A Brief Account of the Educational Publishing Business in the United States

A BRIEF HISTORY OF AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHERS

Allow me to close this paper by giving a brief record of the organization of the houses now engaged in educational publishing, mentioning the titles of some of the earlier textbooks produced. In this brief record I have considered the history of these houses in chronological sequence rather than in alphabetical order, beginning with the earliest American house engaged in textbook publishing.

In 1758 Christopher Sower was succeeded by his son, Christopher Sower, 2nd, and he by his son, Samuel. In 1799 another son, David, Sr., took charge of the business. In 1842 Charles G., son of David, Jr., succeeded his father. In 1888, 150 years after the founding, the firm was incorporated as the Christopher Sower Company, with Charles D. Sower as President. In 1910 the officers were: Albert M. Sower, President; James L. Pennypacker, Vice President; Daniel B. Hassan, Secretary and Treasurer.

The present educational enterprise of this company was started in May, 1904, and the first two schoolbooks of the present list were a school edition of The Man Without a Country, and the series known as the Wide Awake Readers. Little, Brown & Company are known as the publishers of Bancroft’s History of the United States, also of Daniel Webster’s works.

In 1853, the New York house was founded. J. N. Adelrich Benziger, a son of Charles, and Louis, a son of Nicholas, took charge of the New York house. The American firm is now entirely independent of its parent house in Switzerland. In 1860 a branch house was opened in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1880, Nicholas C. Benziger became a partner. His father, Nicholas, was a partner in Einsiedeln, and was the son of Nicholas mentioned above. In 1887, a branch house was opened in Chicago. In 1894, Louis G. Benziger, son of Louis, became a partner, retiring in 1914. In 1912 Xavier N. Benziger, and in 1919 Bernard A. Benziger, both sons of Nicholas C., became partners.

This firm has been publishing schoolbooks since 1860. From 1874 to 1877 the Gilmour Readers were published. The Catholic National Readers were brought out in the years 1889–1894. The New Century Catholic Readers were issued from 1903 to 1905. The house has also published a History of the United States in two volumes, an Elementary Geography, Advanced Geography, and two series of Arithmetics.

The present partners of the firm are Nicholas C. Benziger and his sons, Xavier N. and Bernard A. Benziger.

“The records of the family tree of the Sanborn publications go back into the eighteenth century. The predecessors of the present concern appear to have been in the textbook business from the beginning, and to have specialized in English grammars. The earliest trace we have is of the publication of Staniford’s Short but Comprehensive Grammar Rendered Simple and Easy by Familiar Questions and Answers Adapted to the Capacity of Youth. This was printed by Mannering & Loring, of Boston, January, 1797. Later came The Elements of English Grammar by Adoniram Judson in 1808. Following Mannering & Loring came the firm of Loring & Edmunds. They were the publishers of Lindley Murray’s Grammar. Following Loring & Edmunds came Robert S. Davis, then Robert S. Davis & Company, then Leach, Shewell & Sanborn, and now Benj. H. Sanborn & Company.

“In addition to the Lindley Murray Grammar, one of the notable achievements of the predecessors of Benj. H. Sanborn & Company was the publication of the Greenleaf Arithmetics. The first contract for these books goes back to 1832. Greenleaf, by the way, a Maine teacher, sold the copyright of his first book for $10,000 in gold. This was more money than Greenleaf had ever seen before in his life, and he at once took the boat to Boston to deposit it.”

The first educational publication was a History of the United States, which was issued by the founder of the house just after the War of 1812, and contained an account of that war. The first technical book was published in 1819, entitled A View of the Lead Mines of Missouri, by Henry R. Schoolcraft.

James Harper, the oldest brother of the original four Harpers, was elected Mayor of New York City in 1844. He originated the idea of the magazine, and Fletcher, who was an unusually fine business man, the idea of Harper’s Weekly.

