Spanning 1864 to 1971, the Street & Smith Editorial Records document the history of the New York City publisher of pulp fiction and general interest publications. Among its pulp fiction periodicals, Street & Smith published adventure and sea stories (Air Trails, Do and Dare Weekly, Red Raven Library, Sea Stories Magazine, Tiptop Weekly); detective and mystery stories (Clues, Doc Savage, Mystery Story Magazine, Nick Carter Weekly, Old Broadbrim Weekly, The Shadow); romances (Love Story Magazine, Romance Range); science fiction (Astounding Stories, Unknown); sports stories (All-Sports Library, Athlete); westerns (Buffalo Bill Stories, True Western Stories, Pete Rice Magazine, Western Story Magazine, Wild West Weekly); and young adult fiction (The Boys of the World, Bowery Boy Weekly, Live Girl Stories, My Queen). Many of the authors from Street & Smith's periodicals found their way onto the pages of the publisher's dime novels, which were issued in various series, including the Arrow, Bertha Clay, Eagle, Magnet, Medal, and Merriwell libraries. But perhaps the most successful of the dime novels were those issued in the Alger Series, the volumes of which promoted the comforting notion that virtue is invariably rewarded by wealth. (These rags-to- riches tales became so imbedded in American popular culture that reference to a "Horatio Alger story" became synonymous with the realization of the American dream.) Street & Smith comic adventurers included the Bill Barnes, Buffalo Bill, Doc Savage, the Red Dragon, and artist R.F. Outcault's Yellow Kid, whose first appearance in the New York World in 1895 marked the birth of American comics. Although Street & Smith specialized in pulp fiction periodicals and dime novels, it also published non- fiction periodicals for hobbyists (Air Progress, Air Trails Pictorial, American Modeler, Science World); movie-goers (Picture-Play Weekly); sports enthusiasts (Pic, Sport Pictorial, Street & Smith's Baseball, Basketball and Football Yearbooks); and women (Mademoiselle, You). Reflecting the wide assortment of these publications, the Street & Smith Editorial Records have been divided into two parts: Editorial Files by Title, which relate to periodical or established uniform titles [a collective title used to encompass publications from several different works, i.e. Nick Carter titles from Nick Carter Library, Magnet Library, Nick Carter radio series], and Miscellaneous Editorial Files, mostly arranged by format, which refer to books-in-series publications and/or records which are associated with more than one periodical title.
Characterized by multiple title changes, the Street & Smith periodicals reflected, over the course of their publication history, the changing tastes of their readership. Arranged alphabetically, and most closely focused on the 1930s and '40s, the Editorial Files by Title (Boxes 1-39) gather together all of the documents relating to a particular periodical and the subsequent titles in its volume numbering sequence under the publication's first title. The exception to this arrangement was the establishment of uniform titles for Horatio Alger Jr. and Nick Carter materials, both of which contain original manuscripts as well as a variety of other specialized documents. Beginning with Ainslee's (later Ainslee's/Smart Love Stories and subsequently, Smart Love Stories), the records encompass a variety of acquisition records and financial documents which include chronologically arranged manuscripts purchase cards as well as art and manuscript vouchers, which came into use in the late 1930s. Voucher numbers and, less often, payment amounts are often indicated on the annotated Tables of Contents, which accompany most titles and are found at the end of each group of documents relating to a particular title sequence. Manuscript submissions for each periodical are arranged by title and most often followed by the name of the author as it appears on the piece. Authorship discrepancies are noted and, when discernible, pseudonyms are provided. An example of the organizational pattern follows:
Clues (New York, N.Y.) (combines records for: Clues
Detective Stories; Street & Smith's Clues
Detective Stories)
Mss. purchase cards:
Aug. 1933-Oct. 1938
Mss. vouchers:
Mar. 1938-Jan. 1943
Mss.:
Inventories of mss. Apr. 1938, charge-offs, Dec.
1944, and memoranda, 1943-1945
"Asylum of Terror" / Norman A. Daniels (a.k.a.
