As a publisher of magazines and newspapers, Frank A. Munsey was a man ahead of his time. His methods of applying the principles of industrialism to publishing are echoed throughout the publishing business today, and although he never succeeded in realizing his dream of operating a chain of newspapers across the United States, others have validated the concept. Some of the most prestigious newspapers and magazines of his day passed through his control and were modified, merged, and, often enough, eliminated. Sadly neglected now, when the name Munsey does come up among newsmen, it is usually accompanied by the dimly remembered cry, "Let Munsey kill it!"

The fourth of six children, Frank Andrew Munsey was born on 21 August 1854 on a farm near Mercer, Maine, to Andrew Chauncey Munsey, a carpenter and farmer, and Mary Jane Merritt Hopkins Munsey. Although his father was from Quebec, Canada, a genealogy Munsey...