Samuel Sidney McClure was a key figure in muckraking journalism.

Biography

He was born in County Antrim

County Antrim

County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, and emigrated with his widowed mother to Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

 when he was nine years old. He grew up nearly impoverished on a farm and graduated from Valparaiso High School

Valparaiso High School

Valparaiso High School is a public high school in Valparaiso, Indiana. This high school is currently a four star and accredited high school, cited by US News and World Report as a "Best High School 2008". The current principal is Mr...

 in 1875. He worked his way through Knox College, where he co-founded its student newspaper, and later moved to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. In 1884, he established the McClure Syndicate

McClure Syndicate

McClure Syndicate , the first American newspaper syndicate, introduced many American and British writers to the masses. Launched in 1884 by publisher Samuel S. McClure, it was the first successful company of its kind...

, the first U.S. newspaper syndicate, which serialized books.

He founded and ran the widely circulated McClure's Magazine from June 1893 to 1911, when poor health and financial reorganization forced him out and many of his writers had defected to form their own magazine. McClure's Magazine published influential pieces by respected journalists and authors including Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair

Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. , was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle . It exposed conditions in the U.S...

, Burton J. Hendrick

Burton J. Hendrick

Burton Jesse Hendrick born in New Haven, Connecticut. While attending Yale University, Hendrick was editor of both The Yale Courant and The Yale Literary Magazine. He received his BA in 1895 and his master's in 1897 from Yale. After completing his degree work, Hendrick became editor of the New...

, Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...

, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Willa Cather

Willa Cather

Willa Seibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours , a novel set during World War I...

, and Lincoln Steffens

Lincoln Steffens

-Biography:Steffens was born April 6, 1866, in San Francisco. He grew up in a wealthy family and attended a military academy. He studied in France and Germany after graduating from the University of California....

. Through his magazine, he introduced Dr. Maria Montessori's new teaching methods to North America in 1911. McClure was a business partner of Frank Nelson Doubleday

Frank Nelson Doubleday

Frank Nelson Doubleday , known to friends and family as “Effendi”, was a famous U.S. publisher. His most significant achievement was as founder of the eponymous Doubleday & McClure Company in 1897.-Biography:...

 in Doubleday & McClure, ancestor to today's Doubleday imprint.

He died in 1949 in New York, New York, U.S.A.