“I cannot give the exact time when educational books were first issued, but somewhat late in the 1830’s a number of such works were published, some of them in foreign languages—French, Spanish, and German—and in the 40’s several more were added. In the 1850’s the educational list became much more important and included Cornell’s Series of Geographies, Quackenbos’s standard textbooks, Perkins’ Arithmetics, Mandeville’s Readers, and a great number of educational books in the Spanish language. One of the most interesting publications was Noah Webster’s Elementary Spelling Book, which was originally issued in Hartford as the first part of A Grammatical Institute of the English Language. D. Appleton & Company secured the publication of Webster’s Speller in 1855, and it sold nearly a million copies a year up to the beginning of the Civil War.”

Mr. Smith made an arrangement with Clark, Austin & Smith, of New York, to become the Eastern publishers of the McGuffey Readers, and a duplicate set of plates was sent to New York. From these plates, editions of the Readers were manufactured, largely at Claremont, N. H., bearing on the title page the imprint of Clark, Austin & Smith. The Smith of this firm was Cornelius Smith, a brother of Winthrop B. Smith.

Mr. W. B. Smith retiring, a new firm under the name of Sargent, Wilson & Hinkle was organized April 20, 1863, with Edward Sargent, Obed J. Wilson, and Anthony H. Hinkle as partners, and with W. B. Smith and D. B. Sargent as special partners. In 1866, Mr. Lewis Van Antwerp was admitted as a partner, and on April 20, 1868, the firm of Sargent, Wilson & Hinkle was dissolved. Mr. Sargent retired, and the new firm, Wilson, Hinkle & Co., bought all the assets. Mr. Caleb Bragg in 1871 became a partner in Wilson, Hinkle & Co. On April 20, 1877, the firm of Wilson, Hinkle & Co. was dissolved, and the business was purchased by the new firm, Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co., of which Lewis Van Antwerp, Caleb S. Bragg, Henry H. Vail, Robert F. Leaman, A. Howard Hinkle, and Henry T. Ambrose were the partners.

Mr. Van Antwerp retired January 22, 1890, just previous to the sale of the copyrights and plates owned by the firm to the American Book Company. The four active partners in that firm, each of whom had been in the schoolbook business some twenty-five years, entered the employ of the American Book Company. Mr. Bragg and Mr. Hinkle remained in charge of the Cincinnati business, Dr. Vail and Mr. Ambrose went to New York, the former as Editor-in-chief, the latter at first as Treasurer, but later he became the President of the Company.

The most notable books published by these several firms, preceding and including Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co., were McGuffey’s Readers and Speller, Ray’s Arithmetics, and Harvey’s Grammars.

In 1882 the firm name was changed to G. & C. Merriam & Company, and at that time Orlando M. Baker and H. Curtis Rowley were admitted to partnership. In 1892 the copartnership was changed to a corporation, styled G. & C. Merriam Company. George Merriam, one of the founders of the company, died shortly before 1882, and about that time Charles Merriam retired from the firm. Thereafter the active management of the business devolved upon Mr. Baker and Mr. Rowley. Later Mr. K. N. Washburn was made one of the Managers. Mr. Baker died in 1914, and at the present time the active management of the business is in the hands of Mr. Rowley, Mr. Baker’s two sons, A. G. Baker and H. W. Baker, and Mr. Washburn.

The original firm of G. & C. Merriam, shortly after becoming established in 1831, began publishing educational books in a small way. The first of these publications seem to have been a series of school readers, The Child’s Guide, Village Reader, etc. For many years, however, and probably almost from the time that they acquired the rights in Webster’s Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam and their successors have confined their publications to the Genuine Webster Dictionaries.

In 1872, William H. Sadlier left the old firm and started a purely textbook publishing house. His first books were the Excelsior Geographies, followed shortly by the Excelsior Histories and Readers, and then a general line of Catholic textbooks. William H. Sadlier died in 1877 and the business was continued by his widow, Annie M. Sadlier, who still lives and who may rightfully claim to be the original business woman of New York. A law had to be passed in the Assembly permitting her to do business under her husband’s name. Mrs. Sadlier retired about ten years ago, and the business is now being conducted by her son, Frank X. Sadlier, of the third generation. The surviving textbooks of the original firm are now being published by the firm of William H. Sadlier, which is the lineal successor of the original firm of D. & J. Sadlier & Company.

