Time Machine series


The Time Machine series of science fiction stories for young adults, published between 1959 and 1989 in Boys' Life magazine, featured a group of American Boy Scouts who acquire an abandoned time machine. The Polaris Patrol visited the future and the past, sometimes recruiting new Scouts. The stories used the time machine as a framework for history lessons, but also explored the consequences of having a time machine.
The author was given as Donald Keith for most of the stories, a pseudonym for the father-and-son team of Donald and Keith Monroe. In later years, some stories were credited just to the son, Keith Monroe.
The first story in the series was "The Day We Explored the Future", appearing in the December 1959 Boys' Life on page 18.
Some of the stories were collected in two books: Mutiny in the Time Machine and Time Machine to the Rescue, with Donald Keith listed as the author. All the Time Machine stories are available from Google Books in its collection of Boys' Life issues.

Recurring characters

  • Bob Tucker, patrol leader
  • Ellsworth "Brains" Baynes, brilliant bookworm who operates the Machine
  • Kai Beezee Tentroy, recruited from a city called Troy in 4000 A.D.
  • Dion, recruited from ancient Sparta
  • Rodney Carver, an impetuous tenderfoot

Stories in ''Boys' Life''

In the following table, "DK" indicates that the story's author is listed as Donald Keith, while "KM" means attribution to Keith Monroe. Links are to the copies available at Google Books.
IssueTitleAuthorSerial dates
December 1959DK
February 1960DK
June 1960DK
July 1960DK
October 1961DK
February 1962DK
December 1962DKDec 1962 to Mar 1963
January 1963DKDec 1962 to Mar 1963
February 1963DKDec 1962 to Mar 1963
March 1963DKDec 1962 to Mar 1963
June 1964DK
October 1964DK
February 1965DKFeb 1965 to Apr 1965
March 1965DKFeb 1965 to Apr 1965
April 1965DKFeb 1965 to Apr 1965
April 1967DKApr 1967 to Jun 1967
May 1967DKApr 1967 to Jun 1967
June 1967DKApr 1967 to Jun 1967
December 1968DK
September 1970DK
August 1971DK
February 1973DK
August 1973KM
December 1973DK
November 1974KM
April 1975KM
July 1976KM
September 1988KM
February 1989KM
September 1989KM