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An advance number of the Braille Book Review was published in October, 1931. The first regular issue appeared in January, 1932. From the beginning until 1951 it was edited by Lucy A. Goldthwaite, who for many years was librarian of the library for the blind of the New York Public Library.

Originally, the magazine contained sixty-four pages of braille with a subscription charge of fifty cents. The periodical was started by the New York Public Library in cooperation with the American Braille Press in Paris. The size of the magazine was later reduced to twenty-four pages and the subscription charge eliminated. In 1934 the Library of Congress extended financial aid by purchasing five hundred copies of the magazine and sending them free to blind readers. Gradually the number was increased until The Library of Congress now meets the printing cost of the entire edition going to United States readers. In 1942 the American Foundation for the Blind assumed responsibility for the editing of this publication employing Miss Goldthwaite on a part-time basis for this purpose. She continued with the magazine until June 30, 1951, after which time it has been edited by the Foundation library.

It should be mentioned that there are a considerable number of religious magazines for the blind, some of them dating back to the days before the Ziegler. They are sponsored by special religious organizations, Catholic, Protestant and Jewish. The oldest of these magazines in point of continuous operation is the Christian Record established in 1900, and sponsored by the Seventh Day Adventists. While it has a certain Adventist tone, it contains articles of general interest. It was started by blind people and has always employed a rather large proportion of sightless people in its production. The Record is maintained by personal door-to-door solicitation.

Religious magazines for the blind as a rule carry no subscription fees. The writer believes that if a small fee was charged for them, one would know better just how many blind people read them.

As work for the blind began to come of age in this country, periodicals began to appear which were intended to inform the worker for the blind of matters pertinent to his work. These periodicals were first published in inkprint only although at the present time it is recognized that braille editions of professional magazines should also be made available.

The pioneer in this group was The Mentor which was started in 1891 as a monthly publication by the Alumni Association of Perkins Institution. It was edited by a blind man by the name of Joel W. Smith, father of American braille, who was then teacher of piano tuning at Perkins. The Mentor was designed to disseminate information regarding the needs of blind people and how to meet them. It was an interesting publication, but suspended after four years of operation for lack of financial support.

Some years later, in 1900, The Problem appeared as the official organ of the American Blind People's Higher Education and General Improvement Association. It was published and edited as a quarterly by Wallace McGill, a blind man who was Professor of Musical Theory and Psychology at the Kansas Conservatory of Music in Leavenworth. In the four years of its existence, The Problem published in its pages articles on legislation for the blind and on other subjects of interest to a group of young and vigorous blind people. It also printed the official proceedings of the American Blind People's Higher Education and General Improvement Association, the association which in 1905 became the American Association of Workers for the Blind. The last issue appeared in October 1903.

No other magazine carrying news of work for the blind existed until the establishment of the Outlook for the Blind, founded by Charles F. F. Campbell in the spring of 1907. This magazine was temporarily sponsored by the Massachusetts Association for Promoting the Interests of the Blind, with the understanding that Mr. Campbell would, as soon as possible, obtain other sources of support. For many years the association gave this magazine its blessing in one way or another, but the main burden of finding financial support was shouldered by Mr. Campbell until the American Foundation for the Blind took it over in 1923.

The editing of this publication was a labor of love performed by Mr. Campbell and his wife for sixteen years. During this time Mr. Campbell labored evenings, Sundays and holidays to get this quarterly magazine out. It was only with the greatest of effort that he was able to raise the money to meet the printers' bills. For a while he carried local advertisements to help out financially, but when the American Foundation for the Blind took it over, the advertising pages were eliminated as being inconsistent in tone with the professional nature of the publication.

The Outlook for the Blind carried news of work for the blind throughout the world, and served as a medium through which anyone interested in work for the blind might bring his views before the public. Mr. Campbell saw to it that every new development in efforts to improve the condition of the sightless was properly presented so that others interested might be informed.