russ

It saddens me to part with them, but I just no longer have the room to house my collection of National Geographic magazines. I don't want to just toss them in the recycling bin. There must be an organization which would appreciate them. So long as it doesn't involve shipping, I would be happy to drop them off somewhere in the Los Angeles area. Any suggestions?

Marc David Miller

Probably any thrift shop.<BR><BR>For the last few years NG has been available on CD-ROM--the complete set (over 30 cds, 111+ years) is less than $100. Fascinating to do a search on, say, Afghanistan and find the Buddhist masterpieces (that were destroyed last year by the Taliban) in an article in the early 1930's, or an article on the Lake Baikal region of Siberia written in the 1990's that is useful for a traveler to that region today.

kam

Try calling some of the smaller schools in your area. Kids love National Geographic. I recently donated ours to a middle school in East San Jose, but that's a bit far for you.

Rex

You might consider e-Bay - - her's a sample of a few listings there:<BR><BR>National Geographic Magazines in good condition. Earliest volume February 1963, latest January 1992. I have 24 volumes 1963-1971 and approx. 70 volumes 1985-1992. All in good condition, many with original maps. <BR><BR>Seller set the initial bid at $20; started Feb 13 for a 10 day span; no actual bids yet.<BR><BR>And for what it's worth, the 31 CD set is there in great abundance at prices from 20 to 50 dollars.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Karen

You might consider a nursing home, VA Hospital, Children's Hospital or assisted living facility. Also, some jails or prisons take magazine donations. Some children's homes take magazines and the kids remake them into cards that they sell.<BR><BR>I love NG also and hate to see them just thrown away; but sometimes you just don't have room for everything.<BR><BR>Good Luck.

kavey

I love the idea of giving them to a school.<BR><BR>Kids are often asked to do projects on different countries around the world, and your collection would surely be a help.<BR><BR>Also, if the beautiful photography inspires even a handful to go and visit these sights when they get older, that will surely be worthwhile.<BR><BR>Russ, I hope you are able to find a home for them.<BR><BR>(I am wishing I was in the Los Angeles area myself, not that I am a worthy organisation, but London, UK doesn't really qualify as int he area!!)

HSLib

In the high school where I work, we have a complete set going back to the early 1930's, and every year we get more donatations. I'm afraid that National Geographics are most valuable to the original subscribers, especially now that the issues are on CD-ROM. <BR><BR>If you can stand the thought of having them ripped up, you can donate them to arts centers for collages and decoupage. Though I accept the donations as a courtesy, and find to find them a good home, all of the above - prisons, nursing homes, etc., etc., etc., usually they do end up in the recycling bin.

kavey

Out of curiousity, are the versions on CD ROM complete? Do they have all the wonderful photos too?<BR><BR>Many thanks...<BR><BR>(I am wishing more than ever I lived near LA)

shameless

So does that mean that my mother's HUGE collection of NG's dating from the '40's to present, and her enormous collection of LIFE mags dating from the '30's to the '60's are essentially worthless, in any monetary sort of way? <BR><BR>I'm actually wanting these to be worth something for HER, not me. It's true!!

Marc David Miller

Kavey,<BR><BR>The CD-ROM sets are complete (with the exception of supplemental maps, contained on another set). I think it is the only magazine of its kind that has all the issues available this way.

Leslie

Life Magazine, and if you have Look Magazine issues are very valuable, as are the old (and I mean really old) issues of Time Magazine.<BR><BR>You might consider donating the magazines to either a hospital or a hospice too. You might even ask your physician, as they don't seem to replenish their magazines often; well, at least mine doesn't.

KenCT

The NG CD-ROM is a great resource. Though I haven't spent a lot of time with it, I find it somewhat clumsy to use. It's also very slow to load, but that may be my computer's problem. Also, the contents appear to be photographs of the printed pages, so sometimes the text is very hard to read.

Sheila

This was sounding like a great idea. I have boxes and boxes and shelves and shelves. It really bugs my husband. He made me throw out the ones I had from my childhood which my father had een keeping, when I got them back after his death.<BR><BR>I must investigte these CD ROMs.

Rosemarie

All the above are good ideas. Many thrift shops for charities and Good Will and Salvation Army Thrift shops sell NG esp. pre-1960 which can go for 50 cents to $1 or more.

xxx

Since you live in the LA area, you might want to consider donating the collection for a literacy program in the downtown area. There's often requests on the newdowntown.com forum for reading materials for the low income children in the area. Consider forwarding the offer to [email protected] to have the info posted on the LA forum.

russi

Thanks for the great advice. I am definately going to get the NG CD-ROM.

Rex

I should have thought of this before. USC is very pro-activist, involved with nearby school systems - - and I might be able to find out if there is a connection there (daughter goes to school there) - - to find them a good home, if you don't come up with any other good ideas.<BR><BR>Let me know if this would be helpful.<BR>

topper

Topping

Tony Hughes

Sheila, then you'll end up with boxes and boxes and shelves and shelves of cd-roms!!