ONLINE – With the recent passing of its Editor-In-Chief, John Fiske, the Digital Antiques Journal (DAJ) at www.antiquesjournal.com has announced it will cease publication.
What ended as a digital publication began in print in 1981 under New England Country Antiques. It was owned and printed by Turley Publications, in Palmer, Mass. Under Turley, the publication would bounce through different names and supplements, including the Antiques Journal and Living with Antiques, though its legacy will survive under the New England Antiques Journal (NEAJ). The NEAJ ceased printing in 2018, at which point Fiske launched the Digital Antiques Journal.
“John Fiske had been the ‘Editor-in-Chief’ of NEAJ for over 20 years and is the current editor of Digital Antiques Journal,” the publication wrote on July 15. “John has become the ‘voice’ of our publication, and with the announcement of his passing, we sadly announce the retirement of NEAJ/DAJ.”
It ends a run of 440 print issues and 2½ years of digital content.
The digital publication said its website will stay live through the end of 2021 with archived articles, current advertisers and a calendar of events.
A few weeks before his passing, Fiske drafted a retirement letter to his readers. He wrote, “When I was studying English literature at Cambridge University, ‘close reading’ was all the rage. It has stuck with me ever since.
“I’ve always been driven to ‘read’ antiques closely. I’ve always acted on the assumption that if you look long and closely at an antique, it will reveal itself to you in ways that are meaningful, pleasurable and satisfying. And fun.
“There’s nothing in an antique that got there by accident: somebody put it there intentionally and carefully, and figuring out why is the wonderfest of the passionate antiquer. It is so much more fascinating than anything that’s going on around us today. The news is boring; neighborhood gossip is boring – which is something that an antique can never be.
“When we look at the different forms of the culture of everyday life, it consistently prods us to realize that the way we live now is not the only way to live.
“People who are fundamentally similar to us have often lived very differently to us.
“And that’s a good thing to realize because we sometimes have the view that we have discovered the way to live.
“The past is another country…they do things differently there.
Yours Sincerely, John Fiske.”
For additional information, www.antiquesjournal.com.
