In September 2011, JSTOR introduced Early Journal Content, 500,000 publicly available articles published in the United States before 1924 and before 1876 in other countries. Following the initial release, as we added journals to JSTOR with issues from that time period, we included the eligible content in EJC, and over time it grew to 595,000 articles.

In May of this year, we expanded the eligibility dates to pre-1924 and pre-1876, and the EJC now includes an additional 68,000 items for a total of 664,000 freely available articles. Anyone may search, read online, and download PDF copies of the Early Journal Content by searching JSTOR and choosing its open content, or via jstor.org/open, a search portal for all open content on JSTOR.

A few highlights of the Early Journal Content include: reports of early science experiments, such as a 1752 letter from Benjamin Franklin “concerning an electrical kite”; 100 years of North American Review, the oldest literary journal in the U.S.; and a selection of rare art periodicals designed and published by several influential writers, poets, performers, and visual artists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.