The history of Smithsonian began when Edward K. Thompson, the retired editor of Life magazine, was asked by the then-Secretary of the Smithsonian, S. Dillon Ripley, to produce a magazine "about things in which the Smithsonian is interested, might be interested or ought to be interested." Thompson would later recall that his philosophy for the new magazine was that it "would stir curiosity in already receptive minds. It would deal with history as it is relevant to the present. It would present art, since true art is never dated, in the richest possible reproduction. It would peer into the future via coverage of social progress and of science and technology. Technical matters would be digested and made intelligible by skilled writers who would stimulate readers to reach upward while not turning them off with jargon. We would find the best writers and the best photographers—not unlike the best of the old Life." In 1973, the magazine turned a profit for the first time. By 1974, circulation had nearly quadrupled, to 635,000, and it reached the one million milestone in 1975—one of the most successful launches of its time. In 1980, Thompson was replaced by Don Moser, who had also worked at Life, and circulation reached upwards of two million, in turn, by Carey Winfrey upon his retirement in 2001.
Every year since 2003, Smithsonian magazine has run an international photography contest. Tens of thousands of images are submitted from over a hundred countries. 2017 Winners: Thong Huu, Sara Jacoby, Oreon Strusinski, Dan Fenstermacher, Tran Tuan Viet, SEYED MOHAMMAD SADEGH HOSSEINI, Adam Żądło and Mohammad Mohsenifar. 2016 Winners: Pradeep Raja Kannaiah, Milan Sachs, Prelena Soma Owen, Stephanie Foden, Peter Nutkins, Greta Rybus, João Borges, Jim Mneymneh and Alina Rudya. 2015 Winners: Albert Ivan Damanik, Alice Van Kempen, Hidetoshi Ogata, Lauren Pond, Tamina-Florentine Zuch, Tihomir Trichkov, Benedetta Ristori, Radim Schreiber, and Jian Wang. 2014 Winners: Pham Ty, Nicolas Reusens, Lorenzo Mittiga, Olivier Douliery, David Martín Huamaní Bedoya, Joydeep Mukherjee, Jefflin Ling, and Yilang Peng. 2013 Winners: Sergio Carbajo Rodriguez, Candy Feng, Graham McGeorge, Willie Huang, Nidal Adnan Kibria, Simon Morris, Shamma Esoof, and Cesar Rodriguez.
Contributors
Notable past and current contributors to Smithsonian have included:
