The Young Catholic Messenger Collection digitized here was the inaugural publication of the Pflaum Publishing Company, founded in 1885 in Dayton, Ohio, by George Pflaum, Sr. Pflaum produced religious and civic themed reading materials distributed to students in the Catholic parochial schools that later included the Junior Catholic Messenger, Our Little Messenger, and the Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact. In the early years the YCM issues tended to be shorter and more literary in focus, while later on the number of pages per issue increased as more news and current events were included. The YCM ceased publication in 1970.