American Book Company Records

An inventory of its records at Syracuse University

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	American Book Company.
Title:	American Book Company Records
Inclusive Dates:	1801-1964
Quantity:	522.0 linear ft.; 691.0 cubic ft.
Abstract:	The American Book Company was formed in 1890 by consolidation of Van Antwerp, Bragg and Co., A.S. Barnes and Co., D. Appleton and Co., and Iveson, Blakeman and Co. The collection includes the records of the company which manufactured books and educational materials in several locations in the United States, with head offices in New York City; the book list embraced all subjects at all educational levels. The collection is primarily textbooks, including several editions as far back as 1840 of the McGuffey readers; also included are business records, illustrations, and an unpublished company history by Mauck Brammer.
Language:	English
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 http://scrc.syr.edu

Biographical History

The American Book Company (ABC) was an educational book publisher that published textbooks at the elementary school, secondary school and collegiate levels. The company was formed in 1890 by the consolidation of four publishing houses: Van Antwerp, Bragg and Co., A.S. Barnes and Co., D. Appleton and Co., and Iveson, Blakeman and Co. It operated successfully as the American Book Company for more than seventy years with the public school system and other educational institutions as its main clients, publishing educational titles on accounting, agriculture, art, civics, foreign languages, history (both ancient and modern), life sciences, literature, mathematics, penmanship, physical sciences, and various levels of readers.

In the 1960s and 1970s the company passed first to Litton Industries and then to the International Thomson Organization, finally being acquired by D. C. Heath and Company in 1981. ABC was eventually absorbed into D. C. Heath and ceased to exist as an imprint.

The company employed many noted artists as illustrators for its public school textbooks, including Norman Rockwell and Frederick Remington. It is perhaps best known for its series of McGuffey Readers, which sold 120 million copies between 1836 and 1960.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The American Book Company Papers consists of general correspondence, calendars, business records, books, miscellanea, illustrations, and study charts, with correspondence and illustrations comprising the vast majority of the collection. Both ABC itself and its predecessor companies (Van Antwerp, Bragg and Co., A.S. Barnes and Co., D. Appleton and Co., and Iveson, Blakeman and Co.) are represented in the collection. The vast scope of the material provides a detailed picture of the education received by children in the American public school system in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as the state of various fields of knowledge at the time.

General correspondence consists of correspondence with authors, publishers, illustrators and others in the course of ABC's publishing work. Calendars contains small desk calendars, decorated with excerpts from American Book Company textbooks, which were distributed to educators as a publicity feature. This portion of the inventory is presented as a spreadsheet to simplify sorting the material in various ways.

Business records contains a miscellaneous assortment of business-related records, including contracts, editorial forms, permissions, steps in the book production process, meeting minutes, and other similar material. Of particular interest is a company biography, written by Managing Editor Mauck Brammer (Box 247). No personnel records of any kind are included in the collection.

Books contains books published by the American Book Company and its acquisitions, and its founders and their acquisitions. There are multiple copies of many books, in which case at least one copy is the "marked copy" (that is, the Editor's Library copy, carrying pasted-in proofs showing changes made between printings and editions). One of the most famous American Book Company publications is the McGuffey's Readers, and the collection includes several editions of these readers dating back to 1840. The series also includes wall posters, flash cards, and writing slates. This portion of the inventory is presented as a spreadsheet to simplify sorting the material in various ways.

Miscellaneous contains photographs and a notebook recording the trips made by the company's private railroad car.

Illustrations contains photographs of people, industry, and architecture; galleys and proofs of original work by staff artists; prints, reproductions, and copies of famous paintings and sculpture; maps; and original drawings, watercolors, and paintings, all of which were used in the company's publications. It contains a number of works by noteworthy artists and illustrators, among whom are Norman Rockwell and Frederick Remington. This portion of the inventory is presented as a spreadsheet to simplify sorting the material in various ways.

Note that there are some known anomalies in the listing. The following plates are starred as being out of sequence in the inventory, but are not listed in the out-of-sequence packages:

1777
3476, 3477
4250
4289-4293
4294-4299
4300
9166
9168-9171
9178-9180
9181
9190
9630
9647
9649-9653
9701-9706
10399-10400
12053
12126-12140
40265
40363 or 40364 (inventory is unclear)

The following plates are listed in the out-of-sequence packages, but are not starred in the main inventory.

4307
6856
4659-4660
8280
8570
12144
17130
17898-17900
87523 (no such number?)

