Descriptive Summary
	Creator:	William J. Benners, 1863-1940
	Title:	The William J. Benners Papers
	Dates:	1850-1940 (Bulk 1880-1920)
	Abstract:	William J. Benners, (1863-1940), was a writer, publisher, and historian of dime novels, a class of popular fiction that flourished in the mid to late nineteenth century and into the early twentieth. The William J. Benners Papers consist of letters to Benners from family members, various authors, and publishers, fragments of dime novel manuscripts, several research and accounting notebooks, and miscellany such as scrapbooks and photos. The collection includes material on and belonging to Benners gathered by Ralph Adimari during Adimari's extensive research on the history of the dime novel. It also includes some personal papers of dime novel authors Charles Garvice and Emma A. B. Sharkey (pseud. Mrs. E. Burke Collins), and publisher Frank Tousey.
	Quantity:	1.5 linear feet in three boxes
	Call Phrase:	MSS 28B

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Biographical Note

William James Benners, Jr. (1863-1940) was a writer, publisher, and historian of dime novels, a class of popular fiction that flourished in the mid- and late-nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century. Benners, also a poet, actor, and avid traveler, maintained correspondence with many dime novel authors, aimed to compile a directory of popular writers, bought and sold stories and publishing rights, and penned some dime novels of his own.

Benners was born in Philadelphia on September 27, 1863, the son of William, Sr. and Frances Ann. He had two brothers, Harry H. and A. Eugene, and a sister Novella. At an early age Benners showed an affinity for the literary arts, and was not much interested in working at his family's lumber business.

Benners was an avid reader of dime novels from age eight and read romances later in life. At ten he wrote his first poem, and at 25 he began writing some serials for George Munro's New York Fireside Companion and later for the Chicago Ledger. His professional writing career did not last long, but he was a devoted letter-writer for much of his life. It was when Benners was about thirty that he began his "vast letter correspondence with the popular writers of the day," according to Ralph Adimari in his biography of Benners in Dime Novel Round-Up. (Two copies of DNR Vol. 26, No. 9 are housed in Fales; one is part of the Ralph Adimari Papers.) The romance novelists Emma Burke Collins, Alex McVeigh Miller and Mary R. Estey were his most faithful correspondents. After his death a bulk of Benners's correspondence was destroyed by his nieces because of concern over their personal content. Ralph Cummings, the DNRU editor who nursed Benners in his last years and referred to the man as Uncle Billee, wrote to Adimari that Benners's nieces "didn't believe in his letters falling into other hands. They were putting stuff on the fire when I discovered what they were doing. I sure was lucky to get what I really did."

Benners planned to create a directory of dime novel and romance authors--a formidable task considering that so many writers published under pseudonyms, and different writers often used the same pseudonym--but this project never went beyond the research stage. He did, however, begin enterprising as a literary agent and a buyer and seller of stories and publishing rights. Adimari recounts that in 1902 Benners purchased the entire output of the Leslie Company, publisher of the juvenile magazines Frank Leslie's Boys and Girls Weekly, Frank Leslie's Young American, and Frank Leslie's Boys of America. Two months later he sold the Leslie material to William H. Gannett for $950. It is not known how much of that sum was profit, but we do know that Benners profited handsomely selling the stories of romance writer Charlotte M. Brame, who wrote under the pseudonym Bertha M. Clay. According to Adimari, who consulted Benners's accounting books, "he was paid from $15 for a short story up to $300 for a serial. So that sales may have reached higher than $10,000... When Ralph Cummings gave me part of the William J. Benners collection, at least one-third of the notes were devoted to Clay-Brame productions and in many letters to others he lauds her stories to the skies." Brame penned some 200 titles as Bertha Clay. Indeed, the Clay brand was so lucrative that several other authors went on to produce hundreds of stories using this nom de plume, including Benners himself.

Adimari writes: "Although Benners had many sweethearts he never married." He was engaged to Laura Jean Libby, a romance writer, from 1891-1893 but they were not wed. In a 1958 letter to Adimari from Ralph Cummings, Cummings writes that, "according to what Uncle Billee [Benners] told me, was that Laura Jean Libby wanted his $3 or $5000.00 ring to wear, and he wouldn't let her have it, so that was the end of there [sic] romance, so he told me, as he has been going with her for quite some time." After a long illness, Benners died on April 4, 1940 in his native Philadelphia.

References:

Adimari, Ralph. "William J. Benners: The First Historian of the Dime Novel." Dime Novel Round-up, Vol. 26, No. 9, September 15, 1958.

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Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of personal correspondence from Benners's family and many dime novel authors, business correspondence from publishers, manuscript fragments, financial records and cancelled checks, notebooks, scrapbooks, and photographs.

