Magazines and journals in the Caribbean were creative outlet that offered insight to the daily life in the cities, towns, and countries in which they were published.  During the early twentieth century, the varying and often tumultuous political changes that the area was experiencing was reflected in the content of local magazines and journals.  Having access to these periodicals from Cuba and Jamaica in the Digital Library of the Caribbean will give researchers a broader understanding of the political climate, philosophical ideas, academic theories, and artistic expressions prevalent in their respective societies.

The elite in Havana, Cuba were tied to their membership in sport and social clubs. These clubs provided the wealthy with entertainment and drew large numbers of tourists and celebrities to Havana.  Some clubs published journals and member directories which provide insight to the daily life of Cubans in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The membership lists provide alphabetical information about individual members and their respective addresses, valuable information for genealogical research.  The journals also documented the lives and times of Cubans including advertisements, articles, literary works, editorials, tide charts, historical and current events, and photographs. Two such sport clubs were the Habana Yacht Club and the Miramar Yacht Club.  

The Habana Yacht Club (HYC), one of the oldest international yacht clubs, was founded in 1886. The HYC organized regattas and other nautical events in Havana, Cuba. Beginning in the 1920’s, the club published a monthly nautical journal, Habana Yacht Club (H.Y.C.). In the early 1920’s, another yacht club, the Miramar Yacht Club (MYC), was founded by members who were disenchanted with the Habana Yacht Club.  In the early 1930’s the Miramar Yacht Club began to publish a monthly journal MYC.

Carteles was a Cuban magazine first published from September 1919 and in print until July 1960 by the brothers, Oscar and Conrado Massaguer.  Conrado Massaguer also published Social, another popular Cuban magazine at the time.  Carteles covered pre-revolution Cuban commerce, art, sports and social life. It is considered one of the most popular magazines in pre-Revolutionary Cuba.  Beginning in 1924, Carteles became more active in Cuban politics with articles criticizing the government of Gerardo Machado. Carteles was a perfect example of the humor and graphic design that artists such as Horacio Rodríguez Suria and Andrés García Benítez, employed during this period as commentary on Cuban society and politics. Several prominent writers, such as Alejo Carpentier and Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring, also contributed to Carteles.

Savacou is a Jamaican publication from the Caribbean Artist Movement (CAM) at the University of West Indies between 1970- 1979. Savacou was one of the earliest journals to display Caribbean writers including Eduard Kamau Brathwaite, Nobel Prize winner Derek Alton Walcott, and other academics in the Caribbean and the Caribbean diaspora. Savacou published the works of writers that would need encouragement and visibility when not being published by other journals. Savacou provided anthologies of poetry, prose, conceptual ideas, conference papers, and artistic criticism related to the Caribbean and Caribbean diaspora.