Authors and book titles represented in this series include the following:

Abreau (Gomez) & Flores

Leyendas Mexicanas, 1951

Alexander & Cormack

Bruce and Marcia, Woodsmen, 1939

Allen & Monpeurt

En Route

Allen & Wirth

This Government of Ours

Athey

Along Nature's Trails, 1936

Atticka

A First Course in Bookkeeping, 1935

Barnes and Others, The Realm of Reading

Doorways, 1941

Trails, 1941

Highways, 1940

Heritage, 1940

The American (Two packages), Reg. Ed., 1940 Texas Ed., 1941

The English Scene, 1940

Batchelor & Vorath

Horizontes Latinoamericanos, 1955

Bauman & Erlenbach

College Bookkeeping (No book - not published

Bernstein

Judy's Ocean Voyage, 1932

Betz & Holzwarth

A Second German Book, 1933

Betz & Price

Learning German - A First Book, 1935

First Book, 1917

Bourbousson

Ecrivains Francais-d'Aujourd'Hui, 1953

Brauer

Chemistry and Its Wonders, 1938

Exploring the Wonders of Chemistry, 1938

Bradley & Upton

Air Navigation Workbook, 1943

Brigham & McFarlane

How the World Lives and Works, 1933

Brown & Butterfield

Bozo the Woodchuck, 1933

Buckley, White, Adams, & Silvernale: The Road to Reading, 1938 (State Contract & Regular Editions for all titles)

Away We Go (A)

Happy Times (B)

In Storm and Sunshine (C)

In Town and Country (D)

Here and There (E)

Around the Year (F)

On Land and Water (G)

Who Travels There? (H)

Buckley & White

Activity Spellers, 1931, Grades 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Buckley & White

Speller and Workbook, Grades 2-6 (in one package), 1936

Speller and Workbook, Grades 7 & 8 (in one package), 1936

Burns

Come and Sing, 1938

Cabot & Fanning

A New Approach to Spanish, First Year, 1942

A New Approach to Spanish, Second Year, 1945

Capen

Being a Citizen, 1947

Capen & Melchior

My Worth to the World, 1934, Regular and State Editions

My Worth to the World, Revised (included in above)

Carpenter

Canada and Our Northern Neighbors, 1946

Caribbean Lands, 1950

Our Little Friends of the Arabian Desert, 1934

Our Little Friends of China Our Little Friends of Switzerland, 1941

Our Little Neighbors at Work and Play, 1939

Our Little Neighbors at Work and Play, 1939, Revised

Workbook for above, 1939

Our Neighbors Near and Far, 1933

Our Neighbors Near and Far, 1933, Revised (This includes Regular, Gray (Pa.), and New York State Editions)

My Geography Workbook, 1934

Our South American Neighbors, 1942 (2 packages)

Cavanah & Myers

Handwriting for Expression, 1940

Alphabet Ruler

Teacher's First Book

Pupil's First Book

Omnibus package of photos

Clifford

American Leaders, 1953

Yesterday in America, 1949

Cornell & MacDonald

Business Organization and Practice, 1936

Cronin

Economics and Society, 1939

Dodge and Others

Quelques Choses de Facile, 1935

Du Mont

Introductory French - A Reading Approach, 1941

Dvorak and Others

Typewriting Behavior, 1936

Elsbree

The American Teacher, 1939

Elson

United States - Its Past and Present, 1926 (See cards for illustration before 1931)

Modern Times and the Living Past, 1921 (See cards. This must be for copyrights after 1931)

Evans & Coulter

First Lessons in Georgia History, 1913 (See cards also)

Foresman

Our Music in Story and Song, 1935

Songs and Pictures (First Edition titled Books of Songs)

Child's Book, 1928 (See also cards)

First Book, 1925

Second Book, 1925

Third Book, 1925

Fourth Book, 1925

Fifth Book, 1926

Garner & Capen

Our Government (Two packages. See also cards.), 1930

Gerwig

Guideposts to Citizenship (Ambition, Loyalty, and Perseverance, all in one package), 1932

Gellette & Reinhardt

Current Social Problems, 1933

Goodfellow & Rosenberg

The Ace Supermarket, 1951

Gordon & Loftus

Come to France, 1939

Grayson & Lohman

Principles of Economics, 1956

Grismer & Arroyo

Buenos Amigos, 1943

Gruener & Lankelma

Introduction to Organic Chemistry, 1939

Halleck

English Literature (two packages), 1900 (See also cards)