Educational books, that is to say, books for the use of higher grade students, have been included in the Putnam list, but common school books have not been included. The first book coming under the description of “educational” published by the house was The Tabular Views of Universal History, compiled in 1832 by the late George Palmer Putnam.

The present firm consists of Major George Haven Putnam, Irving Putnam, Sidney Haven Putnam, Edmund W. Putnam, and George Palmer Putnam, under the firm name of G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

In 1837, Mr. A. S. Barnes published a series of mathematical books written by Professor Charles Davies. Other well-known publications of the house were Monteith’s Geographies, Barnes’ Histories, Parker and Watson’s Readers, Barnes’ Readers, Steele’s Science Series, and Maxwell’s Grammars.

“It appears that the original house was founded by William G. Webster, a son of Dr. Noah Webster, author of the Dictionary, and Lucius E. Clark, a farmer’s son who was born at Washington, Conn., July 4, 1814. They began business under the name of Webster & Clark in 1842. A few years later Mr. Webster retired and Mr. Clark, associated with Jeremiah B. Austin of Wallingford, Conn., continued the business under the name of Clark & Austin. Soon afterward Cornelius Smith of W. B. Smith & Co. of Cincinnati became a partner and the firm name was changed to Clark, Austin & Smith. In 1859, Mr. Smith died and the firm was reorganized under the name of Clark, Austin, Maynard & Company, Effingham Maynard and Livingston Snedeker being admitted to partnership.

“The Civil War, beginning two years later, brought disaster to the firm. A large amount of money due from Southern customers was uncollectable and after a desperate struggle to hold over, a compromise with its creditors became necessary. After obtaining releases from creditors, the business was resumed in 1863 by Clark & Maynard, whose careful and efficient management enabled them in 1872 to pay in full, principal and interest, all the debts from which the firm of Clark, Austin, Maynard & Company had been released. Their most notable contributions to textbook publishing were the Anderson Historical Series and the Reed & Kellogg Grammars.

“Mr. Clark retired from business at the close of 1888, and Mr. Maynard, with Mr. Everett Yeaw of Lawrence, Mass., continued the business under the firm name of Effingham Maynard & Company. In 1893, the firm consolidated with that of Charles E. Merrill & Company, consisting of Charles E. Merrill and Edwin C. Merrill, the resulting organization being incorporated under the name of Maynard, Merrill & Company. Its officers were Effingham Maynard, Charles E. Merrill, Everett Yeaw, and Edwin C. Merrill. Mr. Maynard died in 1899. Mr. Charles E. Merrill bought the Maynard interest from the two sons of Mr. Maynard, and the name of the corporation was changed to Charles E. Merrill Company. In 1910 Mr. Yeaw, now the head of Newson & Company, retired from the organization, which was joined a few years later by Mr. Edwin W. Fielder. The present officers are Charles E. Merrill, President, Charles E. Merrill, Jr., Vice President, Halsey M. Collins, Secretary, and Edwin W. Fielder, Treasurer. These officers, with Harold S. Brown, are the directors.”

In Ivison & Company’s Almanac for the year 1847 are found advertisements of Porter’s Rhetorical Reader, Newman’s Rhetoric and Elements of Political Economy, Day and Thomson’s Series of Practical Arithmetic, Sanders’ School Readers, Wilson’s Histories of the United States, Bradbury & Sanders’ Young Choir or School Singing Book, Gray’s Elements of Chemistry, and Hitchcock’s Elementary Geology.

Among the earliest educational publications of the house are a treatise in physical geography entitled The Earth and Man, by A. Guyot, translated by C. C. Felton and published in 1849; Felter’s Arithmetics, 1864; Guyot’s Wall Maps, 1865; Perry’s Elements of Political Economy, 1865; Guyot’s Geographies, 1866; Porter’s Human Intellect, 1868; Cooley’s Chemistry, 1869; Cooley’s Natural Philosophy, 1871; Cooley’s Physics Experiments, 1871; Hopkins’ Outline Study of Man, 1873.

