Popular Publications, a publisher of popular detective, adventure, romance, and Western fiction, was founded in New York City in 1930 by Henry Steeger. During the 1930s his firm became the largest publisher of popular pulp fiction in America. In...
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Popular Publications, a publisher of popular detective, adventure, romance, and Western fiction, was founded in New York City in 1930 by Henry Steeger. During the 1930s his firm became the largest publisher of popular pulp fiction in America. In 1942 the firm acquired the copyrights to the properties of the Frank A. Munsey Co. which included Argosy Magazine. Steeger was president and publisher of Popular Publications (in addition to various other publishing companies) until the firm was sold in 1972. Collection consists of correspondence, copyright records, index card files, financial records and personal papers of Henry Steeger, and other records related to the operations of Popular Publications. Correspondence, ca. 1914-1977, concerns copyright assignments and permissions of Popular Publications and Frank A. Munsey Co. and is with authors, agents, publishers, motion picture companies, and attorneys. Other correspondence pertains to radio rights and syndication, "Court of Last Resort" (feature in Argosy magazine which sought to aid those who might be victims of miscarriages of justice), foreign sales, and editorial policy. Copyright registration records, 1930s to 1960s, relate to publications of Steeger's various publishing companies. Index card files contain information about authors published by Popular Publications and Frank A. Munsey Co. Personal papers, 1960-1968, of Steeger include correspondence concerning his presidency of the National Urban League and Popular Publications, his real estate investments, anbd printed matter. Also, pen and ink illustrations published in Argosy magazine, photographs and audio disc recordings.
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