Crowell Collier Publishing Company

Crowell-Collier Publishing Company was an American publisher that owned the popular magazines ''Collier's'', '' Woman's Home Companion'' and ''The American Magazine''. Crowell's subsidiary, P.F. Collier and Son, published ''Collier's Encyclopedia,'' the Harvard Classics, and general interest books.

The company was founded by agricultural tool manufacturer P. P. Mast with a single magazine, '' Farm & Fireside (''later the ''Country Home'''')'' to sell farm tools and implements in 1877 in Springfield, Ohio. By 1881, Mast had relinquished control to John S. Crowell who expanded their company by purchasing ''Home Companion'' (later changing the name to '' Woman's Home Companion'').

After P. P. Mast's death in 1898, Crowell obtained control of the company and established it as the Crowell Publishing Company. Crowell Publishing expanded their magazine holdings with ''The American Magazine'' in 1911 and the weekly ''Collier's'' in 1919. At one point Collier's weekly had over 1.25 million subscribers.

After shuttering the magazine operations in the 1956, the Crowell-Collier Publishing Company merged with the American Macmillan Company in 1960 and became a large educational company with subsidiaries for books, textbooks, correspondence schools and other educational tools and materials. The company officially changed its name to Macmillan, Inc. in 1973.

Early History

The Crowell-Collier Publishing Company had its roots in the agricultural trade of the 19th century. Industrialist Phineas P. Mast, the owner of P. P. Mast, manufactured farm and agricultural tools, and he wanted a magazine to promote his products. Mast made wind engines, pumps, plows and mowers in Springfield, Ohio. Mast hired John S. Crowell away from the successful ''Home and Farm'' of Louisville in 1877 to manage the new bi-monthly farm journal called '' Farm & Fireside''. By the 1890s, ''Farm & Fireside'' maintained a circulation of over half a million. Mast relinquished his role as acting executive in 1879, but he stayed on as an investor. Crowell along with T.J. Kirkpatrick (who was Mast's nephew) then changed the name of the publishing house to Mast, Crowell and Kirkpatrick Publishers.

The publishers soon expanded from the one magazine into other markets. They constructed the Farm and Fireside building in Springfield, Ohio, in 1881. In 1883, they purchased the '' Home Companion'' magazine from a Harvey & Finn of Cleveland, Ohio to meet the growing demand for content aimed at women. They bought ''Youth's Home Library'', a similar paper that had been published in Boston, and merged it with their youth-oriented publication ''Our Young People''. They then changed the name of the three merged periodicals back to the title ''Home Companion'', a general family magazine. By 1890 the magazine's subscription had reached 100,000. The ''Companion'' had a number of names but was changed to '' Woman's Home Companion'' in 1896. By the 1890s, ''Farm & Fireside'' was also publishing regional editions of the periodical. After the death of P. P. Mast in 1898, the company changed the name to Crowell and Kirkpatrick Publishers.

20th century

As the 20th century began, the company changed hands again and moved into mainstream magazine publishing. P. P. Mast died in 1898 (leaving an estate of a million and a half dollars). In 1902, John S. Crowell obtained Kirkpatrick's interests and established it as the Crowell Publishing Company. In 1906, Crowell turned around and sold his interest in the company to Joseph P. Knapp and George Hazen of New York, who incorporated in New Jersey and kept the name Crowell Publishing Company. The new company maintained offices in New York City in addition to Springfield, Ohio.

Crowell Publishing Company lost a 1908 appeal before the Board of United States General Appraisers and were assessed countervailing duties on paper imported from Canada.

1910s and Acquisition of Collier's and other Periodicals

Crowell Publishing acquired ''The American Magazine'' in 1911 from the Phillips Publishing Company. The magazine had muckraking roots but with the decline of muckraking journalism it had turned into a general interest magazine. However, an article in the ''New York Times'' noted that "the purchase of ''the American Magazine'' by Crowell Publishing Company meant that 'the interests' were bent on swallowing up the muckrakers..." They pointed to the fact that one of the heavy stockholders in the Crowell firm was Thomas W. Lamont who was also a partner of the newly formed J. P. Morgan & Company. Cleveland Moffett, a known muckraking journalist was quoted, "...we are up against the powers of darkness. The right of free speech in America is in jeopardy. They are trying to muzzle the magazines. Several magazines have changed hands recently. They have come under the control of interests, and in each of them the muckraking features will cease. Muckraking, in spite of its name, is a power in this country, standing as it does to promote good citizenship." However, a second ''New York Times'' article about the acquisition stated that writers such as Ida Tarbell, Peter F. Dunne, and William Allen White were pleased with the opportunity. A spokesman from Phillips said that "...instead of reaching 300,000 readers, we can now reach 3,000,000 readers through our new allies in the publication field. We ourselves were afraid the Trusts were behind the proposition before we looked into it, but all the magazines we affiliate with are insurgent like ourselves, and controlled by persons of insurgent sympathies."

