Collection of The Green Goat magazines

Collection of The Green Goat spans from 1913 to 1986 and contains issues of this comedic student publication. The magazines contain short stories, photographs, editorials and comic illustrations along with local and national advertisements. Added to the collection is a letter of explanation from Sheppard Black, editor of The Green Goat in 1933.

Folder no.1 consists of the first two issues of The Green Goat. The first issue, published in January of 1913 is adorned with the quote "The spice of life is jest and wit, But who wants spice by getting hit?" Inside, the magazine is filled with short stories, editorials and a few comical illustrations. The second magazine in the folder is appropriately titled The Bonehead Number. Both are in fair condition, with only a few tears on the pages.

Folder no.2 is comprised of the second series of The Green Goat. The second series was revived in the 1922-23 school year and was very similar to the first series. It continued with the traditional Green Goat objective and aimed for the same assortment of sharp-witted material.

Folders no.3, 4 and 5 continue through the 1920s. By the 1923-24 academic year, The Green Goat began to develop its humor even further. Volume II, no.1, which is found in folder no.4, includes an article titled "A Students' Guide to Athens." The article cleverly discusses the people and the places the typical Ohio University student encounters. Along with the new types of articles found in The Green Goat, the magazine also includes a significant increase in comics and illustrations.

Folder no.6 consists of four issues of The Green Goat from 1926-27. The second issue in the folder is titled Dumm Number. Following that theme, the issue creatively called its editorials "idiotorials." It also pulled much of its influence from slap-stick humor instead of the intelligent banter that is usually found in the publication.

A noteworthy change during this year is the type of advertisements found in the magazine. The featured advertisements during this year start to come from a more national source instead of only local advertisements. In fact, every magazine in folder no.6 features either a Camel or a Lucky Strike cigarette ad on the back cover. Because these advertisements are on the back cover they are in color unlike the inside contents of the magazine. The magazines from this folder are in fair condition but the pages have begun to yellow and should be handled delicately.

Folders no.7 and 8 contain the issues from the 1927-28 academic year and the 1928-29 year. Most of these issues concentrate on mocking the typical Ohio University student, but in a good-natured way. Focusing on the large amount of students who are active in Greek life, the October, 1927 issue of The Green Goat features blurbs on its pages asking who might be the perfect member for each fraternity. One section asks "Are you Theta Chi material?" and says yes if "you smoke, swear, drink, chew, talk to strange women, use perfume, or believe in Darwinism." They use the stereotypes of each fraternity to create humor and create comedy that the students can relate to. Most of the issues are in fair condition. A few of the issues are beginning to fall apart but are maintained together in the collection.

Both folders no.9 and 10 have three issues and are from the early 1930s. A common theme found in The Green Goat is the annual Prom Number issue, which came out before the upcoming Junior Prom. These folders include the Prom Number from 1930 and 1931. These issues feature light-hearted poems, stories and jokes about the Junior Prom. In folder no.10, the Prom Number issue features a poem about the event: "Mother may I go to the Prom? /Yes, my darling daughter. /Be sure to neck behind the palm/And don't drink more than you oughter!"

The issues from folders no. 11 and 12 span from 1931 through 1933; during The Great Depression. The Green Goat even makes a few jokes about the hard times the country was facing. In volume X no.3, the magazine includes the joke: "In these times of depression, writing paper is the only thing that is stationary." The Green Goat was very relevant to the times and many of the jokes were a play on words, similar to this one.

Folder no.13 includes magazines from the 1954-55 academic year. The covers of the issues in this folder feature a more cartoon-like image than on previous issues and they have a new Ohio Green Goat logo. Along with the cartoon cover, the magazine appears to add more comics, making The Green Goat even more visually appealing.

Folders no.14 through 16 continue through the mid 50s. In these years, The Green Goat begins to put out parody issues. In January of 1956, the magazine puts out an issue titled Slime, as a spoof of Time Magazine. The issue features sections that are commonly found in Time such as; medicine, foreign news and the week in pictures. However, The Green Goat adds its own twist. One picture in the medicine section is cleverly labeled "hangover cure" and features a man who is supposed to be getting black coffee injected directly into his head. Another parody issue The Green Goat published, that is included in this collection is a take-off of Playboy. This issue, from 1958, is simply titled Pla Boy and even has a mock centerfold.

Folder no.17 contains one issue of The Green Goat from 1960. One thing featured in this issue is the Ohio University "bobkitten," who is a young Coed who is photographed and featured for one issue.

For one magazine it is unclear the exact year the issue was published. The writing style and the physical appearance of the issue suggest it is from before 1933 and most likely from the 1920s. This issue is separated into its own folder for issues of The Green Goat with unknown dates.

Most issues in the collection are in good condition with an exception of a few, which have some loose pages or a loose cover. In addition, duplicates of several issues have been removed during processing, with the issue in the best condition remaining in the collection.

After the initial processing of the Green Goat Collection, additional issues of The Green Goat have been donated to the Ohio University Archives. Any new issues that come in and are not duplicates have been added to the inventory and placed in the appropriate folders. New issues continue to be added to this collection in an effort to complete the Green Goat Collection.

A letter from the editor of The Green Goat in 1932-1933 has also been added to the collection. The letter further completes the collection by detailing the rise and fall of The Green Goat. Explanation of its time period and details of its publication are also discussed.

There is a supplement to this collection containing additional issues from 1922 to 1956.