The Story of Smithsonian Magazine
Smithsonian Magazine takes the phrase “general interest” to a whole new level. The title is a mirror of the sprawling 163-year-old institution that shares its name: eclectic, highly cultured and well-rounded. Its mix helps feed the mind of the curious reader with arts, science, history and culture of all sorts.
The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, ornithologist and wildlife conservationist S. Dillon Ripley, decided in 1970 that the organization should be publishing a magazine "about things in which the Smithsonian is interested, might be interested, or ought to be interested." He lured former LIFE editor Edward K. Thompson out of retirement to kick off the publication’s initial run. Thompson stayed for a decade.
The magazine launched with 160,000 readers, turned a profit by its third year and reached a million subscribers by its fifth year, making it one of the most successful magazine launches of the time.
In its history the magazine has only had three editors: Thompson; Don Moser, who was also a LIFE veteran and helmed Smithsonian for 20 years—growing it to two million monthly subscribers; and current editor Carey Winfrey, who took the top spot in 2001. Winfrey joined Smithsonian after stints as an assistant managing editor at People, a reporter at The New York Times, and a producer for New York City public television’s weekly show about journalism, “Behind the Lines,” where he won an Emmy Award.
--Mark Miller
