Dear Friends,

When I was editing Victoria magazine, the historian/archivist in me always set aside a number of issues to be sent to my Iowa home for safe keeping. I did not really have any specific purpose at the time. My assistant Helen could be a bit erratic in the number of issues she sent: Sometimes there were six issues and sometimes 50!  I smile now coping with these packages, each one a surprise.

For some years no, all of those issues have been in storage. Recently, it came to the attention of the Schlesinger Library at Harvard that I was harboring this collection and they asked to have one issue of all the ones I have. And so, we have been delving into the storage unit (by we I mean my husband, son, and me) and assembling Victorias by year. The magazines will be archived by the library for

the women's studies program at the university.

Since we were doing this for Harvard, we searched for other libraries that would benefit from having access to the magazine. As of now, we are happily sending collections to Hofstra University, The Yaphank Historical Society (Long Island, NY), The Brumback Library (Van Wert, Ohio), and the University of Connecticut.

What to do with the rest of the issues? We are working with an organization for literacy for some of the many remaining issues--they distribute them to organizations that benefit from the donation of magazines.

Victoria brought pleasure to many of its readers. And now through the archiving at libraries, new generations will have access to it. It makes me particularly happy and I trust the readers who supported the magazine so faithfully are indeed proud as well. We send the magazine off with the chant that greeted Queen Victoria on the event of her diamond jubilee: You've done it well.

Happy Mother's Day!

NL