It primarily covered current events (with illustrations), but also contained other miscellaneous content and some fiction.

It was first published on February 22, 1890, out of offices located in New York City, selling for 25 cents an issue, or 10 dollars per year.

[6] Publisher Lorillard Spencer[7] fronted the money for the new publication, and was its owner until 1897,[8] when it was sold to a group led by Amédée Baillot de Guerville, who in turn sold the publication to Patterson and Roland Burke Hennessey.

The publication's circulation reached 40,000 by 1892, but declined after Spencer sold it, and it last appeared in 1900.

[1] Francis Bellamy, author of the American Pledge of Allegiance, was among its editors.