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New-York Historical Society publication editorial records

Call Number

NYHS-RG 17

Date

1939-2000, 2009, inclusive

Creator

New-York Historical Society

Extent

36.5 Linear feet in 44 document boxes and 19 boxes of note cards

Language of Materials

The documents in the collection are in English.

Abstract

The New-York Historical Society publication editorial records include material related to publications produced by N-YHS from the 1940s to the early 1990s, with some later documents. Much of the record group includes the files of N-YHS's Editorial Department, which existed from about 1942 to 1980, and relates to the editorial work for articles proposed and written for the organization's journal, the Quarterly. The files also include editorial records for some of the books published by N-YHS, especially George C. Groce and David H. Wallace's Dictionary of Artists in America (1957), for which there is extensive correspondence and research notes. The record group also includes the papers presented at a series of six conferences on historical themes sponsored by N-YHS and organized by historian William Pencak from 1983 to 1988, along with the editorial files for the four volumes co-edited by Pencak based on the conference proceedings. Other principal correspondents include editors Charles E. Baker and Kathleen Luhrs, designer Klaus Gemming, members of N-YHS's Publications Committee, and authors William Sawitzky, Susan Clay Sawitzky, Mary Bartlett Cowdrey, Paul H. Downing, Irwin Cortelyou, Rita Gottesman, and others.

Biographical/Historical Note

From its earliest years, the New-York Historical Society was actively engaged in publishing materials ranging from pamphlets of individual addresses on historical topics to collections of edited historical documents to monographic studies. In his 1954 history of N-YHS, R.W.G. Vail counted about 600 such publications and provided an overview of them. Among the several publishing initiatives was the New-York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin. Begun in 1917, the Bulletin published feature articles, notes on N-YHS's activities, transcripts of historical documents in the collection, and other matter. Yet despite the extensive range of publishing activities, until the mid-twentieth century there was no staff dedicated to editorial activities. Until 1938, the Librarian and Assistant Librarian performed editorial tasks along with their other responsibilities.

This began to change in 1938 with the designation of Assistant Librarian Dorothy C. Barck as Editor and Head of Research. Still, though, Barck worked within N-YHS's library and held responsibilities well beyond editing the institution's publications; indeed, she was named Librarian in 1942. But N-YHS's drive in the late 1930s and early 1940s to expand its programs and professional operations led in 1943 to the hiring of Charles E. Baker as N-YHS's first full-time editor and the establishment of an Editorial Department reporting to the Director. Baker remained Editor until 1963.

There were at least two notable accomplishments during Baker's tenure that are well-represented in this record group's documents: the expansion and increased scholarly content of the Quarterly Bulletin (called the Quarterly from 1946) and the production of George C. Groce and David H. Wallace's Dictionary of Artists in America (DAA). The DAA was an initiative begun in the early 1940s to expand on art historian George Groce's 1940 survey of early American artists. Groce, living in Washington, DC, worked with Baker on the DAA for well over a decade before it was published in 1957. Along the way, N-YHS hired David H. Wallace as an assistant editor in 1952, with principal responsibility for seeing the DAA to a conclusion. Wallace completed the task just before leaving N-YHS in 1956, earning co-authorship credit with Groce for the achievement.

During his twenty years as Editor at N-YHS, Baker oversaw the production of several books in addition to the DAA and worked with many authors, including William Sawitzky and his wife Susan Clay Sawitzky, Rita Gottesman, Theodore Bolton, Paul H. Downing, Lawrence H. Leder, and others. After Baker's departure from N-YHS, the editorship was filled by a series of short-term appointments, including by Ann E. Cooper and Jane (Mrs. Wendell) Garrett, until 1967 when Kathleen A. Luhrs became Editor, a position she held until 1976. The mid-1960s were another important period for the Quarterly as a redesign of the journal by Klaus Gemming was well-received.

Elaine Andrews took over as Editor in 1977, but she was the last to hold that position at N-YHS. Financial difficulties resulted in the decision to no longer publish the Quarterly after its first number of 1980 and the Editorial Department was disbanded. Through the end of the twentieth century, N-YHS still continued to produce publications, but no longer on a regular basis with a full-time dedicated staff. An important example of these later publications, represented in this record group, are the four volumes published from 1988-1991 of papers based on conferences held at N-YHS from 1983 to 1988. The six conferences were organized for N-YHS by William Pencak, a professor of history at Pennsylvania State University. Organized around particular themes, the conference titles were: New Approaches to the History of Colonial and Revolutionary New York (1983); New York and the Rise of American Capitalism (1984); Law in America (1985); Immigration to New York (1986); New York in the Age of the Constitution (1987); and Labor in New York (1988). Although the original intent was to publish all or most of the papers presented at the conferences, financial constraints resulted in only the first four conferences appearing in print. Pencak co-edited the volumes with the logistical arrangements handled by Marilyn McShane, a freelancer hired in November 1987 by N-YHS to guide the delayed volumes to completion.

Arrangement Note

The record group is organized in three series:

I. Publications, 1940s-1960s

II. Publications, 1960s-1980

III. Publications, 1980s-2000

Scope and Contents Note

The New-York Historical Society publication editorial records include the files of the Editorial Department from its early days in the 1940s under Charles E. Baker to the close of the Department in 1980. There are also files from the 1980s, primarily in connection with the series of six conferences sponsored by N-YHS from 1983 to 1988 and the resulting volumes published from 1988 to 1991. The record group includes correspondence with authors in relation to the editing process; internal N-YHS notes assessing manuscripts for publication; manuscript submissions and edited versions of the manuscripts; and documents related to arrangements for printing and publicity. The files related to the conferences of the 1980s include all the papers originally presented at those sessions. Much of the record group concerns articles proposed and written for the Quarterly. Published books are also the subject of the record group, especially the production of the Dictionary of Artists in America. Efforts by William Sawitzky and, after his death, his wife Susan Clay Sawitzky to write a series of books on American artists in the 1940s-1950s are well-documented. The files also include various administrative matters such as arranging for photograph reproduction permissions, printing, publicity, book reviews, and the like.

Access Restrictions

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Use Restrictions

Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.

Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.

Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions

See also the Use Restrictions note in Series III concerning permission to quote from the scholarly papers found there.

Preferred Citation Note

This collection should be cited as the New-York Historical Society publication editorial records (NYHS-RG 17), The New-York Historical Society.

Location of Materials

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Related Archival Materials Note

This finding aid relates to just one record group of the New-York Historical Society archives. For information about the other record groups and for overall information about the archives, please see the Guide to the New-York Historical Society Archives (NYHS-RG Archives).

Accruals Note

No further accruals are expected for this record group.

Collection processed by

Larry Weimer

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:49:37 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is written in: English, Latin script.

Processing Information Note

This record group was processed by project archivist Larry Weimer in December 2015-January 2016.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024