Danberg)
"Death Moves In" / Robert C. Blackmon
"The Great Garendo" / Jimmy Challon
"How to Be a Detective" / Leslie T. White
(Inspector LeBlanc) (2 versions)
"The Invisible Assassin" (alternate title: "The
Phantom Slayer") / Robert W. Sneddon
"Monte Cristo in Real Life" (no author)
"Protection" / Victor Maxwell
"The Ritual of Blood" (no author)
"Shirts" / Frank Underhill (at head of title:
"Tales of the Jailhouse")
"World-Famous Police Mysteries: the Kidnapping of
Charley Ross" / H.M. Egbert
Illustrations (5)
Tables of Contents:
Oct. 1933-May 1943 (2 folders)
Editorial practices varied among the different periodical titles, but were usually consistent within any given title sequence. A few editors habitually retained an additional copy of the voucher with its corresponding manuscript, while others signified acquisition or payment with printed and/or perforated stamps, the retention of separate notes, or by writing directly on the manuscript. Editorial comment, both in extent and quality, also varies from one periodical title to the next. Some of the manuscripts for particular periodical titles have been copyedited, a few are accompanied by reader reports which discuss potential suitability for publication, while others bear the terse but definitive notation "Impossible." Such variations in editorial practice may suggest a degree of autonomy for Street & Smith's periodical editors, or at the very least, a lack of consistent adherence to established norms.
Despite evidence that Street & Smith loosely controlled editorial practice, documentation suggests that accounting principles were strictly enforced. Annual (and occasionally more frequently produced) inventories of charged or written off manuscripts and artwork accompany nearly every group of documents associated with a particular periodical. Periodical editors were accountable for each manuscript purchase that was unpublished. In addition, having purchased a particular manuscript, Street & Smith circulated it repeatedly, sometimes over the course of several decades and among various editors, with the hope that one or another could be enticed to use it. The inventories of charged off manuscripts also attest to the re-assignment of manuscripts to different periodicals, and are frequently annotated with suggestions that another editor might find a particular submission suitable for inclusion in his publications. It should be noted that the preponderance of manuscripts among the editorial files are those which had been written off repeatedly before publication, and that many were never used. However, given its vast array of periodicals and their frequency of publication, Street & Smith retained relatively few manuscript purchases that weren't eventually published.
In addition to the manuscripts related to specific periodicals, the collection also has a large assortment of material which Street & Smith gathered under the term Miscellaneous manuscripts. These submissions, which include poems, fiction, non-fiction, and even a sketchbook, were neither produced for, nor assigned to, a particular periodical. A few of these manuscripts bear tentative assignments to specific periodical titles, however those same manuscript titles are listed among the Miscellaneous manuscripts inventories and remain under the heading designated by Street & Smith. There are also a number of published stories, many of which originally appeared in The Popular Magazine, which were collected under the auspices of the Motion Picture Department to promote their potential for production as films. Illuminating both the internal structure of the company as well as its day-to-day publishing operations, the Miscellaneous Editorial Files (Boxes 40-42) mostly relate to weeklies and books-in series and include the earliest documentation (i.e. Record books 1864-1936) for Street & Smith. Bent upon cornering the fiction market for the expanding literate population, the company systematically made purchases of the plate stock of a number of its competitors, acquiring such established series as The Ledger Library and The Popular Series (Bonner's Sons ), and Golden Hours and the Old Cap. Collier Library (N.L. Munro). Plate stock inventories and orders document the successes and the problems associated with such wholesale acquisition. As witness to the importance of the loyalty of its readership to the success of the publishing business, Critiques indicate the financial pressure to assign acquired material to existing Street & Smith vehicles. Recognizing the widely-held marketing axiom that readers enjoy encountering the same formula repeatedly, Street & Smith not only published similar genre stories, but also re- issued the material which first appeared in its weeklies in other periodicals and as books. The disbound notebook of the Inventory of series as well as the Record books provide evidence that, in an effort to deplete its surplus stock, Street & Smith frequently released a given story under more than one title merely by binding with a new cover and title page. Memoranda concerning the internal inquiries and reports about stock illustrate the publisher's commitment to respond quickly to the needs of its customers. A 1939-1940 notebook compilation of information on its competitors and distributors testifies to Street & Smith's resolve to remain at the forefront of American publishing.
In addition, the Miscellaneous Editorial Files contain documentation relating to Chelsea House books and authors, manuscript transferrals between periodicals, and copyright renewals for various series (Border, Eagle, Great Western, Magnet, Merriwell). Financial material encompasses miscellaneous (i.e. those not related to a particular periodical) art and manuscripts vouchers, arranged by originator or author. For both its internal record-keeping and in answer to queries from authors, readers, and collectors, Street & Smith compiled lists of authors' stories, which are arranged alphabetically. Conscious of the need for publicity, the publisher issued various types of promotional material, including catalogs and price lists (1899-1940) and also generated lists of newspapers for review copies. A series of 21 photographs (ca. 1906) document the exterior and interior of the 79 Seventh Avenue building from which Street & Smith ran its operations from 1905. Perhaps the most poignant items of the collection are the 1949 clippings from The New Yorker and The New York Times which note the suspension of pulp fiction publishing by The Greatest Publishing House in the World, the title of Street & Smith's 50th anniversary commemorative booklet.
