In Issue 1 of this magazine, you may have come across a feature profile of Glenn Beck's effort to collect artifacts from America’s past and the broader quest to save our history. I think this is an extremely valuable goal, and for those of us who want to lend a hand but don’t have a huge budget to bid on a copy of the original Declaration of Independence or purchase authentic glasses worn by George Washington himself, allow me to propose an alternative.

When my wife and I first started dating, we were always looking for fun hobbies we could share together. One attempt eventually led to another, and we happened upon something we both began to love: antiquing.

Right around the time Frontier’s first issue was coming together, I discovered a well-preserved 1936 copy of Frontier Times at a local antique mall. This was apparently an old Western magazine that claimed to be devoted to “Frontier History, Border Tragedy, and Pioneer Achievement.” How fitting for this mission that, as I turn over the cover to the first page, it reads:

“FRONTIER TIMES–Chronicler of Neglected History”

The copy in my possession tells stories about important gun fights, cattle drives, and violent battles for the control of Texas among the Indian tribes, the Americans, and the Mexican army. It even contained an immensely detailed account of the controversy (conspiracy?) that the Wild West folk hero Jesse James wasn’t really assassinated by the coward Robert Ford—and might still be among the (then) living.

Finding this felt a lot like fate at the time that we received the recent print editions of our own periodical. It was a reminder to me that, as Americans, the frontier has always been with us.

Cheap plastic and outsourced electronics are what we’ve come to expect, but it wasn’t always this way.

Since then, wherever we travel now, my wife and I carve out enough time to visit our destination’s antique stores. Each city’s wares reveal something about the distinct character of their people and place. The years wear on, but we, as Americans, should champion these people and places, as well as the qualities that made them special. “Forgotten America” is only forgotten if we allow it to be.

After several months of our newfound hobby, I have concluded that some of the items I’ve stumbled across will already remain in my collection forever. From first editions of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country For Old Men and Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit Of St. Louis, to political buttons supporting the Nixon and LBJ campaigns, to movie posters from The Lord Of the Rings, to Davy Crockett tin lunch boxes, to vintage Batman and Star Trek comics, to Revolutionary War-era muskets, to classic Nintendo gaming systems, to Norman Rockwell paintings, to hit records from The Beach Boys and Fleetwood Mac, and of course, to great magazines like The Saturday Evening Post. The list goes on and on.

So many products and advertisements in the current era feel fake and aren’t made to last. Cheap plastic and outsourced electronics are what we’ve come to expect, but it wasn’t always this way. The antique mall tells a different story. There is a culture worth defending and there are things worth protecting. There is a country that believes in itself. There is life. There are magnificent works of art, furniture, household appliances, gadgets, and machines built 100 years ago that are still in pristine working condition. There is a spark.

“Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.”

Our nation’s future is uncertain, but relics from the near and distant past alike connect us to what America was, who we are, and what we can be again. We stand on the shoulders of giants.

And who knows? Maybe 100 years from now someone will find an old version of this publication hanging on the dusty racks of a display like I did.

Remember your heritage and see it for yourself. It’s out there. Just go to the antique shop.

Logan Hall is a digital strategist for Blaze Media and the digital curator for Frontier. His writing has appeared in Townhall, the American Mind, and more.