Harper & Brothers Records, 1817-1929
Harper & Brothers Records, 1817-1929
Summary Information
At a Glance
- Call No.:
- MS#0555
- Bib ID:
- 4079530 View CLIO record
- Creator(s):
- Harper & Brothers
- Repository:
- Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Physical Description:
- 104.5 linear feet (28 boxes: 27 document boxes, 2 half-document box, 1 index card box, 2 oversize boxes; 230 volumes in CMI boxes; 1 painting; 1 printing plate)
- Language(s):
- English .
- Access:
- You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
-
The following boxes are located off-site: Volumes 1-61, 63-109, 111-219, 224-229, and 238. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
Description
Summary
The collection contains correspondence with the authors, including contracts signed with authors as well as negotiations with the authors over various aspects of publishing their works; financial records documenting many aspects of the operation of Harper & Brothers, including royalties paid to authors, records of stock offerings and company reorganizations, and general ledgers which contain daily notes on all aspects of the operation of the business; book catalogues and trade lists; research materials collected by Eugene Exman for his history of Harper & Brothers; visual materials, from drawings and photographs of Harper's authors to colophon designs and an oil painting of the original Harper's building.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into five series.
Using the Collection
Conditions Governing Access
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
The following boxes are located off-site: Volumes 1-61, 63-109, 111-219, 224-229, and 238. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Harper & Brothers Records; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Selected Related Material
A significant portion of the Harper & Brothers Records was microfilmed in 1980 by Chadwyck-Healey. The resulting 58 rolls of microfilm are available through several libraries, including the Columbia University Libraries: Archives of Harper Brothers, 1817-1914 Microfilm
There are holdings of Harper & Brothers records at Princeton University, the Library of Congress, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Pierpont Morgan Library. Princeton University's holdings include editorial and business correspondence, with the bulk of the material dating from 1939-1955. The Library of Congress holds the largest amount of materials relating to Harper's Magazine, primarily from the years 1940-1983. They also acquired a smaller collection of nineteenth century records from Yale University in 1981. The University of Texas has records of Harper's College Department, Medical Books Department, Social and Economic Books Department, and Harper's Magazine, with the bulk of the material dating from 1957-1959.
Accruals
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Alternate Form Available
Hearn, Lafcadio letters are on: microfilm.
Materials in Series 1 before 1914 are on: microfilm.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Source of acquisition--Harper & Row, Inc. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1975. Accession number--M-1975.
H. James letter to Duneka: Source of acquisition--2293B (Auerbach). Method of acquisition--Purchase; Date of acquisition--07/21/1999. Accession number--M-99-07-21.
Gift of Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1975, 1989& 1990.
About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Processing Information
Processed HR 06/--/1982.
Processed Sarah Ponichtera, GSAS 2010 2007.
Finding aid written Sarah Ponichtera, GSAS 2010 2007.
H. James letter to Duneka Cataloged HR 06/30/2000.
Revision Description
2013-06-06 xml document instance created by Carrie Hintz
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
History
J. & J. Harper was founded in 1817 by James and John Harper, using family funds. Brothers Wesley and Fletcher joined the family business in 1823 and 1825, respectively. Due to their early adoption of stereotyping technology, by 1825 they had become the largest volume publisher in New York City. In these early years, the majority of their titles were reprinted English books. Like other publishers of the time, Harper employees would wait on the docks to purchase books published in England, and republish them at a discount, a practice enabled by the cheaper materials available in America and the lack of international copyright law. During the depression of the 1830s, Harper & Brothers hit upon the idea of increasing sales by packaging many titles together in a series of great books. The Harper's Family Library was the first of these series, and a great success. Contemporary figures had strong attitudes regarding the series: John Quincy Adams praised it for helping to educate citizens in what they needed to know to participate in a democracy, but Henry Thoreau protested its attempt to shape American literary taste.
In 1833 the firm's name was officially changed to Harper & Brothers. The social influence of the family grew, and in 1844, James Harper was elected major of New York. The firm continued to grow until in 1853 a devastating fire destroyed the Harper building and everything in it, excepting only the most important records which were kept in an iron vault. The saved documents include the ledgers and contracts which form the heart of this collection. Despite not having adequate insurance (publishing companies found it almost impossible to insure their property, due to the crowded conditions and flammable chemicals which their work entailed) Harper & Brothers decided to rebuild, and opened a new location on Franklin Square.
Throughout the nineteenth century, Harper & Brothers was involved in attempts to set up a system of international copyright that would serve their interests. After the Civil War, the trade balance had changed, with paper products and costs of production now greater in the United States than in England, and Harper & Brothers used their political clout to prevent legislation that would have allowed the British to compete with American publishers.
During the 1880s, Harper & Brothers grew to its maximum size and influence. At this time Harper & Brothers handled a volume of $4 million annually, with over 800 employees. They published the greatest authors of the generation, including Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, and sometimes Henry James. Harper also had significant breadth of influence, having a well-established London office that had been in operation since the 1830s, and had become a household name in the publication of nineteenth century textbooks.