Some of the old-time schoolbooks published by J. B. Lippincott Company were Comly’s Speller, Sanford’s Arithmetic, Cutter’s Anatomy, Wilson’s Readers, and Webster’s Speller. In 1876, the firm purchased from Brewer & Tileston of Boston the entire rights in Worcester’s Dictionary. The House has published in this country Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Hume’s and Macaulay’s Histories of England. It also projected Lippincott’s Magazine in 1867, issuing the first number in January, 1868. Its first editor was Lloyd Smith, the librarian of the Philadelphia library.

The Lothrop house published a great many books of educational value, like Gilman’s Historical Readers, in three volumes, and Miss Cyr’s Interstate Primer and First Reader. Their most important educational book was Finger Plays, by Emilie Poulsson, of which 110,000 copies have been sold.

The firm of Lee & Shepard was founded in Boston in 1861 by William Lee, who had previously been a partner of Phillips Sampson & Company, a Boston publishing house which went out of existence in the 50’s, and Charles A. B. Shepard. Mr. Shepard died in 1889, and Mr. Lee continued as sole partner until June, 1898, when he transferred his entire business to E. Fleming & Company, book binders, who continued the business by placing it in charge of Warren F. Gregory.

Lee & Shepard were general publishers and, like D. Lothrop & Company, had strong lines of juveniles which were much used in school libraries. Of their distinctively educational books, the most successful were King’s Picturesque Geographical Readers, in six volumes.

In 1904, the owners of Lee & Shepard purchased the entire assets of the Lothrop Publishing Company, and incorporated the combined houses under the style Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Company. Mr. Gregory, the Manager of Lee & Shepard, was elected General Manager and has held that position since. Among its most important works used educationally, in addition to those mentioned above, are the True Story Series, the U. S. Service Series, the translation of Froebel’s Mother Play, with Music, and books for younger readers.

Some time in the 60’s Mason and Hamlin, the organ people, sold to the Sheldons their schoolbooks, such as the Stoddard Mathematics, Haven’s and Wayland’s Philosophies, and other standard books. Sheldon & Company had branched out into almost all classes of publication, including novels, autobiographies, religious books, hymn books, schoolbooks, etc., and in addition published what was known as the Galaxy Magazine. In 1877, the house decided to make a specialty of schoolbooks, and gave up its other lines of publication. Among the school and college textbooks which they brought out were Olney’s Mathematics, Avery’s Science Series, Hill’s Rhetorics, Logic and Psychology, Shaw’s Literature, Sheldon’s Word Studies, Sheldon’s Modern School Readers, and Patterson’s Grammars.

In 1891, the firm was incorporated under the name of Sheldon & Company, with Isaac E. Sheldon as President and Joseph K. Butler as Secretary and Treasurer. The following year they purchased the business of Taintor Brothers. Later the house of E. H. Butler & Company was merged with Sheldon & Company, there being included in E. H. Butler & Company the firm of Cowperthwait & Company of Philadelphia, and a Pittsburgh firm, the name of which I think was H. I. Gurley & Company. Isaac E. Sheldon died about the first of July, 1898, and E. H. Butler was made President, the firm becoming Butler, Sheldon & Company. On January 1, 1903, the business of Butler, Sheldon & Company was purchased by the American Book Company and its books added to the list of that concern.

Rand McNally & Company has been known as map makers, book publishers, atlas makers, bank publishers, ticket manufacturers, creators of map systems, and other specialties. It has published the Dodge Geographies, the Mace Histories, and a number of other large selling educational books.

