The New Yorker
The New Yorker magazine opened its doors on the 21st of February 1925. Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant established the publication in a small office at 25 West 45th Street in Manhattan. They formed the F-R Publishing Company with entrepreneur Raoul H. Fleischmann to fund their venture. Ross had previously worked for Judge magazine and wanted to create something different from what he called corny humor publications like Life. He declared in a 1925 prospectus that the magazine was not edited for the old lady in Dubuque. The early years were occasionally precarious financially as they struggled to find an audience willing to pay for sophisticated humor. Ross remained editor until his death in 1951 and shaped the editorial tone and standards including the robust fact-checking operation that would become famous.
William Shawn succeeded Ross as editor after his death in 1951 and held the position until 1987. Shawn was described as an extremely shy introverted figure who maintained the magazine's traditional appearance over decades. Robert Gottlieb took over from 1987 to 1992 followed by Tina Brown who served from 1992 to 1998. Brown introduced color to the editorial pages several years before The New York Times did and included photography with less type on each page. She increased coverage of current events and topics such as celebrities and business tycoons while placing short pieces throughout Goings on About Town. David Remnick has been editor since July 1998 succeeding Brown. Under Shawn's editorship important nonfiction authors began writing for the magazine including Dwight Macdonald Kenneth Tynan and Hannah Arendt whose Eichmann in Jerusalem reportage appeared there before publication as a book.
The magazine has featured cartoons since its beginning in 1925 with Lee Lorenz serving as cartoon editor from 1956 until 1998 when Françoise Mouly replaced him. Peter Steiner created the most reprinted drawing in 1993 showing two dogs at a computer where one says On the Internet nobody knows you're a dog. Steiner and the magazine have split more than $100,000 in fees paid for licensing and reprinting this single cartoon with over half going to Steiner himself. Charles Addams Peter Arno Saul Steinberg James Thurber and many others contributed to the stable of talents that defined American humor through these pages. A 1941 Peter Arno cartoon showed an engineer walking away from a crashed plane saying Well back to the old drawing board which originated the catchphrase back to the drawing board. The magazine began using the last page of each issue for The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest in April 2005 allowing readers age 13 or older to submit captions and vote on winners.
A the 21st of July 2008 cover by Barry Blitt depicting Barack Obama in a turban and shalwar kameez fist bumping his wife Michelle portrayed with an Afro and wearing camouflage trousers sparked national debate. The image included a portrait of Osama bin Laden hanging on the wall and an American flag burning in the fireplace. Editor David Remnick stated the intent was to satirize vicious racist attacks and rumors about the Obamas floating around in the blogosphere. Obama said he knew it was The New Yorker's attempt at satire but did not think they were entirely successful since the allegations were actually an insult against Muslim-Americans. A 1993 Valentine's Day cover by Spiegelman showing a black woman and a Hasidic Jewish man kissing referencing the Crown Heights riot of 1991 drew criticism from black and Jewish observers described as the magazine's first national controversy. An the 2nd of October 2023 cover titled The Race for Office depicted Donald Trump Mitch McConnell Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden running with walkers which some criticized as ableism and ageism while others acknowledged it as satirizing advanced-age politicians vying for top offices.
The magazine established itself as a preeminent forum for serious fiction essays and journalism shortly after World War II when John Hersey's essay Hiroshima filled an entire issue. Publication of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery drew more mail than any other story in the magazine's history. Writers including Truman Capote Vladimir Nabokov Alice Munro Ann Beattie Sally Benson Maeve Brennan John Cheever Roald Dahl Stephen King Philip Roth George Saunders J.D. Salinger James Thurber E.B. White and many others contributed short stories that became literary landmarks. Films based on New Yorker articles include Brokeback Mountain adapted from Annie Proulx's the 13th of October 1997 story Michael Cunningham's The Hours excerpted before becoming film that garnered the 2002 Best Actress Academy Award for Nicole Kidman and Adaptation by Spike Jonze based on Susan Orlean's Orchid Fever article from the 23rd of January 1995. The magazine has published occasional comics journalism since 1993 featuring cartoonists like Marisa Acocella Marchetto Barry Blitt Sue Coe Robert Crumb Jules Feiffer Ben Katchor Gary Panter Art Spiegelman Mark Alan Stamaty and Ronald Wimberly.
The magazine opened online access to its archive in 2014 and launched a paywalled subscription model to expand plans for running an ambitious website. Web editor Nicholas Thompson stated they were trying to make a website that is to the Internet what the magazine is to all other magazines. Subscribers gained access to the full current issue online plus a complete archive of back issues viewable as originally printed. In April 2018 The New Yorker launched a crossword puzzle series with weekday puzzles every Monday followed by weekend crosswords on Fridays. They relaunched cryptic puzzles in June 2021 and introduced Name Drop trivia game posted online weekdays in July 2021. Liz Maynes-Aminzade became first puzzles and games editor in December 2019 while editorial staff unionized in 2018 and signed their first collective bargaining agreement in 2021. About 30 people work in the fact-checking department as of 2025 maintaining rigorous standards identified by Columbia Journalism Review as no publication more consistently identified with such procedures.
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Common questions
When did The New Yorker magazine open its doors?
The New Yorker magazine opened its doors on the 21st of February 1925. Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant established the publication in a small office at 25 West 45th Street in Manhattan.
Who founded The New Yorker magazine and when did they start it?
Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant founded The New Yorker magazine on the 21st of February 1925. They formed the F-R Publishing Company with entrepreneur Raoul H. Fleischmann to fund their venture.
Which editor served The New Yorker from 1987 until 1992?
Robert Gottlieb served as editor of The New Yorker from 1987 to 1992. He succeeded William Shawn who held the position until 1987 and preceded Tina Brown who took over in 1992.
What was the most reprinted drawing created for The New Yorker magazine?
Peter Steiner created the most reprinted drawing for The New Yorker magazine in 1993 showing two dogs at a computer where one says On the Internet nobody knows you're a dog. Steiner and the magazine have split more than $100,000 in fees paid for licensing and reprinting this single cartoon.
When did David Remnick become editor of The New Yorker magazine?
David Remnick has been editor of The New Yorker since July 1998 succeeding Tina Brown. He continues to lead the publication which established itself as a preeminent forum for serious fiction essays and journalism shortly after World War II.