Lecturer featured in re-issue of ‘Collier’s’

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A. Sue Weisler

Peter Lovenheim’s article on neighbors is the lead story in the revived Collier’s magazine.

Some may call it history in the re-making—with an RIT connection front and center.

Collier’s magazine—established in 1888 and synonymous with 75 years of “investigative journalism and social reform-seeking values”—has found new life after publication ceased in the late 1950s. Revived by an investment group, Collier’s debuted its first issue in more than 50 years with a lead story written by Peter Lovenheim, adjunct professor in RIT’s English department.

In keeping with the magazine’s theme of relating to American lifestyles and values, Lovenheim’s piece focused on how Americans—and Rochesterians, in particular—live as neighbors today. The submission, “Why Neighborhoods Still Matter,” was based on his 2010 book, In the Neighborhood.

“I was born four years before Collier’s ceased publishing,” says Lovenheim. “But I did become aware growing up that much of the outstanding journalism and essays I was reading in school and in college carried the tag line, ‘originally published in Collier’s.’ So when I was asked to submit a piece for the inaugural issue, it felt like a wonderful opportunity to be associated through the magazine with some prominent writers and thinkers of an earlier time.”

At its peak, Collier’s reached 2.8 million readers across the world. Past writers appearing in the publication include Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis, John Steinbeck, Jack London, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Pearl S. Buck, who were called upon to report on historic events such as World War I, the Spanish Civil War, political events or to write short stories. Collier’s also published Upton Sinclair’s “Is Chicago Meat Clean?” which eventually led to the Senate Meat Inspection Act of 1906.

Lovenheim’s story can be found at the Collier's magazine website.