‘Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine’ now available online

2 days ago
5 min read

‘Appalachian Places’ celebrates five years

By Becky Parsons

For the first time, all 32 years of print issues published by Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine, are available online through East Tennessee State University’s Digital Archives, giving readers unprecedented access to one of the region’s most significant literary and cultural publications. The milestone comes as Appalachian Places: Stories From The Highlands celebrates its fifth anniversary, continuing a 37-year legacy of Appalachian storytelling that began with Now & Then in 1984.

Published by East Tennessee State University’s Center of Excellence for Appalachian Studies and Services from 1984 to 2016, Now & Then explored the stories, culture, and creativity of the Appalachian region through poetry, fiction, essays, interviews, and photography. Today, Appalachian Places carries that tradition forward while expanding it into the digital age.

As Appalachian Places reflects on its first five years, we looked back at how Now & Then marked the same milestone. Nearly four decades later, we continue to explore many of the same themes. Time moves forward, but the culture, and the people and many of the issues they face remain.

Now & Then’s original editorial team included Director Richard Blaustein, who also served as director of the Center for Appalachian Studies and Services. His regular editor’s notes often highlighted the work and accomplishments of the Center while encouraging readers to subscribe to the magazine. Pat Arnow served as editor, with Jo Carson as poetry editor, Ed Snodderly as music editor, and Jane Woodside as assistant editor.

By 1989, the publication was five years old and publishing three issues each year. The first issue of 1989 focused on “Health in Appalachia,” documenting the intersection of traditional healing practices and emerging rural health care systems through discussions of folk medicine, midwifery, public health initiatives, and Cherokee approaches to wellness.

The second issue, “Sense of Place in Appalachia,” reflected the publication’s longstanding commitment to exploring the importance of place. It examined how identity and belonging are shaped by landscape, memory, and lived experience, with themes of migration, homecoming, labor, and poverty woven throughout.

The year’s final issue, “Appalachian Art: Folk and Fine,” celebrated artistic expression across the region through studies of quilting, dance, craft traditions, music, and theater, alongside thoughtful reflections on the relationship between folk and fine art.

As the successor to Now & Then, Appalachian Places is, in many ways, celebrating a 37-year legacy of Appalachian storytelling. The first issue of Now & Then was printed in 1984 on standard paper and assembled by hand with staples, standing as a remarkable contrast to the full-color, commercially printed magazine it had become by the time publication ceased in 2016. In his editor’s note marking the magazine’s fifth year, Blaustein proudly announced that the final issue of 1989 was the first to feature full-color images, calling it the “most ambitious edition of Now & Then to date.”

Blaustein died in 2020, a year before the launch of Now & Then’s sucessor publication. Today, Appalachian Places has expanded the possibilities of regional storytelling even further, incorporating not only full-color photography but also video, audio, interactive poetry, digital galleries, creative fiction, and long-form feature stories.

Thanks to the work of the Archives of Appalachia staff at East Tennessee State University, every issue of Now & Then is now freely available through ETSU’s Digital Archives. Readers can revisit themed issues focused on food, sports, health, regional culture, and countless other aspects of Appalachian life while ensuring the publication’s legacy remains accessible for future generations.

We invite you to explore the archive and discover how the conversations shaping Appalachia today have deep roots in the stories told decades ago: https://dc.etsu.edu/now-then/

Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine

Full list of volumes

Vol. 1, #1 – Fall 1984: From the Editor

https://dc.etsu.edu/now-then/1/

Vol. 2, #1 & 2 – Winter/Summer 1985: Appalachian Women

https://dc.etsu.edu/now-then/2/

Vol. 2, #3 – Fall 1985: Music

https://dc.etsu.edu/now-then/3/

Vol. 3, #1 – Winter 1986: Black Appalachians

https://dc.etsu.edu/now-then/4/

Vol. 3, #2 – Summer 1986: Homecoming

https://dc.etsu.edu/now-then/5/