The Story Of An Experiment: TIME’S MILESTONES

February 1922—First office for work on the Newsmagazine set up at 141 E. 17th Street, New York City.

March 3, 1923—Vol. I, No. 1 of TIME. Editors: Briton Hadden, Henry R. Luce; Associates: Manfred Gottfried, Thomas J. C. Martyn, Alan Rinehart, John A. Thomas. Circulation Manager: Roy E. Larsen. Advertising Manager: Robert L. Johnson. Circulation: 12,000.

Nov. 5, 1923—First coated-stock (“slick-paper”) cover. The man-on-the-cover that week: Giulio Gatti-Casazza, manager of Manhattan’s Metropolitan Opera.

October 1924—Circulation: 50,000.

November 1924—TIME’S Letters column first appeared. A correspondent announced himself as a “cover to cover” reader. (TIME still cherishes his kind.)

September 1923—TIME moved to Cleveland.

December 1923—Circulation: 100,000.

January 1927—First red-bordered cover and first color advertisements.

April 1927—Tide, an advertising trade paper, started by TIME Inc. Sold, November 1930.

August 1927—TIME’S editorial office returned to New York. Its printing moved shortly afterward to R. R. Donnelley & Sons, Chicago (Donnelley has printed TIME ever since).

January 1928—First Man of the Year: Charles A. Lindbergh.

October 1928—Circulation: 200,000.

November 1928—First color cover: Emperor Hirohito of Japan.

January 1929—First managing editor, John S. Martin.

Feb. 27, 1929—Briton Hadden, 31, died of a streptococcus infection which reached his heart. Hadden’s illness was the occasion for appointing a managing editor. Before that, Luce and Hadden had alternated as editor and business manager.

August 1929—TIME’S morgue began to grow from a file labeled by Foreign News Researcher Cecilia Schwind “material which ought to be kept.” TIME’S morgue is now a vast fact silo with a staff of 57 people.

November 1929—TIME’S first news bureau opened, in Chicago, by David Hulburd.

February 1930—First issue of FORTUNE.

February 1930—TIME circulation: 300,000.

March 1931—MARCH OF TIME radio program started.

April 1932—TIME Inc. acquired ARCHITECTURAL FORUM.

May 1932—TIME moved to the Chrysler Building.

November 1933—John Shaw Billings, managing editor.

October 1934—Circulation: 500,000.

February 1935—First issue of MARCH OF TIME motion picture.

March 193$—First Current Affairs test.

October 1936—TIME censored in England for stories on Edward VIII’s abdication crisis.

November 1936—TIME became member of Associated Press.

November 1936—First issue of LIFE.

September 1937—Manfred Gottfried, managing editor.

March 1938—Circulation: 700,000.

May 1938—TIME moved to TIME & LIFE Building, Rockefeller Center.

May 1938—TIME absorbed Literary Digest.

September 1939—Roy E. Larsen elected president of TIME Inc.

May 1940—Philadelphia printing operation begun (in addition to Chicago).

March 1941—P. I. Prentice appointed publisher.

May 1941—First Latin American edition of TIME. (Current Latin American circulation: 41,447.)

May 1942—Maurice T. Moore elected chairman of the board.

July 1942—Circulation: 1,000,000.

November 1942—TIME’S first “pony edition”—a miniature magazine for overseas distribution, mostly to U.S. armed forces.

February 1943—T. S. Matthews, managing editor.

February 1943—First Canadian edition of TIME. (Current Canadian circulation: 119,561.)

March 1943—H. H. S. Phillips Jr. appointed advertising director.

April 1945—TIME’S European edition started printing operation in Paris.

November 1943—James A. Linen, publisher.

Jan. 14, 1946—Circulation: 1,500,000 (current world-wide circulation: 1,975,000).