travel narratives, and equipment reviews.

History

Founded in the late 19th century, the magazine emerged as part of the broader rise of illustrated periodicals alongside publications such as Harper's Weekly, The Atlantic, Scribner's Magazine, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, and Century Magazine. Early years saw editorial intersections with figures associated with Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Rudyard Kipling, Henry David Thoreau, and contemporaries who wrote for Harper's Bazaar and The New York Times. It operated during eras marked by events including the Spanish–American War, the First World War, and the Progressive Era, reflecting changing American leisure patterns alongside developments in Transcontinental Railroad, Panama Canal, and expansion of Yellowstone National Park tourism. Editors interacted with publishers and press networks linked to entities such as Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, Scribner family, John Wanamaker, and business circles connected to J. P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie. As bicycling, angling, and camping rose in popularity, the magazine tracked innovations from inventors and entrepreneurs associated with Sears, Roebuck and Co., Columbia Bicycles, and manufacturers influenced by patents from innovators like John Dunlop.

Throughout its run, the periodical chronicled visits to sites such as Yellowstone National Park, Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and excursions along the Hudson River, reporting on expeditions employing maps from cartographers influenced by National Geographic Society founders. The publication outlived many contemporaries but eventually ceased independent publication amid market consolidation in the early 20th century alongside mergers involving outfits like The Saturday Evening Post and corporate shifts comparable to those affecting The Ladies' Home Journal.

Publication and Format

Published monthly, the magazine featured photographic halftones, engravings, and chromolithographs similar to visuals appearing in Life, National Geographic Magazine, and Outlook (magazine). Layouts juxtaposed serialized fiction, how-to articles, and classified advertising akin to offerings in Good Housekeeping, McClure's, and Cosmopolitan of later decades. Circulation strategies mirrored those used by periodicals tied to newsstands in New York City, distribution networks that included retailers like Barnes & Noble precursors and subscription houses modeled on firms such as Curtis Publishing Company. Printers and binders often worked within the same trade circles as those producing Scientific American and Popular Science Monthly.

The magazine's physical dimensions, paper stock, and binding evolved to match consumer expectations shaped by advances in printing technology pioneered by firms collaborating with industrialists like Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell in communications infrastructure. Special issues commemorated events and figures connected to Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, and anniversaries such as centennials promoted by organizations like Daughters of the American Revolution.

Content and Contributors

Content blended reportage on hunting and fishing with essays on mountaineering, cycling, yachting, and winter sports, attracting contributors who were also active in circles with Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, Frederick Law Olmsted, Raymond Ditmars, and conservation movements associated with Sierra Club. Literary contributors included novelists and travel writers whose names appear alongside those who published in Atlantic Monthly, Cassell's Magazine, and Punch (magazine). Sports coverage referenced early athletes and organizers connected to James Naismith, Spalding, Jim Thorpe, and collegiate athletics prominent at Harvard University, Yale University, and Princeton University.

Illustrators and photographers who contributed were part of professional networks overlapping with staff from Edward S. Curtis projects and photographers who documented expeditions akin to those of John Muir and Frederick Cook. The magazine serialized fiction and adventure tales in the tradition shared with Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle, H. Rider Haggard, and American storytellers whose work also appeared in Collier's Weekly and The Strand Magazine.

Reception and Influence

Readers included urban professionals, middle-class families, and club members from groups like the Boy Scouts of America, American Canoe Association, and collegiate athletic clubs. The magazine influenced outdoor recreation practices, gear standards, and travel itineraries, contributing to consumer demand later catered to by retailers like L.L.Bean and manufacturers such as Columbia Sportswear. Its promotion of organized amateur sport intersected with institutional developments at NCAA precursor bodies and informed public discourse about physical culture alongside proponents like Eugen Sandow and advocates in Physical Culture (magazine).

Critics compared its editorial stance and visual quality to contemporary illustrated magazines including Good Words and The Illustrated London News. The periodical's role in promoting conservation and outdoor ethics aligned it with lobbying efforts led by figures and institutions such as Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and the National Park Service.

Ownership and Legal Issues

Ownership changed hands through corporate transactions typical of magazine consolidation in the early 20th century, involving publishers and investors whose business dealings resembled those of Condé Nast, Curtis Publishing Company, and newspaper chains run by Hearst Corporation. Legal issues that affected periodicals at the time included disputes over copyrights, libel claims, and trademark contests similar to litigation involving Harper & Brothers and G. P. Putnam's Sons. Contracts with contributors and syndication arrangements paralleled agreements used by syndicates such as King Features Syndicate and Newspaper Enterprise Association.

Estate and rights transfers after cessation of publication followed patterns seen in acquisitions by publishing houses that later managed backlists of defunct titles, with archival materials often ending up in collections at institutions like Library of Congress, New York Public Library, and university archives associated with Columbia University, Harvard University, and Yale University.

Category:Defunct magazines of the United States