Publication Identification

Field	Information
Country	United States
Publisher	Hearst Magazines / Hearst Corporation during the represented period
Publishing address	Pending research update
Magazine title	Sports Afield
Publication status	Historical print title founded in 1887, with the first issue appearing in January 1888.  Current end date or later continuity beyond the scope of this record is pending research update.
Publication run	The overall magazine began in 1887 and the physical issues represented here date from June 1982, June 1985, and June 1990.  Complete run details beyond this documented evidence remain pending research update.
Editor	Pending research update
Printer	Pending research update
ISSN	0038-8149
Language	English
Publication type	General outdoor magazine covering hunting, fishing, shooting, natural history, and conservation

Preservation Significance

These issues have preservation significance because they document how snakes were presented to a large general outdoor readership during the 1980s and 1990s.  They preserve photographs, cover design, article subjects, prices, and the editorial language used to market snake related features to readers of a major American outdoor magazine.

They are especially useful because the 1982 and 1990 issues prominently use the phrase “poisonous snakes.”  Preservation matters not only for accurate information, but also for historically inaccurate or simplified terminology.  Keeping these issues together makes it possible to study how scientific information was communicated, and sometimes misstated, in mass market outdoor publishing.

The three issue group is also useful as a small chronological set.  The 1982 and 1990 covers emphasize danger and emergency treatment, while the 1985 cover presents a broader “Giant Snakes of the World” feature.  Taken together, they show more than one mode of snake coverage within the same long running publication.