#husni

We try to use our social media to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what’s happening in Special Collections. But we have to admit, we’ve been keeping a secret. There’s a little project we haven’t told you all about.

Okay, maybe it’s a big project.

In October, three semi-trucks rolled up to Ellis Library laden with the archive of Dr. Samir Husni, a.k.a. Mr. Magazine™, a.k.a. “the planet’s leading expert on new magazines.” Inside was an incredible gift to the Libraries, the University of Missouri, and future researchers: the Samir Husni Magazine Collection.

Dr. Husni’s career has focused on magazine launches, and he assembled this collection over the course of more than forty years of studying the magazine industry. The collection contains around 40,000 first editions of magazines published from 1985 to date. A high percentage of new magazines don’t survive to produce a second issue, so that’s a lot of content that can’t be found anywhere else.

In addition to those 40,000 first editions, Dr. Husni collected widely across a large span of the 20th century. The result is a collection that represents as complete a picture of the American magazine industry as possible, including longer or near-complete runs of periodical titles from the early twentieth century, merchandise and marketing kits created by magazine publishers, and Dr. Husni's professional papers.

The University of Missouri is a natural home for this collection. Dr. Husni received his Ph.D. here from the Missouri School of Journalism, the first professional journalism school in the United States, and a top-ranked program to this day. We’re thrilled to be able to make the Husni Collection available to this community of researchers and journalists. Last week we met to celebrate Dr. Husni and the dedicated crew of librarians and students who have been working on this amazing collection over the last six months.

Advent Calendar - Day 7 ... Haha is it even an advent calendar if I'm not doing everyday? 8'D

If it's been a bit quiet around here, it's because we've been busily processing the Husni Collection for the last few weeks. Here's one of our recent finds! During World War II, publishers produced miniaturized “pony editions” that collected the content of their regular issues specifically for American troops abroad. These ad-free issues of Time measure only six by nine inches, with tiny print. The condensed size of these magazines helped to cut costs and save paper while also keeping the armed forces supplied with plenty of reading materials. The editions shown here contain stories about the conduct of the war and politics at home.