American Botanical Council Publishes 100th Issue of ‘HerbalGram’

By A Press Release From The American Botanical Council
Published on December 2, 2013
article image
Courtesy of the American Botanical Council
The 100th issue of 'HerbalGram' includes the history and highlights of the American Botanical Council.

Reposted with permission from the American Botanical Council.

The 100th issue of the acclaimed magazine HerbalGram hits mailboxes and select retailers around the world this month, and debuts online. Thirty years in the making, the magazine has grown in tandem with the herbal community and the American Botanical Council (ABC), which was created to support the publication and thereby further herbal education.

HerbalGram is the quarterly journal of ABC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing education using science-based and traditional information to promote responsible use of herbal medicine. ABC achieves another landmark accomplishment this November — its 25th anniversary. While HerbalGram’s first issue was printed in 1983, ABC was founded in 1988 to help the publication make the transition from newsletter to magazine. Since then, ABC has become an award-winning nonprofit with members in more than 80 countries around the world, and HerbalGram — once a black-and-white newsletter — is now a full-color magazine filled with peer-reviewed articles on herbal medicine and colorful botanical photography, available both in print and online, in high-definition color and detail.

 “When Rob McCaleb and I first started writing HerbalGram as a quarterly newsletter back in 1983, it never occurred to me how it would look and what impact it would have 30 years later,” said ABC Founder and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal.

“After working on it as a volunteer labor of love on nights and weekends, I eventually wanted to see it evolve as sort of a Scientific American of herbs, replete with color photography, authoritative articles, and other aspects of the publication that could provide credibility to the proposition that the emerging scientific research was frequently able to document and support the general safety and many health benefits of numerous popular and yet-to-become popular herbs,” continued Blumenthal. “HerbalGram was the kernel of the founding and development of the American Botanical Council, and its many unique educational publications and programs. I truly love producing HerbalGram and, with ABC’s great staff, I hope to live long enough and be active enough to help produce another 100 issues!”

More than 30 years ago, Blumenthal produced the very first HerbalGram — then titled “Herb News” and subtitled “Herbalgram” — which eventually matured into the magazine currently read around the world. Blumenthal wrote and edited articles for the HerbalGram newsletter in what spare time was available while running his former herb distribution business, Sweethardt Herbs. Originally published with the financial support of the newly formed American Herbal Products Association, of which Blumenthal was a founding board member, the first HerbalGram was an eight-page, black-and-white, stapled-at-the-spine newsletter. The contents included “herb blurbs” on herbal scientific happenings, herbal-related news articles, a handful of paragraph-long “Rob’s Research Reviews” — authored by then-Associate Editor McCaleb (who was head of research at Celestial Seasonings at the time) — along with listings of herbal information resources and schools, and more.

Comments (0) Join others in the discussion!
    Online Store Logo
    Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368