The firm’s first educational venture occurred in 1867, when the foreign language publications of S. R. Urbino and DeVries, Ibarra & Company of Boston were taken over. These two lists included the Otto French and German Grammars and some sixty French and German texts. Most of these same texts still appear in Henry Holt & Company’s list, though not in the form first issued. In 1869, the firm began what was practically its first original enterprise in the educational field when it issued Whitney’s German textbooks, starting with his German Reader, and following shortly with his Compendious German Grammar. In 1879, the American Science Series was begun with Packard’s Zoology. The announcements included James’ Psychology, Walker’s Political Economy, and Martin’s The Human Body. In the same year the first of Johnston’s books, American Politics, appeared. These books represent the earlier development of Henry Holt & Company’s educational business.

Mr. Edwin Ginn died in 1914. Of the other partners who have been admitted, Mr. Conant, Mr. Gilson, Mr. White, and Mr. Kenerson, Sr., have crossed the Great Divide. Mr. Justin H. Smith retired from the firm to enter the faculty of Dartmouth College. Mr. Ballard, Mr. Hayes and Mr. Ambrose also retired.

The first educational book that Mr. Ginn published was Craik’s The English of Shakespeare. This was followed by Goodwin’s Greek Grammar, the Allen & Greenough Latin Series, White’s Greek Lessons, and a course of Grade School Music Readers by Luther Whiting Mason. This series was early introduced into the Boston schools and for some time was the standard series of school music in America.

The Boston offices of Ginn & Company have been at Tremont Place, Beacon Street, in the old John Hancock house, and are now at 15 Ashburton Place.

The prototype of the Athenæum Press was started by Ginn & Company in the early 80’s. The building which now houses this establishment is located in Cambridge, and was erected in 1896.

Strictly educational publications were first brought out in 1904, Fetter’s Principles of Economics being the first volume to appear. Failor’s Plane and Solid Geometry, Forman’s Advanced Civics, Smith’s Introduction to Inorganic Chemistry, and Thorndike’s Elements of Composition and Rhetoric were published shortly afterward.

In 1891, Funk & Wagnalls Company was organized with Dr. Funk as President, Adam W. Wagnalls, Vice President, Robert J. Cuddihy, Treasurer and General Manager. William Neisel joined the staff of the publishing house in 1883, and was appointed head of the Manufacturing Department. In 1884, Dr. Funk founded The Voice and in 1890, The Literary Digest. Edward J. Wheeler joined the staff as editor of The Voice in 1884, and in 1895 became editor of The Literary Digest, which position he held until 1905, when William Seaver Woods became editor.

The idea and plans of the Dictionary originated with Dr. Funk, whose first managing editor was Dr. Daniel Seeley Gregory. The Standard Dictionary was projected in 1890 and completed in 1893. Dr. Funk was editor-in-chief of all the publications of Funk & Wagnalls Company, and in his work on the Standard Dictionary was assisted by Dr. Rossiter Johnson, John Denison Champlin, Dr. Francis A. March, Sr., and Dr. Arthur E. Bostwick. The New Standard Dictionary was projected in 1909, and was issued under the editor-in-chiefship of Dr. Funk, with Calvin Thomas as consulting editor, and Frank H. Vizetelly as managing editor, 1903–1913, editor of the same since 1914. The abridgments of the Standard Dictionary were produced under the general editorship of Dr. Funk, by Dr. James Champlin Fernald, Frank H. Vizetelly, and others.

The office of Secretary has been held, sometimes in addition to other offices, by the following persons: Robert J. Cuddihy, 1891–1898; Henry L. Raymond, 1898–1904; Robert Scott, 1904–1913; Wilfred J. Funk, 1913–1915; and William Neisel, 1915 to the present time.

Following the death of Dr. Isaac K. Funk in 1912, Dr. Adam W. Wagnalls was elected President of the Company; Benjamin Franklin Funk, Vice President. On the death of Benjamin Franklin Funk in 1914, Wilfred J. Funk became Vice President and William Neisel, Secretary.

The editorial policy of Funk & Wagnalls Company is directed by the Executive Committee, under the guidance of the General Manager, Robert J. Cuddihy. The Manager of the Educational Department is Mr. Wilfred J. Funk.

