Something to consider is if you might have children and grandchildren who will stumble on them someday. One of my favorite things to do when I visited my grandparents was to go down into their basement and flip through their collections of Life, Popular Mechanics and National Geographic. It gave me a window into life in the decades before I was born in a way that history classes never could. As much as I love the Internet Archive, I would not have found clicking through a digital magazine nearly as absorbing.

I'm accepting magazine donations for my encyclopedia. If they're something that isn't already available in electronic format then I will scan and upload them.

It's not technically live yet, but there's a couple of test pages up:

https://en.magazedia.wiki/cinefex-no-138

https://en.magazedia.wiki/gq-style-usa-summer-2017

I have something in the order of probably 2 million magazines in various electronic formats that I am working up organizing and uploading.

I have a whole garage shelf filled with National Geographic magazine since 2013—-after I moved to the United States.

Reading natgeo was a dream—-I bought used copies roadside in the bylanes of Kolkata.

Once in a while my SO questions the same. I change the topic and continue to cherish the collection.

Check if they're on the Internet Archive. If yes, toss them. If no, upload them then toss them. Eventually you have your magazines and a happy wife.

I had a reasonable collection of Transactor magazine from the ‘80s. They were formative to my childhood and my love of writing software for my C64. But I had to let them go. I found a good and appreciative home for them and freed up some space. And they are freely available online.

I'd rather separate from the wife than my classic magazine collection.

Your wife should learn to appreciate knowledge and skills outside of her "comfort zone". Her PoV is not the only valid one.

I bet she has some things which you would happily throw out?