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Arrangement
	Series IA consists of correspondence grouped into folders for each correspondent. The folders are arranged alphabetically by the correspondent's last name; within each folder the letters are arranged chronologically.
	Series IB consists of undated galleys and manuscript fragments arranged alphabetically by the author's last name.
	Series IC consists of miscellaneous items including cancelled checks, notes and photos relating to Benners's friend, writer Charles Garvice, several undated notebooks, including many that had been reused and annotated by Ralph Adimari, a birthday album for Emma Tell, a personal scrapbook, and a bound collection of serials.

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Related Material at Fales Library and Special Collections

Levy Dime Novel Collection

Ralph Adimari Papers

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Separated Material

There is no information about materials that are associated by provenance to the described materials that have been physically separated or removed.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Open to researchers. Appointments are necessary to consult archive and manuscript materials.

Use Restrictions

Collection use is subject to all copyright laws. Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the Director of Fales Library and Special Collections. For more information, contact

Fales Library and Special Collections
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-2596
Fax: (212) 995-3835
Email: fales.library@nyu.edu
URL: http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/cdfa.htm

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Access Points
	Subject Names:
		Adimari, Ralph,
		Benners, William J.
		Brame, Charlotte M., 1836-1884
		Gannett, William Howard, 1854-1948
		Garvice, Charles, d. 1920.
		Leslie, Frank, 1821-1880.
		Miller, Alex. McVeigh, Mrs.
		Munro, George, 1825-1896
	Subject Organizations:
		Frank Leslie's Publishing House
		George Munro
		Street and Smith Publications
	Subject Topics:
		Adventure stories, American
		American fiction -- 19th century
		American fiction -- 20th century
		Dime novels
		Popular literature -- United States
		Victoriana
	Document Types:
		Clippings
		Commercial correspondence
		Galley proofs
		Legal correspondence
		Manuscripts
		Notebooks
		Personal correspondence
		Personal papers
		Photographs
		Scrapbooks
	Other Names:
		Collins, E. Burke
		Cummings, Ralph F., 1898-
		Estey, Mary R.
		Libby, Laura Jean
		Tell, Emma

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Administrative Information

Provenance

The William J. Benners Papers were acquired by Edward G. Levy, the dime novel collector who made large donations of dime novels to Fales, from Ralph Adimari, editor and historian, in November 1964. Adimari had obtained Benners's letters and notes throughout the 1950s from Ralph F. Cummings, the Dime Novel Round-Up editor who nursed Benners at the end of his life. Levy also purchased parts of Benners's dime novel collection directly from Cummings. In 1970 Levy wrote to dime novel historian J. Edward Leithead: "As you may know, I wound up with most of William J. Benners's literary estate--about 2/3 of the items in my gift [to Fales] came from that source." Levy donated the Benners Papers to Fales in 1966.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date (if known); William J. Benners Papers; MSS 28B; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.