That same year, several magazine publishers including Crowell were accused of conspiring to keep up magazine prices through the Periodical Clearing House. According to John Wood, a magazine man whose business had been severely impacted, the Periodical Clearing House was organized by law clerks and employees of the magazines. Wood claimed that ruinous fines had impacted his ability to sell subscriptions. At the same time libraries in the Central Western and Western states complained that the clearing house caused the cessation of club rates on magazines to libraries.

In 1919, the Crowell Publishing Company bought the P.F. Collier and Son publishing firm. This acquisition included the general interest magazine, ''Collier's the National Weekly'', and P.F. Collier’s well-established book publishing business. 11] ''Collier's the National Weekly'' had roots in muckraking journalism and had one of the largest magazine subscriber bases, with around one million weekly subscriptions. P.F. Collier’s book-publishing arm published six million books a year, including popular and serious literature, reference books, and encyclopedias. P.F. Collier and Son was a pioneer in the subscription book business, whereby the company made it possible for customers of modest means to acquire fine literature and reference books, and pay over time with small monthly payments. Crowell Publishing operated P.F. Collier and Son as a subsidiary.  

1920s

By 1924, the weekly circulation of ''Collier's'' had grown to 1,250,000. Crowell moved its print operations to Springfield, Ohio, because of "excessive postage involved in mailing from a seaboard city under wartime postal rates". The editorial and business departments remained in New York.

1930s

In 1930 ''Farm & Fireside'' magazine changed its name to ''The Country Home''. Also in 1930, the Crowell Publishing Company and P. F. Collier and Sons were sued for libel by R.B. Creager, a Republican National Committeeman for Texas. Creager sought $500,000 in damages after an article titled "High-Handed and Hell-Bent" appeared in ''Collier's Weekly''. The article by Owen P. White covered a political situation on the Mexican border in Hidalgo County. The jury returned a verdict for Crowell Publishing.

In 1939, Crowell Publishing merged the New York operations and changed the company name to The Crowell-Collier Publishing Co. That same year, ''The Country Home'' was discontinued.

1940s

In 1940, the FTC charged the publishing company and its officers and directors of the corporation with misleading sale methods and representations.

During World War II, Crowell-Collier sponsored publication of a magazine for servicemen called ''Victory''.

In 1946, the Vanderbilt mansion at 640 Fifth Avenue at Fifty-First Street in New York City was razed and replaced with a 19-story office building built by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, another company with strong ties to Joseph P. Knapp, as the new headquarters for the Crowell-Collier Publishing Company.

in 1949, P.F. Collier and Son published Collier's Encyclopedia, an entirely new, 20 volume work, with the first volumes available in 1949 and all volumes published by 1951. With ''Encyclopedia Americana'' and ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Collier’s Encyclopedia'' became one of the three major English-language general encyclopedias.

1950s Magazine closures and book profits

In the late 1940s and up to the mid-1950s, Crowell Collier’s magazines enjoyed healthy subscription numbers, over 4 million subscribers for both ''Collier’s'' and ''Woman’s Home Companion''.  However, declining advertising revenues, as advertisers moved from magazines to television, and increased manufacturing and delivery costs, led to heavy losses.  In 1953, Crowell Collier named a former editor of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', Paul C. Smith, as its President, and later, as Chairman, with a mission to save the ailing magazines. Nevertheless, in 1956, Crowell Collier’s magazines lost over $7 million. By December1956, the company discontinued ''The American Magazine'', ''Collier's'', and ''Woman's Home Companion''. The company also closed its Springfield, Ohio plant, which at one point had employed more than 2,000 people. The magazine closings shocked both publishers and readers. Many in the magazine field deemed it "a foolish and impetuous move", but as the company moved to focus on publishing books and educational materials, the move was seen as shrewd and far-visioned.

Even as Crowell Collier closed its magazines, ''Collier's Encyclopedia'' was proving highly profitable for P.F. Collier and Son. Under the leadership of P.F. Collier and Son’s President, John G. Ryan, sales of ''Collier’s Encyclopedia'' increased substantially during the 1950s, rising from 46,374 sets in 1953 to 110,688 sets in 1957. In 1956, John G. Ryan reported a net profit of 20% of on $25 million in sales revenue. supplying the revenue that kept Crowell Collier solvent as it suffered huge losses from its failing magazine business.“Crowell Debt 9 Million,” The Journal Herald, Dayton, Ohio, 22 Mar 1957, Page 30. Retrieved 11 Jun 2021.Publisher Eyes Dividends in ‘58” The Bridgeport Telegram, Bridgeport, Connecticut, 17 Jul 1957, Page 32. Retrieved 11 Jun 2021.Colliers, ‘Companion” to stop publishing in Jan.". Star-Gazette (Elmira, New York) 15 Dec 1956, Sat Page 2. Retrieved 2021-05-03.