Size of collection: 43 linear ft.
Inclusive dates: 1864-1971
Gift of Conde Nast, 1967, 1972, 1982
Supplementing, and in some cases duplicating, the information contained in these editorial files, the Library holds 166 card file drawers which comprise manuscript tracer forms, author and title indexes for various periodicals, payment verification with reference to voucher numbers, printers' records, copyright status reports, and reprint notations. In addition, the Library houses the Street & Smith Archive of Chelsea House imprints, periodical, serial, and books-in-series publications, 16 mm films of The Shadow, and radio scripts for the American, Australian, and South American broadcasts of The Avenger, Doc Savage, Chick Carter, Nick Carter, and Sonny Tabor series. The Library also holds scrapbooks of clippings and other memorabilia relating to Street & Smith as well as a group of publications collected by the publisher.
-S&S-
prb
KM Oct. 1996
EDITORIAL FILES (by periodical title)
First Title or Uniform Title Page
Combines records for:
Ainslee's 1
Ainslee's/Smart Love Stories
Smart Love Stories
Ainslee's Magazine 2
Air Progress 2
Air Trails Annual
Air Trails (New York, N.Y. : 1928) 3
Street & Smith's Air Trails
Air Trails Model Annual 4
[Horatio] Alger Jr. titles 4
Alger Series
All Fiction Detective Stories 4
All Fiction Detective Anthology
All Fiction Stories Annual 4
Army & Navy Comics 5
Supersnipe Comics
Astounding Tales of Super-Science 5
Astounding Stories
Astounding Science Fiction
Astounding Science Fact & Fiction
Analog Science Fact & Fiction
Analog Science Fact & Science Fiction
Analog Science Fact/Science Fiction
Analog Science Fiction Science Fact
Athlete (New York, N.Y.) 6
The Avenger (New York, N.Y. : 1939) 6
Bill Barnes Air Adventurer 6
Bill Barnes Air Trails
Air Trails (New York, N.Y. : 1937)
Air Trails Pictorial (New York, N.Y. : 1942)
Air Trails and Science Frontiers
Air Trails Pictorial (New York, N.Y. : 1947)
Air Trails (New York, N.Y. : 1950)
Air Trails Hobbies for Young Men
Young Men (New York, N.Y. : 1955)
American Modeler (New York, N.Y.)
Bill Barnes Comics 10
Bill Barnes America's Air Ace Comics
Air Ace
Buffalo Bill Picture Stories (Comics) 11
Clues (New York, N.Y.) 11
Clues Detective Stories
Street & Smith's Clues Detective Stories
Complete Story Magazine 12
Complete Stories (New York, N.Y. : 1926)
Street & Smith's Complete Stories
(New York, N.Y. : 1931)
The Popular Complete Stories
Street & Smith's Complete Stories
(New York, N.Y. : 1932)
Street & Smith's Complete Magazine
Complete Stories (New York, N.Y. : 1936)
Crime Busters 13
Street & Smith's Mystery Magazine
Mystery Magazine
Mystery Story Magazine
Detective Story Magazine 13
Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine
Doc Savage Comics 15
Doc Savage Magazine 15
Street & Smith's Doc Savage
Doc Savage
FBI Comics 16
Fame and Fortune Weekly 16
Fame and Fortune Magazine
Fortune Story Magazine
Freedom Train 16
From Unknown Worlds 16
Ghost Breakers 16
Live Girl Stories 17
Modern Girl Stories
Girl Stories
True Love Stories
Real Love Magazine
Street & Smith's Real Love Magazine
Living's New Guide to Home
Planning/Remodeling 17
Living's Guide to Home Planning
Love Story Magazine 17
Street & Smith's Love Story Magazine
Mademoiselle 18
Mademoiselle's Living 24
Living for Young Homemakers
New Buffalo Bill Weekly 25
Western Story Magazine
Street & Smith's Western Story Magazine
Nick Carter titles 26
New Nick Carter Library
New Nick Carter Weekly (New York, N.Y. : 1897)
Nick Carter Weekly
