In the 60 years since its birth in 1948, the number of journals published by the International Union of Crystallography has risen from one to eight. A brief account of the history of the forerunner of the IUCr journals, Zeitschrift für Kristallographie, is given. The context of the birth of the IUCr and the first of its journals, Acta Crystallographica, is recalled. The circumstances which led to the growth of Acta into several sections, at first A and B then, successively, C, D, E and F, and the launch of two new journals, the Journal of Applied Crystallography and the Journal of Synchrotron Radiation, are described. The transition from print-on-paper to electronic journals is also remembered.