- unitid
-
{"value"=>"703", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"MssCol 703", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1931-1955", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1931/1955"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1931
- date_inclusive_end
-
1955
- keydate
-
1931
- date_start
-
1931
- date_end
-
1955
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Crowell-Collier Publishing Company records"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"806 linear feet (808 boxes)"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.</span> <div class=\"address\"> <span class=\"addressline\">Stephen A. Schwarzman Building</span> <span class=\"addressline\">Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, American publishers of popular periodicals and educational and technical manuals, was incorporated in 1920 as the Crowell Publishing Company. The name was changed to Crowell-Collier in 1939, and to Crowell, Collier and Macmillan, Inc. in 1965. The firm published American Magazine, Collier's Magazine, The Country Home, Woman's Home Companion, and National Weekly. Collection consists of correspondence, readers' reports, typescripts, proofs, memoranda, and photographs relating to the publishing activities of Crowell-Collier. Records are mainly correspondence, 1931-1950, of the editors of the magazines published by the firm, with the bulk concerning Collier's and Woman's Home Companion. Editors' correspondence with authors, literary agents, photographers, and cartoonists reflects the changes in editorial policy and shifts in popular taste during the period between the early thirties and the mid-fifties. Collection also includes inter-office correspondence, 1933, 1946; readers' reports, 1933; edited authors' typescripts and editors' proofs of articles, short stories, and serialized novels published in Collier's from 1935 through 1955, with some correspondence and editorial memoranda; and a few photographs."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"Materials in English"}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>Crowell-Collier Publishing Company records, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Crowell-Collier Publishing Company", "type"=>"corpname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, American publishers of popular periodicals and educational and technical manuals, was incorporated in 1920 as the Crowell Publishing Company. The name was changed to Crowell-Collier in 1939 and to Crowell, Collier and Macmillan, Inc. in 1965. The firm published <em>American Magazine, Collier's Magazine, the Country Home, Woman's Home Companion</em> and <em>National Weekly.</em></p> <p>Although from radically different national and religious backgrounds, the founders of the publishing companies (which would merge in 1934) both began their long and successful business careers in the same way. Peter Collier would begin by peddling books in New York City, and John Crowell by selling newspapers on the street corners of Lexington, Kentucky.</p> <p>Peter Fenelon Collier (1849-1909) a staunch Roman Catholic was born in County Carlow, Ireland. Collier was educated in Ireland and the United States after his father emigrated in 1850. Collier first move was to purchase the popular periodical <em>Father Burke's Lectures</em>, in 1873. Afterwards, Collier began publishing in the Roman Catholic book trade. In 1874, he published a life of Pius IX and went on to publish <em>Chandler's Encyclopaedia</em>, several editions of the Bible, and the history of the United States.</p> <p>Concurrently, Collier began publishing popular novels, which were sold in connection with the magazine, <em>Collier's Once a Week</em>. In 1895 the name of the magazine was changed to <em>Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal</em>. The magazine was noted for its half-tone news pictures that flourished under James H. Hare, a leader of photojournalism. Norman Hapgood was also recruited by Collier to become the editor of <em>Collier's Weekly</em> in 1903. One of the decisions that Hare made in his capacity as an editor was to employ Jack London to report on the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. Peter Collier died in New York City in 1909. His son, Robert Collier took over <em>Collier Weekly</em>. Eventually, Robert Collier became the editor after Norman Hapgood left for <em>Harper's Weekly</em> in 1912.</p> <p>John Stephen Crowell (1850-1921), a Presbyterian, was born in Lexington, Kentucky. After receiving his education in Lexington, Kentucky, Crowell moved to Springfield, Ohio where he founded the publishing firm of Mast, Crowell, & Kirkpatrick. This firm would later become the Crowell-Collier Publishing Company. The firm could count among their accomplishments the purchase of the magazine <em>Home Companion</em> that eventually would be renamed <em>Woman's Home Companion.</em></p> <p>The Crowell Publishing Company was incorporated under the laws of New Jersey on January 31, 1906. At that time, the Company owned and published <em>Farm and Fireside, Woman's Home Companion</em>, and <em>American Magazine</em>, which were edited and printed in the Springfield plant. In the summer of 1919, the Crowell Publishing Co. purchased <em>Collier Weekly</em>. Under the terms of the contract Crowell would publish the magazine and all the books formerly published by P. F. Collier & Son. Although now on a subsidiary of Crowell-Collier & Son was given assurance that there would be no changes made in its editorial policies and that the independence of <em>Collier's Weekly</em> would be respected. Collier & Son continued to circulate over one million copies a week of <em>Collier's Weekly</em>, and annually published more than six million books covering a wide range of popular and serious literature.