New Nick Carter Weekly (New York, N.Y. : 1903)
Magnet [Detective] Library
New Magnet library
Nick Carter Radio Series
People's Magazine 28
People's Ideal Fiction Magazine
People's
People's Favorite Magazine
Pic (New York, N.Y.) 28
Pic Quarterly
Street & Smith's All Star Sports
Picture-Play Weekly 30
Picture-Play Magazine
Picture Play (New York, N.Y. : 1926)
Street & Smith's Picture-Play
Picture Play (New York, N.Y. : 1938)
Your Charm
Charm
Pocket Western Magazine 32
Pocket Western
The Popular Magazine
(New York, N.Y. : 1903) 33
The Popular Stories
The Popular
The Popular Magazine (New York, N.Y. : 1928)
Red Dragon Comics
(New York, N.Y. : 1947) 33
Romance Range 33
Romantic Range
Street & Smith's Romantic Range
Science Is in the Air 34
Science World 34
Sea Stories Magazine 35
Sea Stories
Excitement
Street & Smith's College Stories
Sea Story Annual 37
Sea Story Anthology
The Shadow (New York, N.Y. : 1931) 37
The Shadow Detective Monthly
The Shadow Magazine
The Shadow (New York, N.Y. : 1937)
Shadow Mystery
The Shadow (New York, N.Y. : 1948)
The Shadow Annual 38
The Shadow Comics 38
The Shadow Radio Series 38
"Special Comics" 39
Sport Story Annual 39
Street & Smith's Sport Story Year Book
Sport Story Magazine 39
Street & Smith's Sport Story Magazine
Street & Smith's Baseball Year Book 40
Street & Smith's Pictorial Baseball Yearbook
Street & Smith's Baseball Pictorial Yearbook
Street and Smith's Baseball Yearbook
Street & Smith's Basketball Year Book 40
Street & Smith's Detective Story Annual 41
Detective Story Annual
Street & Smith's Football Year Book 41
Street & Smith's Pictorial Football Yearbook
Street & Smith's Football Pictorial Yearbook
Street and Smith's Football Yearbook
Street & Smith's Love Story Annual 41
Street & Smith's Love Story Anthology
Street & Smith's National Magazine 42
Street & Smith's Sport Comics 43
True Sport Picture-Stories
True Sport Picture Stories
Street & Smith's Unknown 44
Unknown Worlds
Super-Magic Comics 44
Super-Magician Comics
Super Magician Comics
The Thrill Book 45
Top Secrets 45
Top-Notch Magazine 45
Top-Notch
Top-Notch Twice-a-Month Magazine
Top-Notch Three-a-Month Magazine
Street & Smith's Top-Notch Magazine
Street & Smith's Top-Notch
True Western Stories 46
Far West Illustrated Magazine
Far West Illustrated
Far West Stories
Street & Smith's Far West Stories
Street & Smith's Far West Romances
Western Adventures 48
Western Romance Anthology 48
Western Story Annual 48
Street & Smith's Western Story Annual
The Whisperer (New York, N.Y. : 1936) 48
The Whisperer (New York, N.Y. : 1940) 48
Wild West Weekly 48
Street & Smith's Wild West Weekly
Street & Smith's Wild West
The Wizard 50
Cash Gorman (the Wizard)
The Yellow Kid
The Yellow Book 50
You: the Magazine of Beauty 50
Miscellaneous Mss. 50
Motion Picture Department Mss. 57
MISCELLANEOUS EDITORIAL FILES
Atlas Publishing &
Distributing Co. Ltd. 58
Bindery estimates 58
Bragin, Charles 58
Brown, Curtis 58
Chelsea House 58
Clippings
(re: cessation of pulp publishing) 59
Contracts 59
Copyright renewals (by series) 59
Critiques 59
[Alexandre] Dumas translations 60
Financial 60
Inventory of series' 60
Lists of authors' stories 60
Lists of newspapers for review copies 62
Literary Features, Ltd. 62
Luzzato, Jack 62
Manuscript transferrals 62
Memoranda 62
[F. Tennyson] Neely, Publisher/
Roth, H. William 62
Notebooks 62
Orders 62
Photographs 63
Plate stock inventories 63
Promotional material 63
Purchases 64
Queries 65
Record books 65
Re-issues 65
Miscellany 65
Oversize packages 65
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