However, in the 1890s, drained by the death of several of the founders, the House began encountering financial problems. In the process of passing on family estates, many of the founders' holdings in the company were redeemed, leaving the company short on liquid assets. Harper & Brothers applied for, and received, a loan of $850,000 from J. P. Morgan in 1896. In 1899, Harper ceased making payments on the loan, essentially defaulting, and had to submit to reorganization.
After a false start being run by competing publisher S. S. McClure, Harper asked Col. George M. Harvey to take over the receivership of the company. Harvey made several innovations, including giving William Dean Howells a more prominent role at the company by hiring him as a regular essayist and giving him a salary and an office at Harpers. Harvey was gifted at publicity, spending a great deal on entertaining the well-connected. However, he failed to make the needed cutbacks in the firm's operations, and resigned in failure in 1915. C. T. Brainard took his place. Brainard possessed the discipline necessary to enforce economies, but often imposed them short-sightedly. For example, his unwillingness to offer Sinclair Lewis a competitive royalty resulted in Harper's loss of that author. Two vice-presidents, T. B. Wells and Henry Hoyns, grew frustrated with Brainard's management, and took the initiative to present J. P. Morgan directly with an ambitious plan to pay off the firm's debts through the sale of equipment and real estate. Morgan agreed, and the firm moved to a new, smaller location on 33rd street and issued a run of preferred stock to raise the money to pay its debt. Harpers finally paid back J.P. Morgan in 1923. In 1924, Wells and Hoyns ousted Brainard and hired Douglas Parmentier. Cass Canfield, who would eventually rise to run the company, also joined the firm in this year.
The move to 33rd Street revitalized the company, and all departments of Harpers publishing expanded their operations in the following years. Harpers went on to publish authors such as Thornton Wilder and John Cheever, as well as poets such as Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. In 1962 Harper & Brothers merged with Row, Peterson, and Company to become Harper and Row.
Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.
Series I: Authors--Correspondence, Contracts and Documents, 1826-1966
Harper & Brothers' correspondence with their authors, consisting primarily of book contracts, but also authors' individual requests concerning the publication of their books is found here. This series also contains some personal correspondence of Brander Matthews, literary critic and professor at Columbia University, including a letter of congratulations from President Roosevelt and a fiery condemnation from Ezra Pound. It includes particularly significant amounts of material from William Dean Howells, George du Maurier, Lafcadio Hearn, and Lew Wallace. This series is arranged alphabetically by author.
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
Box 4
Box 4
Box 4
Box 4
Box 4
Box 5
Box 5
Box 5
Box 5
Box 6
Box 6
Box 6
Box 6
Box 6
Box 7
Box 7
Box 7
Box 7
Box 7
Box 8
Box 8
Box 8
Box 8
Box 8
Box 9
Box 9
Box 9
Box 9
Box 10
Box 10
Box 10
Box 10
Box 11
Box 11
Box 11
Box 11
Box 11
Box 12
Box 12
Box 12
Box 12
Box 12
Box 13
Box 13
Box 13
Box 13
Box 13
Box 13
Box 26
Box 28
Box 28
Box 28
Box 28
Box 28
Box 28
Box 28
Series II: Eugene Exman Research Materials, 1817-1973
This series is comprised of Eugene Exman's research on Harper & Brothers in preparation for his books, The Harper & Brothers and The House of Harper, undertaken during the 1960s. The primary dates in each section refer to the dates when the materials collected were composed, while any dates in brackets refer to the dates when the papers were compiled.
Included in the series are notes, note-cards, article excerpts, documents, photographs and references, which relate to Harper's history. The folder "Office Layout" contains drawings of various Harper buildings and interviews with former employees regarding daily working conditions in the buildings. Exman's correspondence with Harper's regarding his research, financial records relating to collecting the books that ultimately became the Harper's library, interviews with Harper's employees, and responses to inquiries during his tenure as the Harper's archivist can also be found here. It also includes his collection of dinner invitations to company dinners.
Much of the material is composed of photocopies made between 1960 and 1973
Box 14
Box 14
Box 14
Box 15
Box 15
Box 15
Box 15
Box 15
Box 16
Box 16
Box 16
Box 16
Box 16
Box 16
Box 16
Box 16
Box 17
Box 17
Box 17
Box 17
Box 17
Box 17
Box 17
Box 18
Box 18
Box 18
Box 18
Box 19
Box 26
Box 18
Box 18
Series III: Printed Materials, 1851-1966
This brief series consists primarily of small books, often commemorative, and other realia dedicated to the memory of a long-time employee or celebrating one of the company's anniversaries.
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Box 20
Series IV: Visual Materials, 1919-1940s, undated
In this series are drawings and photographs of Harper & Brothers' authors and of the Harper Brothers themselves; colophon designs; an oil painting of the Harper & Brothers building on Franklin Square, and a poster advertising English Society by George Du Maurier.
