Nevada Magazine publisher to address museum

Nevada Magazine Publisher Janet Geary will present the background of past covers from the award-winning magazine at the Churchill County Museum on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Geary is the sixth and final speaker in the fall speakers’ series. She has been publisher of Nevada Magazine for the past 10 years and has been in print media for the past 30 years. Geary was previously the publisher of the Record-Courier in Minden/Gardnerville.

She grew up in Las Vegas with her seven brothers and three sisters. Having lived in Nevada for more than 50 years, she has traveled extensively throughout the state, and Nevada history has become her passion. Additionally, Geary serves on the Carson City Cultural Commission and is past president of the Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Minden Rotary Club. Geary and her husband, Dennis, reside in Minden. They have three sons, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Nevada Highways and Parks, known today as Nevada Magazine, was introduced in the mid-1930s by the state highway department. The Silver State was hardly the tourist magnet it is now. Legalized gambling in Nevada was five years old, the population of Las Vegas was less than 8,000 and Hoover Dam was less than a year old. During World War II, operation of the magazine ceased for five years. When production resumed, color photographs were used for the first time.

Move forward to the 21st century, and in late 2007, Joyce Hollister became publisher and Matthew B. Brown, associate editor since August 2006, took over as editor. In July 2008, Hollister retired, and Geary took over as publisher. In 2009, the magazine went back to its tourism roots, while maintaining a modern design. Nevada Magazine has a circulation of 20,000.