The cover of Boys' Life, October 2007 issue
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Editorial Director | Michael Goldman |
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Staff writers | Aaron Derr, Paula Murphey, Clay Swartz |
Categories | Boy Scouts of America |
Frequency | Monthly |
Publisher | Boy Scouts of America |
Total circulation (2013) |
1,097,968 |
First issue | March 1911 (regular edition) |
Country | United States |
Based in | Irving, Texas |
Language | English |
Website | http://www.boyslife.org |
ISSN | 0006-8608 |
Boys' Life is the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Its targeted readership is young American males between the ages of 6 and 18. The magazine has its headquarters in Irving, Texas.
Boys' Life is published in two demographic editions. Both editions often have the same cover, but are tuned to the target audience through the inclusion of 16–20 pages of unique content per edition.
The first edition is suitable for the youngest members of Cub Scouting, the 6-to-10-year-old Cub Scouts and first-year Webelos Scouts. The second edition is appropriate for 11-to-18-year-old boys, which includes second-year Webelos through 18-year-old Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts and Venturers. If the subscription is obtained through registration in the Boy Scouts of America program, the publisher selects the appropriate edition based on the boy's age.
In June 2007, Boys' Life garnered four Distinguished Achievement Awards conferred by the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP), including Periodical of the Year.
The magazine's mascot is Pedro the Mailburro, who answers readers' letters and is the subject of a comic strip.
In 1911, George S. Barton, of Somerville, Massachusetts, founded, and published the first edition of Boys' Life magazine. It was edited by 18-year old Joe Lane of Providence, Rhode Island. He called it Boys' and Boy Scouts' Magazine. At that time there were three major competing Scouting organizations: the American Boy Scouts, New England Boy Scouts, and Boy Scouts of America.
Five thousand copies were printed of the first issue of Barton's Boys' Life, published on January 1, 1911. As few copies actually reached the public, the more widely accepted first edition is the version published on March 1, 1911. With this issue, the magazine was expanded from eight to 48 pages, the page size was reduced, and a two-color cover was added. In 1912, the Boy Scouts of America purchased the magazine, making it an official BSA magazine. BSA paid $6,000, $1 per subscriber, for the magazine.