American Literature (two packages), 1911 (See also cards)

The Romance of American Literature, 1934

The Story of English Literature, 1937

History of Our Country for Higher Grades, 1923 (See also cards)

Halleck & Frantz

Our United States, 1935

Founders of Our Nation, 1929 (See also cards)

Makers of Our Nation, 1930 (See also cards)

Hart & Wilson

The Philippines, 1946

Healey & Faucher

France: Silhouettes et Croquis, 1950

Hesse (Peebles)

Drei Erzahlungen, 1950

Hill

Drei Zeitgenoische Erzohler, 1951

Hilton

Rural School Management, 1949

Hoffman

Bookkeeping, 1949

Workbook in Bookkeeping, 1949

Holmes & Hernandez

Practical Spanish Grammar, 1943

Huber

Cinder the Cat, 1931

Hughes

Rhythmic Games and Dances, 1942

Hunkins & Allen

Sod House Days, 1941

Hunter

Problems in Biology, 1931

Laboratory Problems in Biology, 1932

Science Teaching, 1934

Hunter & Hunter

Manual of College Biology, 1938

Hunter & Knopf

Mastery Tests in General Science, 1934 (two, perhaps)

Hunter & Whitman

Problems in General Science, 1930

Workbook, 1932

Manual, 1931

The March of Science, 1935

My Own Science Problems

Workbook for the above

Science in Our World of Progress

Knowlton & Others

The Westward March of Man

Our Beginnings in the Past, 1933

Our Past in Western Europe, 1933

Beginnings of Our Nation, 1933

Since We Became a Nation, 1934

When We Were Colonies, 1934

Our America - Past and Present, 1938

Leavell & Others

The Friendly Hour Readers (State Contract and Regular editions), 1935

Pre-Primer - Friends at Play

Primer - Ben and Alice

Book One - Playmates

Book Two - Indoors and Out

Book Three - Friends to Know

Book Four - Trails of Adventure

Book Five - The World's Gifts

Book Six - Winning Our Way

Reading Readiness Workbook for Preference

Workbook for Primer, Books One through Six

Leonard, Miles & Van der Kar

The Child at Home and School, 1942

Lothrop

The Wayside - Home of Authors, 1940

Lucas

Organic Chemistry, 1953 (Two packages)

McElroy & Younge

Toby Chipmunk, 1935

Macomber

Guiding Child Development in the Elementary School, 1941

Maddy & Giddings

Fun in Music, 1937

Marble

Home Safety, 1940

Mawhinney & Smith

Business and Professional Speech, 1950

Menge & Faunce

Working Together for Better Schools, 1953

Merrick and Others

My Typewriter and 1, 1937

Nyberg

Fundamentals of Algebra, First Book, 1944

Fundamentals of Algebra, Second Book, 1945

Key to Fundamentals of Algebra, Second Book, 1945

Fundamentals of Solid Geometry, 1944

Pack

Kee and Bah, Navajo Children, 1940

Parker

Commercial Algebra, 1952

Partridge & Mooney

Education in Living - Time Out for Living, 1941

Pate

Local Government and Administration, 1954

Patenski & Wilson

The Charm String, 1943

Payne

Biology - Season by Season, 1942

Seasonal Experiences in Biology, 1943

Peattie

Rambles in Europe, 1934

Perry & Price

American History First Book, 1913 (See also cards)

American History Second Book, 1914 (See also cards)

Pflueger & Moore

Das Unvergängliche, 1951

Place

Second Latin Course, 1930

Pollard

Virginia Born Presidents, 1932

Porter & Hansen

Fields and Fence Rows, 1937

Ray

Laboratory Manual for Social Psychology, 1951

Reed

The Effective and Ineffective College Teacher, 1935

Reeder & Renner

Home Geography, 1944

Reich & Siegler

Selling to the Consumer, 1937

Reinhardt and Others

Social Problems, 1952

Riemer & Liebling

Expert Typewriting, 1949

Ross & Wallace

Short Stories in Context, 1953

Skinner & Skinner

Fun in Town and Country, 1940

Snyder & Wilson

Roots of Political Behavior, 1949

Spears

The High School for Today, 1950

Steadman Pads (Remnants of earlier publications)

