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Edgar R. Baker papers

Call Number

MS 3156

Date

1926-2011 (bulk 1940s-1969), inclusive

Creator

Baker, Edgar R. (Edgar Robey), 1920-1969

Extent

5 Linear feet in four record cartons and one flat box

Language of Materials

The documents in the collection are primarily in English, with some in Spanish, Japanese, and French.

Abstract

The collection holds the papers of Time, Inc. executive Edgar R. Baker (1920-1969), especially as they relate to his almost two decades as head of Time's international unit, TIME-LIFE International, during its years of expansion from the mid-1940s to mid-1960s. The collection includes business and personal correspondence; subject files; speeches on U.S. foreign relations; photographs of business meetings, conferences, and social gatherings; and memorabilia from childhood school years to adulthood. An extensive set of carbon copies of Baker's business letters and memoranda from 1950 into the 1960s provides insight into Baker's leadership in confronting both internal challenges (performance of overseas offices and staff, expense management, revenue growth) and external obstacles (protectionist markets, government regulations, censorship) in expanding Time's global presence. Baker's personal letters to his wife and mother while traveling abroad, especially during his months-long trip in 1947, provide another angle of vision on the work of an international publisher seeking to extend American economic and policy interests globally in the post-World War II era.

Biographical / Historical

Edgar Robey Baker, Jr. (1920-1969) was an executive with TIME Inc. with responsibility for leading the company's international division during its expansion in the decades immediately after World War II.

Baker was born on October 16, 1920, in Washington, D.C. He attended public schools in Washington including Whittier elementary school, Paul Junior High School and Central High School. He earned an AB in Economics from George Washington University (GWU) in 1941, where he was a member of the honorary society Phi Beta Kappa. After some graduate studies, he worked as an economist for the U.S. government from 1942 to 1945 in the Department of Labor, Lend-Lease Administration, and Foreign Economic Administration. In 1944, Baker married Alice Newcomer of Winter Park, Florida, an aspiring journalist whom he had met at GWU.

In December 1945, Baker was hired by TIME Inc. as an assistant to the Managing Director of LIFE. In 1946, he was named General Manager of TIME's new operating division, TIME-LIFE International (TLI), reporting to C.D. Jackson. In 1949 Baker succeeded Jackson, who became Publisher of FORTUNE, and was promoted to Managing Director of TLI, becoming head of TIME Inc.'s international division with responsibility for its worldwide publishing operations. He reached executive rank in 1957, being elected a Vice President that year.

By the end of Baker's tenure at TLI in 1964, TIME's global presence had grown to include offices in 20 countries publishing 10 international editions, including some in languages other than English, with circulations of about 1.5 million each. Among these was a Spanish language version of LIFE and a Japanese language version of FORTUNE. He played a leadership role behind two significant TIME, Inc. initiatives: the 1955 Inter-American Investment Conference in New Orleans and the 1957 International Industrial Development Conference in San Francisco. He was a frequent conference speaker or panelist on topics concerning United States foreign relations and foreign trade in the postwar era. In 1959, Baker was a member of the small delegation to Poland headed by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Frederick H. Mueller.

Baker was based in TIME's New York headquarters, but he traveled often through Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, Europe, and South and Central America, sometimes accompanied by his wife, Alice. In the midst of one such trip spanning the globe with Alice, in September 1963, Baker suffered a heart attack in Rome. He recovered and returned to the U.S. by ship in late 1963.

In early 1965, Baker was transferred from TLI, replaced by his lieutenant, Charles (Charley) Bear. In his new role as a Corporate Vice President and, in 1966, as Director of Research and Development, Baker was responsible for identifying new business lines and products for the diversification of TIME, Inc. In this role, Baker became involved with an educational joint venture with General Electric, TIME Inc.'s investment in film studio MGM, and the acquisition of book publisher Little, Brown, among others.

Beyond TIME Inc., Baker remained attached as an alumni to George Washington University, supporting their fundraising efforts. Politically, he was a liberal Democrat who was an early supporter of John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential campaign; as a result Baker was apparently in consideration for a foreign service role in the new administration. He was an avid baseball fan, especially of his hometown Washington Senators. He and Alice lived at 980 Fifth Avenue in New York and had a summer home in Sharon, Connecticut. On June 11, 1969, Baker died at the age of 48, reportedly of acute infectious hepatitis.

Arrangement

The collection is organized in four series:

I. Outgoing Memos & Letters, Time Inc. (1950-1969)

II. Subject Files (1926-2011)

III. Correspondence, Personal (1942-1971)

IV. Photographs & Memorabilia (1940s-1960s)

Scope and Contents

The collection holds the papers of Time, Inc. executive Edgar R. Baker (1920-1969), especially as they relate to his almost two decades as head of Time's international unit, TIME-LIFE International, during its years of expansion from the mid-1940s to mid-1960s. The collection includes business and personal correspondence; subject files; speeches on U.S. foreign relations; photographs of business meetings, conferences, and social gatherings; and memorabilia from childhood school years to adulthood.

An extensive set of carbon copies of Baker's business letters and memoranda from 1950 into the 1960s provides insight on Baker's leadership in confronting both internal challenges (staff performance, expense management, revenue growth) and external obstacles (protectionist markets, government regulation and censorship) in expanding Time's global presence. These files also hold documentation about Baker's planning of two conferences: the 1955 Inter-American Investment Conference in New Orleans and the 1957 International Industrial Development Conference in San Francisco.

Though the carbon copy files directly reflect Baker's business activities, Baker's related personal papers provide further context to some of these events. Subject files hold several of Baker's speeches to trade groups providing insight into his animating views on U.S. foreign relations and economic policy in the 1940s-1950s. His personal correspondence, written to his wife and mother while traveling abroad, provide another angle of vision on the work of an international publisher seeking to extend American economic and policy interests globally in the post-World War II era.

Further, while the memos, correspondence and subject files track TIME-LIFE International's, and Baker's, successes, the collection also provides a sense of the personal effort, stress, and cost of this success as glimpsed in letters with their suggestion of marital tensions, the business social settings with their attendant drinking and smoking depicted in the photographs, the get well letters in response to Baker's heart attack in 1963, and the 1969 condolence letters to his wife, Alice. The collection includes many of the obituaries and reminiscences of Baker, including a 1980 letter sent by Alice to Time historian Curt Prendergast reflecting on Edgar's career and achievements. Alice herself is well-represented in the collection, with letters to Edgar during his travels, in some photographs, and in various travel itineraries that combine Time business and personal leisure, all illustrating the essential, even expected, role of a supportive spouse to the success of a married executive.

Access Restrictions

Open to qualified researchers.

Use Restrictions

Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to 20 exposures of stable, unbound material per day. 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

Preferred Citation

The collection should be cited as: Edgar R. Baker papers, MS 3156, New-York Historical Society.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Edgar Baker's nephew, Josh Bowers, in 2019 and 2020.

Related Materials

N-YHS holds the extensive archives of Time Inc. Those records consist of over 50 record groups, which are cataloged individually and described more fully in individual finding aids. An overview of the Time Inc. archive can be found by following this link: Guide to the Time Inc. Records Overview

Collection processed by

Larry Weimer and Duncan Knox

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:51:00 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: English

Processing Information

Processed by archivist Larry Weimer in December 2020. Preliminary work was done by archival intern Duncan Knox in early 2020.

Repository

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