22 September 2022 — Partnership with MagLiteracy Will Bring Sea History to New Readers


Just two weeks ago, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) marked International Literacy Day, “an opportunity to assess progress and spur momentum towards celebrating literacy as an essential human right that plays a fundamental role within our societies.” It is particularly fitting that we are able to announce at this time that we are working with the organization Magazine Publishers Family Literacy Project  (MagLiteracy) to put Sea History in the hands of thousands of new readers.


MagLiteracy distributes donated magazines to readers via schools, food pantries, youth mentoring, job training, and other community literacy programs; founder John Mennell tells us: "History magazines are especially of interest to the literacy programs and at-risk readers we serve." NMHS will also work with the organization to identify maritime-focused recipient programs. All photos courtesy MagLiteracy.


Founded in 2004, the nonprofit MagLiteracy distributes surplus and gently used magazines to job training and community centers, schools, youth mentoring, and other community literacy programs; it distributes hundreds of thousands of copies each year, free of charge, to beneficiary organizations. The organization endeavors to match materials with receptive readers; for example, MagLiteracy sends issues of WoodenBoat magazine to the Bronx-based nonprofit Rocking the Boat, a youth-mentoring program focusing on boatbuilding and water ecology programs. We are proud to join the publishers, printers, paper companies, newsstand suppliers and consumers who support MagLiteracy!


warehouse with multiple pallets of cardboard boxes of magazines
two open cardboard boxes with Sea History magazine inside

Soon, new readers will be getting the opportunity to discover stories of naval history, marine archaeology, lighthouses, voyages of exploration, and much more. These boxes of classic issues of the magazine, along with boxes of our most recent issues and each new issue going forward, will be distributed by MagLiteracy to targeted groups. 


Last Thursday, NMHS shipped over 17,000 magazines from our local storage facility in Peekskill, New York, to the MagLiteracy warehouse in Johnstown, Ohio for processing and distribution, with additional boxes of our three most recent issues separately going to the organization’s Madison, Wisconsin facility. And going forward, we will deliver one box of each new issue of Sea History as it is published. We look forward to working with MagLiteracy to identify maritime-related organizations to add to their literacy program beneficiary lists. Program founder John Mennell is himself an avid wooden boat lover and fan of Sea History magazine; he shared with us: "I love the whole collection and the idea of the stories in each issue, not only because of my interest in wooden boats, but also my interest in the maritime history of the Hudson Valley where I grew up."


Partner organizations ship magazines to MagLiteracy's warehouses, where volunteers sort and repackage them to be shipped to target groups.


Over the years, many readers have shared with us that when they need to part with older issues of Sea History to make room for the new, they pass along their magazines to friends, local schools, libraries, hospitals, and assisted living homes. We appreciate these efforts, expanding the magazine’s readership as well as the reach of our mission, telling stories of our maritime past and present and the importance of maritime history in shaping our country. This new partnership with MagLiteracy will expand the reach of Sea History even further, putting the magazine in the hands of thousands of eager new readers. What a wonderful way to mark the beginning of a new school year!  



 

Sea History Today is written by Shelley Reid, NMHS senior staff writer. Past issues can be read online by clicking here.

National Maritime Historical Society

1000 N. Division Street, Suite #4

Peekskill, NY 10566

(914) 737-7878  

nmhs@seahistory.org

www.seahistory.org



Facebook  Twitter  Instagram  YouTube