Box 21
Box 21
Box 21
Box 25
Box 21
Box 21
Box 22
Box 25
Box 25
Flatbox 26
Volume 237
Series V: Financial Records, 1833-1963
This series consists of financial documents, which record the yearly budgets of the publishing company, real estate and assets owned, salaries and royalties paid, debts taken on, and stock issued and sold, and trade lists and catalogues.
This subseries contains correspondence relating to non-normative financial matters, such as lawsuits, and the reorganization of the company in 1899 and 1923. Also included are materials labeled "Old Stock," which concern the financial troubles experienced by the company and the sale of stock undertaken by the company under the direction of J. P. Morgan
Box 23
1860-1921, 5 folders
Box 24
Box 24
Box 25
Box 27
Included here are the many ledger books that detail the everyday workings of Harper & Brothers. General journals, in which notes on everyday operating procedure were kept, span from 1896 through 1940. The series contains royalty ledgers kept from 1881 to 1926, and separate English royalty ledgers from 1901 to 1919, and 1921 -1926. General ledgers and account books are here, as well as ledgers dealing with preferred and common stock.
Volume 123
Volume 115
Volume 114
Volume 116
Volume 130A
Volume 131
Volume 132
Volume 133
Volume 134
Volume 135
Volume 136
Volume 137
Volume 138
Volume 139
Volume 140
Volume 141
Volume 230
Volume 155
Volume 231
Volume 92
Volume 96
Volume 67
Volume 97
Volume 120
Volume 121
Volume 122
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
Volume 8
Volume 9
Volume 10
Volume 11
Volume 12
Volume 13
Volume 14
Volume 15
Volume 16
Volume 17
Volume 18
Volume 19
Volume 20
Volume 21
Volume 22
Volume 23
Volume 24
Volume 25
Volume 26
Volume 27
Volume 28
Volume 29
Volume 30
Volume 31
Volume 32
Volume 33
Volume 34
Volume 35
Volume 36
Volume 37
Volume 38
Volume 39
Volume 40
Volume 41
Volume 42
Volume 43
Volume 44
Volume 45
Volume 46
Volume 47
Volume 48
Volume 49
Volume 50
Volume 51
Volume 52
Volume 53
Volume 54
Volume 55
Volume 56
Volume 57
Volume 58
Volume 59
Volume 60
Volume 61
Volume 62
Volume 71
Volume 79
Volume 80
Volume 78
Volume 81
Volume 65
Volume 66
Volume 68
Volume 85
Volume 69
Volume 86
Volume 70
Volume 87
Volume 72
Volume 84
Volume 73
Volume 83
Volume 74
Volume 82
Volume 76
Volume 75
Volume 91
Volume 77
Volume 127
Volume 129
Volume 232
Volume 233
Volume 234
Volume 235
Volume 236
Volume 128
Volume 144
Volume 145
Volume 146
Box 29
Treated for mold in 2020
Box 30
Treated for mold 2020
Volume 149
Box 31
Treated for mold in 2020
Box 32
Treated for mold in 2020
Volume 222
Volume 153
Volume 118
Volume 117
Volume 119
Volume 150
Volume 213
Volume 214
Volume 223
Volume 64
Volume 98
Volume 89
Volume 90
Volume 93
Volume 94
Volume 63
Volume 88
Volume 95
Volume 104
Volume 103
Volume 102
Volume 101
Volume 100
Volume 99
Volume 112
Volume 111
Volume 110
Volume 109
Volume 108
Volume 107
Volume 106
Volume 105
Volume 152
Volume 154
Volume 221
Volume 130
Volume 113
Volume 124
Volume 125
Volume 126
TheDemarest Harper's Catalogue, included in this series, lists works published by Harper's between 1817 and 1879. This series also contains many of the catalogues and book lists issued by Harper's between 1847 and 1915.
Volume 157
Volume 158
Volume 159
Volume 160
Volume 161
Volume 162
Volume 163
Volume 164
Volume 165
Volume 166
Volume 171
Volume 172
Volume 192
Volume 188
Volume 193
Volume 194
Volume 189
Volume 190
Volume 195
Volume 196
Volume 197
Volume 198
Volume 200
Volume 201
Volume 202
Volume 203
Volume 204
Volume 205
Volume 206
Volume 173
(American Trade Directory)
Volume 220
Volume 183
Volume 191
Volume 226
Volume 227
Volume 216
Volume 186
Volume 187
Volume 215
Volume 207
Volume 208
Volume 217
Volume 142
Volume 143
Volume 224
Volume 225
Volume 219
Volume 229
Volume 218
Volume 210
Volume 209
Volume 212
Volume 211
Volume 228
Volume 199
Volume 156
Volume 169
Volume 167
Volume 168
Volume 170
Volume 174
Volume 175
Volume 176
Volume 177
Volume 179
Volume 178
Volume 180
Volume 181
Volume 182
Volume 185
Volume 184