</p> <p>In the spring of 1920, Crowell Publishing Co. was incorporated in Delaware as the successor of the New Jersey Company. By 1921, Crowell owned the majority of common stocks in P. F. Collier & Son. In 1934, the two companies merged; and in 1939 the new company changed its name to Crowell-Collier Publishing Co. Subsidiaries of the company included P. F. Collier & Son Corp., a book subscription business, and P. F. Collier & Son Ltd. The latter was formed in 1935 as distributors for Canada.</p> <p>Collier's magazines published and distributed by the new company were <em>Woman's Home Companion, American Magazine, Collier Weekly</em>, and <em>Country Home</em>. The latter was discontinued by Crowell-Collier. In November 1939, the remaining three, led by <em>Woman's Home Companion</em>, enjoyed increased circulation reaching by 1948 the total average circulation of 9,366,030 and the total advertising income of $36,167,172. In January 1952, P. F. Collier & Son Corp. was merged and the book subscription of Crowell-Collier operated as P. F. Collier & Son Division.</p> <p>As of 1955 (the latest year reflected in the records) Crowell-Collier owned and published <em>Woman's Home Companion, Collier's Weekly, Collier Encyclopedia</em>, and Collier books. In August, 1956, <em>American Magazine</em> was discontinued, and in 1957, unfilled subscriptions to <em>Woman's Home Companion</em>, and <em>Collier Weekly</em> were sold to McCall Corporation and the publishers of <em>Look</em> respectively so that the new company might use the division formerly publishing magazines to distribute <em>Collier's Encyclopaedia</em> and operate book divisions.</p> <p>The Springfield, Ohio plant was sold in 1957. On December 30, 1960, Crowell-Collier merged with Macmillan of New York whose assets were transferred to a wholly owned subsidiary incorporated in Delaware, which changed its name to Macmillan Company. The Crowell-Collier holding company operated through its subsidiaries, among them P. F. Collier Inc. On May 6, 1965 the name Crowell Collier & Macmillan, Inc. was adopted; the title was changed to Macmillan, Inc. (Delaware, 1973).</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The records, 1931-1955, consist of editor's correspondence of the magazines published by Crowell-Collier. The correspondence is arranged chronologically by the year and therein alphabetically. (The folder letters are arranged according to a numerical filing system established by the company) The bulk of the correspondence concerns <em>Collier's Weekly</em>, and <em>Woman's Home Companion.</em>.</p> <p>The exchanges between editors (including John Denson, Sumner Blossom, Faith McNulty, Quentin Reynolds, Cornelius Ryan, and Bianca Tonetti) and authors, photographers, cartoonists, and literary agents vividly conjure up the give and take world of popular magazine publishing and also reflect the changes in editorial policy shifts in popular taste from the early thirties to the mid nineteen fifties. Outstanding in this section are the letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald in which friendly banter masks the anxiety of a writer desperately in need of money. Among the many correspondents are: Ansel Adams, Sherwood Anderson, Vera Brittain, Louis Budenz, Agatha Christie, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Himes, Herbert Hoover, H. L. Mencken, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., and Kurt Vonnegut.</p> <p>Subseries of the editorial correspondence include inter-office correspondence for 1933 and 1946, and reader's reports for 1933. The records hold authors' typescripts and editors' proofs of articles, short stories, and the serialized novels published in <em>Collier's Weekly</em> from 1935 through 1955, and related correspondence. Of particular interest in this section are the typescripts and letters relating to articles commissioned for a special issue in which journalists, historians, educators, labor leaders, and government officials imagined what the Soviet Union would be like in the aftermath of its defeat and occupation by U. N. forces. Known as <em>Operation Eggnog</em> - the ultimate Cold-War fantasy. These apocalyptic cold-war fantasies were published on October 27, 1951 seventeen days after President Truman signed the Mutual Security Act that provided for massive foreign economic, military, and technical aid. Among the authors and historians represented by both typescripts and correspondence are: Arthur Koestler, Robert Sherwood, J. B. Priestly, and Allan Nevins. There is also a typescript by Kurt Vonnegut that was not included in the special issue.</p> <p>Historical Note, and Scope and Contents Note prepared by Richard Salvato, 1983.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Crowell-Collier Publishing Company records are arranged in three series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/703#c1327549'>Editorial Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Mixed</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/703#c1327556'>Editorial Correspondence</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/703#c1328110'>Typescripts and Proofs</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The typescripts are filed by issue.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of the Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, [1955]</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"type"=>"processing", "value"=>"<p>Preliminary Inventory, Richard Salvato and Genna Rae McNeil, August 1983. Box List upgraded, Valerie Wingfield, 2002</p>"}
- altformavail
-
{"value"=>"<p>Martha Gellhorn materials available on microfilm; New York Public Library; *ZL-186</p>"}
- extent_statement
-
806 linear feet (808 boxes)