Inclusive of the Dictionary and its abridgments, the first educational books published by the Company were Fernald’s English Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions and his Connectives of English Speech.

Of the firm’s publications circulated most widely in the schools, The Literary Digest takes first rank. It maintains an educational service among 15,000 teachers and circulates in more than 10,000 schools.

In 1904, Francis Whiting Halsey became literary adviser of the Company and editor of the book department of The Literary Digest. Under his supervision were produced: Great Epochs in American History, Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, and with the assistance of William Jennings Bryan, World’s Famous Orations, and in conjunction with Henry Cabot Lodge, Best of the World’s Classics. Mr. Halsey died, November 24, 1919.

The officers and the principal editors of the Company are: President, Dr. Adam W. Wagnalls; Vice President, Wilfred J. Funk; Treasurer and General Manager, Robert J. Cuddihy; Secretary, William Neisel; Homiletic Review, Editors: George Gilmore, Robert Scott; Literary Digest, Editor: William Seaver Woods; Standard Dictionary, Managing Editor, Frank H. Vizetelly.

The Educational Department of Houghton Mifflin Company was established in 1882 through the efforts of Horace E. Scudder and Henry N. Wheeler, encouraged by Mr. Henry O. Houghton, Sr. There were then published Colburn’s Arithmetic and certain Latin books, but Mr. Scudder had the idea that the great masterpieces of American literature, such as Evangeline, The Vision of Sir Launfal, Snow-Bound and other similar great classics which had recently come into the control of the firm, should be made available in cheap editions for school use. He became the general editor of the Riverside Literature Series which was then established, and which was pushed with vigor and energy by Henry N. Wheeler. Early in the 90’s the Department developed with the publication of Fiske’s History of the United States, Fiske’s Civil Government, and various collections of literature such as Masterpieces of American Literature. This necessitated further expansion and an office was opened in Chicago under the management of C. F. Newkirk, who was later succeeded by W. E. Bloomfield.

In 1902 J. D. Phillips, who had previously been connected with the Editorial Department of the house, was transferred to the Educational Department to do both agency and editorial work, and the Webster-Cooley Language Series was soon published.

Mr. Scudder died in 1902 and Mr. Wheeler in 1905, and the Department came under the management of Mr. Phillips and Mr. Davol. Franklin S. Hoyt, formerly Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Indianapolis, was invited in 1906 to join the firm and take charge of the editorial end of the work. The organization then established has remained practically unchanged until now. Henry B. Dewey, former Commissioner of Education of the State of Washington, is now manager of the Boston office of this Company.

In 1895, the Company began to experiment in a small way with schoolbooks, beginning with Lee’s Advanced History. Two years later it published Johnson’s Primer, and this was soon followed by Johnson’s Readers. The success of these experiments led to a reorganization of the Company by Mr. Johnson in 1900, when the subscription book business was dropped and the house began to devote itself exclusively to schoolbooks. The first publications of the reorganized company were Graded Classics Readers and Colaw and Ellwood’s Arithmetics in 1900, both of which series were remarkably successful.

In 1902, Mr. Johnson was succeeded in the presidency by James D. Crump, who held the position until 1920, when he was succeeded by A. J. Gray, Jr. The Company has recently been reorganized by Mr. Gray to meet the demands of its extraordinary growth and to provide for further development on an enlarged scale.

The date of the first publications of this house was 1885. Among its earliest books were the Normal Music Course and other music books for schools, Farley and Gunnison’s Writing Books, Todd and Powell’s Readers, Stowell’s Physiologies, and Larkin Dunton’s Geographical Readers. For two or three years after its organization in 1885, the house devoted itself almost entirely to the publication of music books for the common and high schools. In 1890, the policy of the house was changed and the list broadened to cover the other subjects in the school curriculum.

Silver, Burdett & Company purchased the business of Potter & Putnam about 1903, and in 1904 that of the Morse Company, adding the lists of these houses to their own.