Samir Husni, a leading expert on magazine publishing, has donated his archives to the University of Missouri Libraries Special Collections and Archives division. These wide-ranging research materials will be available to scholarship as the Samir Husni Magazine Collection.
Dubbed “the planet’s leading expert on new magazines” by the Chicago Tribune and “a world-renowned expert on print journalism” by CBS News, Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni, Ph.D., has studied magazine launches for over forty years. Husni received his undergraduate degree from Lebanese University in Beirut, where he was top of his class, earning a scholarship to work on advanced degrees in the United States. He went on to earn a master’s degree in journalism from the University of North Texas in 1980 and a Ph.D. in magazine journalism from the University of Missouri in 1983. He is the founder and director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the School of Journalism and New Media at The University of Mississippi, where he served as a professor of journalism from 1984 to 2021.
The Samir Husni Magazine Collection represents a lifetime of research in media history and magazine publishing. Husni’s yearly publication, Samir Husni’s Guide to New Magazines, was in print from 1985 to 2011, and is published electronically to date. The Guide documents more than 40,000 first issue magazines published in the United States in the twentieth century, all of which are contained in the collection. A significant percentage of first edition magazines in the U.S. never published a second issue, so much of the content of the collection is extremely rare. The collection also includes longer or near-complete runs of other periodical titles from the early twentieth century, as well as merchandise and marketing kits created by magazine publishers, and Husni’s professional papers. Taken as a whole, the Husni Collection provides a detailed view of the landscape of American periodical publishing for a large span of the 20th century.
Dr. Earnest Perry, associate dean of graduate studies and research at the Missouri School of Journalism said, “The collection is a history of our pop culture from the 20th century and beyond and a snapshot of what has happened in America from news, to war, to culture and entertainment, to science and beyond.”
The Special Collections and Archives Division is home to a diverse collection of rare, unique, and historic materials across many formats: manuscripts, papers, rare books, maps, posters, comic art, architectural plans, photographs, and film. The collections are a highly used resource that support a busy program of reference, instruction, and outreach to the University of Missouri community and beyond. More information about the Samir Husni Magazine Collection is available on the Special Collections website. Researchers are encouraged to contact Special Collections librarians with questions.
