A hundred years ago this month, the September 1924 issue of Hugo Gernsback’s Science and Invention magazine carried this ad for The Press Guild, Inc. As you can see from the ad, your tuition of five dollars (if you act fast) will set you up as a reporter, earning between $40 and $125 per week. Or, you could increase your income materially as a correspondent for a newspaper or magazine writer.

You would learn at home, under the tutelage of one Henry J. Brockmeyer, on the editorial staff of the New York Evening Post. The six lessons would teach you what it would take years to learn working on a newspaper.

While Brockmeyer is put forward as the expert behind the school, this legal brief reveals that one of the principals of the school was none other than Sidney Gernsback, the older brother of the magazine’s publisher. (It takes pains to note, however, that Hugo was not connected with the business.)

It reminds us, for some reason, of the Ted Baxter Famous Broadcaster’s School. Of course, if you want to learn how to be a writer, we have previously provided advice, free of charge. And to add credibility to your new writing venture, we recommend that you buy one of the reporter’s notebooks shown here.

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