Separated by 500 miles but united in a love of reading, a National Geographic collector and a comic book collector met at MagLiteracy this month to share their treasured volumes for literacy.
Columbus resident Thomas Cheeseman came to our MagLiteracy warehouse in Johnstown, Ohio, the morning of Sept. 13 to donate about 1,500 comic books from the past 25 years of his collection, featuring Marvel and DC Comics superheroes, Star Wars, John Carter and Tarzan.
A short time later, Greg Diel and his wife, Becky, arrived from St. Louis, Missouri, in a Kia Soul filled with Greg’s collection of more than 40 years of National Geographic magazines. In the photo above, (from left) Becky and Greg Diel and MagLiteracy Executive Director John Mennell unload the boxes of National Geographic magazines.
The incredible coincidental meeting of these two generous donors was particularly momentous as the International Literacy Association celebrates the power of literacy throughout September. International Literacy Day, observed annually on Sept. 8, also marks the founding date of MagLiteracy in 2004.
Cheeseman was about 10 when his brother’s friend brought to his home comic books, which the two older boys hid from Cheeseman in a dresser drawer. Undeterred, Cheeseman would sneak in at night to read them.
Later, his grandmother sent him to a local Lawson’s convenience store with some money to buy whatever he wanted.
“I came home with my first five comics, and that started it all,” said Cheeseman, whose parents helped him build his collection through annual Christmas gifts. He has T-shirts emblazoned with the first comic book he ever saw, Avengers 165 with the cover date November 1977, as well as those first five comic book covers.
After hearing about MagLiteracy from a co-worker, he decided it was time to donate some of his collection.
“I don’t think people realize no one’s looking to buy an entire collection; they’re more interested in individual comics,” Cheeseman said. “It gets to a point where it goes from being cozy and collectible to being clutter.”
“My thought is, it’s better than going to a landfill,” he said.
You don’t throw books away, you give them away. — Thomas Cheeseman
Diel’s National Geographic collection began when an elementary school teacher mentioned to Greg’s mother that he was fascinated with animals and might enjoy the magazines.
“My mom and dad gave me a subscription in 1984, when I would have been about 12, until about 2022,” said Greg. “I was always kind of a science nerd. It was cool.”
For years the Diels had shared the magazines with their son and daughter and displayed them in their home.
“We cherished them for all these years — every year we read them all,” Becky Diel said. “It was time to find them a second life, and here they’d just end up on a bookshelf. The magazines had already lived their lives here.”
In what they called perfect timing, the Diels had just moved and were looking for somewhere to donate the collection when friends told them about MagLiteracy.
“We’ve known so many people who had to just throw away their collections because they were of no value to them monetarily. It’s the value of what’s inside the pages,” Becky Diel said. “We didn’t want to throw them away because they’ve been part of Greg’s life and our lives all these years.”
We wanted to give them a second life for someone else who wants to hold them in their hands and read them. — Becky Diel
They did have a few National Geographic issues that they couldn’t part with: a 1913 edition; a 1942 edition featuring the start of the London bombings in WWII; the birth month of each of their sons; and, at the request of one of their sons, a 1929 edition from the month prior to the stock market crash that started the Great Depression.
Becky and Greg share a passion for reading, she with her books and he with his Kindle.
“Even when I was kid, I had an aunt who worked for a publishing company, and she gathered the magazine pages and stapled them to send out,” Becky said of the Scholastic Wow magazines. “I was the cool kid in school because I would get to take a box to school and distribute them. Kids now don’t get to experience that. We look back and say, ‘Look what they’re missing.’”
MagLiteracy Executive Director John Mennell emphasized the role magazines play in literacy and learning.
“When someone holds a magazine or a book to learn, it’s a neurological connection to the brain that improves comprehension and retention,” he said.
Comic books, he said, are of particular interest to children, where the need for literacy skills is imperative.
The Nation’s Report Card, mandated by Congress, assesses the educational achievement of U.S. students, not accounting for poverty levels. Its 2024 report showed that 40% of fourth-grade students and 33% of eighth graders performed below basic reading proficiency levels.
He added that while National Geographic magazines have content geared toward teens, adults and teachers, they’re of interest to everyone
“We put them in our food pantry shelves, and they move very quickly,” he said. “People just love to see them.”
Find out how you can encourage literacy at home with the International Literacy Association’s Literacy Month Toolkit, a free resource packed with family-friendly reading activities, weekly themes and daily prompts designed to engage kids of all ages.