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Container List

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Series I A: Correspondence, 1869-1940.
Scope and Content: Correspondence to Benners from publishers and individuals.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
1	1	The American Boy [William C. Sprague]	1906-1907
1	2	Baer, Lucy A.; [aka "Kate Hill", "K.F. Hill"]	1914-1922
1	3	Benners, Alfred E. [brother]	1890-1910
1	4	Benners, Mrs. F [mother]	1894-1902
1	5	Benners, Novella [sister]	1902-1923
1	6	Benners, William J. Sr. [father]	1884-1892
1	7	Bennett, Emerson	1899-1901
1	8	Carrigan, Franklin P.	1925
1	9	Collins, E. Burke	1893-1897
1	10	Collins, E. Burke	1895-1898
		Various publishers to E. Burke Collins.
1	11	Comfort, Lucy Randall	1909
1	12	Corey, Frank A.	1896-1928
1	13	Crowell, Mary R.	1919
1	14	Currier Publishing [George H. Currier]	1907
1	15	Digman's Magazine [E.J. Wood]	1907
1	16	Dumont, Frank	1901
1	17	Estey, Mary R. [aka Clara Percy]	1914-1919
1	18	Gannett, W.H. [Comfort Magazine]	1902-1909
1	19	Hanshaw, Thomas W.	1910-1911
1	20	Heustis, Charles H.	1911
1	21	Holmes, Mary Jane	1902
1	22	Homefolks Publishing	1884-1892
1	23	Hubbard, Alice	1913
1	24	Jacobs, George W.	1901-1907
1	25	Jones, Emma Garrison	1891-1917
1	26	The Ladies' Favorite Magazine [J. Hodgkinson]	1907
1	27	Ladies' Home Journal	1894-1902
1	28	Lupton, F.M. [People's Home Journal; Good Literature]	1892-1910
1	29	McIntyre, John T.	1918
1	30A	McKendry, Caroline E. [pseud: M.J. Calder]	1869-1886
		To Mrs. C.E.M. from Frank Leslie's publishing.
1	30B	McKendry, Caroline E. [pseud: M.J. Calder]	1850-1916, n.d.
		From various others; to Benners from C.E.M.'s niece.
1	31	Miller, Alice M. [pseud: Sister Mittie]	1890, 1902
		1890 letter to Benners includes story outline. 1902 letter has Adimari notation.
1	32	Munro Publishing	1889-1921, n.d.
1	33	New York Ledger	1893
Box	Folder	Title	Date
2	1	Saturday Evening Post	1890-1919
2	2	Sawyer, Eugene T.	1922
2	3	Sheldon, Mrs. Georgie [pseud: Mrs. S.E. Downe]	1892-1920
2	4	Stanley, Charlotte M.	1892
2	5	Stoddard, William O.	1902
2	6	Street & Smith	1869-1899
2	7	Street & Smith	1900-1903
2	8	Street & Smith	1904-1917
2	9	Street & Smith [to C.E. McKendry]	1870-1885
2	10	Stuart, Marguerite B. [pseud: Mary Stuart Broadbent]	1919
		Various publishers to E. Burke Collins.
2	11	Taylor, Annie J.D. [pseud: Leslie]	1910
2	12	Vickery & Hill	1895-1907
2	13	Waggaman, Mary T.	1916-1919
2	14	Walsh, Maurice C.	1916-1919
2	15	White, Matthew Jr.	1902-1914
2	16	Wight, Emma H.	1914-1919
2	17	Miscellaneous	1881-1899
2	18	Miscellaneous	1900-1910
2	19	Miscellaneous	1911-1920
2	20	Miscellaneous	1921-1940
2	21A	Miscellaneous	n.d.
2	21B	Business and legal correspondence	1901, 1907, 1912
		1907 legal document has Adimari notation.

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Series I B: Galleys and manuscripts.
Scope and Content: This series contains galleys and partial manuscripts for various dime novels.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
2	22	Galleys and biographical sketch	1894
		Galleys for Mary E. Bryan's A Modern Heathen, with notes by Benners; letter to Benners from publisher George Munro's Sons; biographical sketch of Bryan taken from the New York Ledger (with an Adimari notation).
2	23	Manuscript fragment	n.d.
		One page of MS for The Haunted Bayou by E. Burke Collins.
2	24	Manuscript fragment	n.d.
		Partial MS of an untitled piece by unknown author, with Adimari notation ("This may be E. Burke Collins?... Mrs. Miller?").
2	25	Manuscript fragment	n.d.
		First page of MS for Willful Goldie's Love Dream by Daisy Darling.

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Series I C: Notebooks and Miscellany.
Scope and Content: Series IC contains several of Benners's notebooks, many of which were later annotated and reused by Ralph Adimari. Other ephemera (photos, scrapbooks, etc.) relating to Benners is also included.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
3	1	Legal Agreement [Frank Leslie Publishing House]	1902
3	2	Manuscript: Benners biography	n.d.
		MS for a biographical sketch of Benners by E. Burke Collins.
3	3	Cancelled checks	1894-1916
		Cancelled checks, signed by Benners, issued by the Philadelphia Trust, Safe Deposit and Insurance Company.
3	4	Garvice, Charles	n.d.
		Notes, photos, and ads relating to British dime-novel author and friend of Benners, Charles Garvice.
3	5A	Notebook	n.d.
		List of serials and prices.
3	5B	Notebook	n.d.
		List of titles, miscellaneous notes.
3	6	Notebook	n.d.
		Small memo book with Adimari's written label on first page: "Titles and Names up to 1929."
3	7	Notebook	n.d.
		Benners's notebook with extensive notes by Adimari. Contents include: list of titles by publisher (Adimari); list of authors; one-page biography of Laura Jean Libby by Benners.
3	8	Emma Tell birthday album	n.d.
		An album of handwritten poems dedicated to Emma Tell.
3	9	Personal scrapbook	n.d.
		Benners's personal scrapbook of clippings.
3	10	Book of stories	1896-1916
		A bound volume of stories culled from various serials. Includes pieces from The Strand Magazine and Detective Story Magazine.
3	11	Notebook	n.d.
		A book of bibliographical notes by Benners, later annotated and reused by Adimari.
3	12	Notebook	n.d.
		Benners's notebook labeled "Expense Account", later used extensively by Adimari.

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