October, no. 1 (Spring 1976) — founding issue
Citation
October, no. 1 (Spring 1976). Eds. Rosalind Krauss and Annette Michelson. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
The journal’s founding editorial, “About October,” by Krauss and Michelson appears in this issue. Citation for the editorial specifically: Krauss, Rosalind, and Annette Michelson. “About October.” October, no. 1 (Spring 1976): 3–5. (Page range carried from secondary citation; NOT verified in this round.)
Relevance
October was the primary institutional vehicle for the structuralist and post-structuralist critique of photography in the late 1970s through 1990s. The journal’s founding in 1976 coincides almost exactly with the moment when photography theory consolidated as an academic sub-discipline — and when sustained critical readings of exhibitions like The Family of Man became possible within a theoretical framework. Krauss, Sekula, Crimp, and Solomon-Godeau all published foundational essays in October. The founding issue is the institutional reference point for the theoretical tradition that produced sustained critical re-readings of Family of Man alongside its continued institutional circulation (the Luxembourg installation at Clervaux had already begun by the time October was founded; the critical turn shaped the academic reception of FoM, not the exhibition’s continued popular and institutional life).
Named in CREDIBILITY.md as a Tier-2 peer-reviewed journal.
Key excerpts / pages
- Access status (2026-04-30): JSTOR table-of-contents URL
https://www.jstor.org/stable/i250519attempted — returned HTTP 403; full text not retrieved. Body text NOT consulted in this round. - The founding editorial “About October” (pp. 3–5): page range carried from secondary citation in photography-theory literature; not verified against a fetched copy in this round.
- No verbatim passages from the founding editorial available in this session.
Notes
- October is published by MIT Press. JSTOR holds the complete run. Access requires institutional subscription.
- The journal’s founding moment (1976) is contemporaneous with Sontag’s fourth NYRB essay (
src-sontag-1976-nyrb-photographic-evangels) — together these mark the critical-theoretical peak of 1970s photography discourse. - Cross-reference to
src-krauss-1977-notes-on-index(key early October essay). Cross-reference tosrc-sekula-1981(published in Art Journal but closely tied to the October theoretical milieu). Cross-reference tosrc-crimp-1979-pictures(early October essay on photography and appropriation). - Cross-reference to
src-sandeen-1995: Sandeen’s study engages with the critical-theoretical tradition that October founded — NOT re-fetched in this round. verified: false: JSTOR returned 403; body text NOT consulted in this round. Title, founding editors, issue number, year, and publisher carried from standard bibliographic reference in the photography-theory literature, not from a primary fetch.