Strayer & Upton

Social Utility Arithmetics (Reg. & State Editions) Books 1 (1938) through 6

Social Utility Arithmetics, Revision of 1951, Books 1-6

Strong

Writing Business Letters, 1950

Talbot & Pearson

Homemaking for Boys and Girls, 1935 Practical problems in Homelife, 1936

Taylor

Dynamic and Abnormal Psychology, 1954

Van Tuyl

Mathematics at Work, 1935

Mathematics of Business, 1940

Key to Mathematics of Business, 1941

New Complete Business Arithmetic, 1947

Walden

Harness and Pack, 1935

Walker

Our Birds and Their Nestlings, 1904 (See also cards)

Warfel

American Novelists of Today, 1951

American College English, 1949

Wheat & Fitzpatrick

Biology

General Biology, 1932

General Biology, Rev., 1942

Everyday Problems in Health, 1923

Whitbeck and Others

The Working World, 1937

Manual and Key, 1939

Whitman

Laboratory Manual for Whitman-Peck Physics, 1947

Teaching Manual for Whitman-Peck Physics, 1947

Whitman & Peck

Physics, 1946 (Two packages)

Wikdall

The Training of a Secretary, 1938

Williams

Toby, the Little Lost Dog, 1942

Williams

Secondary Schools for American Youth, 1948

Williams & Fink

Projects in Psychology, 1955

Wilson & Others: Our Ways of Living, 1937

Where Our Ways of Living Come From

Ways of Living in Many Lands

Living in the Age of Machines

Richer Ways of Living

Workbooks for the above 4 titles

Wilson, Bowman, & King

This America, 1942

Study charts contains a small group of charts.

Some additional information is contained in the library's correspondence with ABC, prior to and during their donation of material. Please contact the repository listed above for more information on this correspondence.

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Arrangement of the Collection

The primary arrangement of the General correspondence is loosely chronological from ca. 1880 to 1964; it is secondarily arranged in many repeating roughly alphabetical sequences. This portion of the inventory is presented as a spreadsheet to enable sorting in various ways.

Calendars are arranged chronologically. Business records and Miscellanea are in no particular order.

Books are arranged in no particular order. Again, to simplify locating all of a given title, or all books by a given author, this portion of the inventory is presented as a spreadsheet to enable sorting in various ways.

Illustrations are arranged in numerical order according to the "Drawing Number" stamped an the backing plate. Plate numbers 1-40020 are grouped in multiples of twenty. Plate numbers 40021-40634 are grouped in multiples of forty. A descriptive subject is included for each group of related plates (Geography, American History, Science, Botany, etc). An asterisk (*) replacing a plate number denotes an illustration contained in the "out of sequence" section (beginning with Oversize Package 846). When neccessity dictated that a large group of plates be moved to this section, the numbers are enclosed in parentheses with the asterisk immediately following, for example "(4289-4293)*". A slash denotes a nonexistent number. Plates which are out of sequence, extra large, or unnumbered begin with Oversize Package 846. The last packages (863-923) contain illustrations grouped by book title. To simplify locating all plates on a given topic, this portion of the inventory is presented as a spreadsheet.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on this material

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Corporate Bodies

Associated Titles

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

American Book Company Records,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Library

Acquisition Information

Gift of the American Book Company.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: MPK, KBP, JMB, DMB
Date: October 1978
Revision history: 23 Apr 2008 - converted to EAD (MRC)

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Inventory

	General correspondence
Box 1-244		General correspondence 1801-1964
			The general correspondence contains ABC's correspondence with its authors, illustrators, and editors, as well as with other publishers; in many, though not all, cases, an author's name is accompanied by the title of the book(s) under discussion. There are also organizations, educational institutions, and other correspondents as well as material relating to declined manuscripts, copyright, contracts, and a few meeting minutes. The material is arranged in a roughly chronological order in repeating alphabetic sequences; as a result material relating to a given correspondent or book title may be found in several different locations. To simplify locating all relevant information, this section of the inventory is presented in the form of a spreadsheet, which can be sorted by box number, correspondent, book title/subject, or date. Click here to open the spreadsheet.

	Calendars
Box 245		1887-1919
Box 245		1920-1940
Box 245		1941-1963

	Business records
		Business records do not contain any employee files or any other employee records.
Box 245		Dropped Books List
Box 245		Design and Proposition Procedure
Box 245		Lorna Dietz
Box 245		Managers 1919
Box 245		W.H. Dennis, obituary
Box 245		Magnetism
Box 245		Wilson, Ben J.
Box 245		Americanism
Box 245		Butler, Sheldon and Co.
Box 245		Everett T. Calvert
Box 245		P.L. Carret
Box 245		Litton Industries
Box 245		Contract Form
Box 245		Gillman 1914-1931
Box 245		Miscellaneous
Box 245		Editorial Notices (2 folders)
Box 245		Suggestions for Authors
Box 245		E.S. Bird
Box 245		A.S. Barnes and Co.
Box 245		James Baldwin
Box 245		Appleton and Co.
Box 245		American Book vs American Book Company
Box 245		ABC - Ambrose 1896-1914
Box 245		Aladdin Books
Box 245		ABC - Blake 1939
Box 245		ABC - Blakeman and Iveson 1895-1896
Box 246		ABC - Brown 1956
Box 246		Herbert G. Molden
Box 246		McGuffey, William Holmes
Box 246		Permission Procedure
Box 246		Major Steps in Book Production
Box 246		Proof Corrections
Box 246		Publishers Book of Trade
Box 246		Merriam-Webster
Box 246		Marriner 1946-1956
Box 246		Managers Meetings 1920-1922
Box 246		Sales offices
Box 246		Samuels
Box 246		School Book Publishers Society 1907
Box 246		Filing System and Policy
Box 246		Forms Blank
Box 246		Founders
Box 246		Author Biographies
Box 246		Leo Gans
Box 246		Harper
Box 246		Russell Hinuran
Box 246		War Production Board 1942
Box 246		The Union Label
Box 246		ABC - Vail
Box 246		Van Antwerp, Brace and Co.
Box 246		ABC Histories Howe 1931-1939
Box 246		Ivison, Blakeman and Co.
Box 246		Edward W. Smith
Box 246		State Publication
Box 246		State Blueprints, Texas
Box 246		Gilmon H. Tucker
Box 246		Intercompany business 1904-1930 (23 folders)
Box 246		Editorial Department
Box 246		Plate Account and Plate Expense (8 folders)
Box 247		Annual Reports 1934-1951 (16 folders)
Box 247		Buckingham Study
Box 247		Policy Statements
Box 247		Books Published (Numbers) 1904-1932
Box 247		Statistical Reports 1952-1961 (10 folders)
Box 247		Editorial Activities 1962-1966 (5 folders)
Box 247		Management Conference 1964
Box 247		Company Biography by Mauck Brauner
Box 247		Pamphlets, #1-5, #2-2 (2 folders)
Box 248		Miscellaneous Publications
Box 249		Prices and Catalogues 1890-1967
Box 250		Books of Entry [Handle with Extreme Care] (4 volumes)
Oversize 1		Books of Entry [Handle with Care] (2 volumes)
Oversize 2		Weekly Reports Editorial Dept. Oct. 6, 1923-Dec. 4, 1937 (7 volumes)
Oversize 2		Weekly Reports Editorial Dept. Dec. 11, 1937- May 28, 1951 (5 volumes)
Box 251		Index cards

	Books
Box 252-552		Books published by the American Book Company 1801-1964
			These boxes contain publications of the American Book Company and its acquisitions, its founders and their acquisitions. There are multiple copies of many books, in which case at least one copy is the "marked copy" -- the Editor's Library copy, carrying pasted-in proofs showing changes made between printings and editions. The series also includes wall posters, flash cards, and writing slates.
			The material is roughly arranged in repeating alphabetic sequences; as a result items relating to a given author or book title may be found in several different locations. To simplify locating all relevant information, this section of the inventory is presented in the form of a spreadsheet, which can be sorted by box number, author, book title, or date. Click here to open the spreadsheet.

	Miscellanea
Box 552		Photographs
Oversize 1-B		Notebook : "Movements of Private Car, Anthracite" 1914-1917

	Illustrations
Oversize 1-927		Illustrations commissioned by the American Book Company for use in its publications 1801-1964
			These boxes contain illustrations commissioned by the American Book Company for use in its publications (see the main Scope and Content description above for a list of authors and book titles whose illustrations are included here). The material is arranged in order by plate number but oversize plates have been relocated to the end and the series also includes unnumbered plates and plates identified only by book title. To simplify locating all relevant information, this section of the inventory is presented in the form of a spreadsheet, which can be sorted by box number, plate number, or subject matter. Click here to open the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet does not reference the plates by artist.

	Study charts
		Study charts (51 rolls, 1 tripod)

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