In 1957, outside investors seized full control of Crowell Collier and installed a new chairman, a paper bag company executive with no prior publishing experience. He pressured P.F. Collier and Son to loosen its sales practices and customer credit standards, and to cut ''Collier’s Encyclopedia’s'' editorial budget. John G. Ryan demurred at abandoning his successful business model and continued  generating record profits, including a 20% increase in the first quarter of 1959. Nevertheless, on April 2, 1959, the Crowell Collier chairman fired Ryan and assumed personal direction of P.F. Collier and Son.

Ryan’s removal had significant consequences.  At a highly publicized April 1959 meeting with Crowell Collier shareholders, the chairman proved unable to comment on any aspect of company operations. Ryan was soon hired as president of a subsidiary of Grolier Incorporated, publisher of ''Encyclopedia Americana''. Numerous sales and administrative managers quit P.F. Collier and Son to join Ryan. In December 1960, Crowell Collier merged with P.F. Collier and Son, ending the weakened subsidiary’s 85-year existence. Crowell Collier assumed the liquidated firm‘s publishing, editorial, and highly profitable sales financing activities.  A new subsidiary, P.F. Collier, Inc., was formed, but solely as a sales organization. P.F. Collier, Inc. expanded sales of ''Collier’s Encyclopedia'' during the 1960s, but deceptive sales practices, encouraged by the Crowell Collier chairman, ultimately led to a Federal Trade Commission complaint against the company, and crippling regulatory restrictions on its door-to-door encyclopedia sales.

1960s and expansion as educational publisher

With profits from sales of ''Collier’s Encyclopedia'' enabling Crowell-Collier to recover financially from its magazine losses, new opportunities arose. Under the prodding of Loeb, Rhoades & Co. senior partner, and Crowell Collier director, Armand G. Erpf, Crowell-Collier used its encyclopedia sales earnings for a program of mergers and acquisitions. Leaving behind its roots in magazine publishing, it now focused on the growing market for education produced by the baby boom in the United States. Sales continued to surge for reference books, textbooks, and encyclopedias In 1962, the company published a new, 24-volume edition of ''Collier's Encyclopedia.''

Merger with Macmillan

In December 1959, Crowell-Collier acquired 29 percent of Macmillan Company which published fiction, non-fiction, textbooks, reference books, religious books and children's books. By August 1960, Crowell-Collier held a 52.8 percent interest in Macmillan, and on December 30, 1960, the companies merged.

Macmillan was once the American division of the British Macmillan Publishers (opened in 1869) and had been run by generations of the Brett family who eventually bought the company from the British in 1896. Macmillan published some notable authors including Jack London, Margaret Mitchell, and Winston Churchill.

By 1960, the majority of Macmillan's sales came from textbooks and for Macmillan the merger meant access to cash and capital to grow their textbook market. Crowell-Collier ran Macmillan as a subsidiary but in 1965 Crowell-Collier officially changed its name to Crowell Collier & Macmillan, Inc. Publishing was dropped from the company name to reflect its broadened scope into education.

The merger with Macmillan was followed by a flurry of  other mergers and acquisitions, all money makers for Loeb, Rhoades & Co. Of Crowell Collier's acquisitions, Erpf proclaimed, “My main interest is Loeb, Rhoades. After all, everything starts from there.”  Crowell-Collier’s corporate strategy remained less clearly defined. Raymond C. Hagel, who became Crowell Collier's chairman in 1964, said, "We envision our major role as that of a developer of complete educational systems." That system was a "unified instructional package involving a variety of tools." and "the business of education has become a successor to the defense industry. It is a security lifeline."

Crowell would end the decade as Crowell Collier & Macmillan, a highly-indebted conglomeration of subsidiaries that included books, schools, magazines, educational tools, bookstores, book clubs and radio stations and with an annual revenue of $390 million. But, as one analyst wrote of the company, “it takes one kind of talent to buy everything in sight with easy money and another kind to operate the creation when the financial momentum shifts into reverse.” Prodded by Armand G Erpf and other investment advisors, Crowell Collier & Macmillan’s management had the talent to buy businesses, but questionable skill at operating them.  When profits from encyclopedia sales ebbed in the early 1970s, the highly leveraged conglomerate was in trouble.  In 1973, Macmillan, with its traditional business, domestic publishing, amounting to only 25% of revenues, reported a profit of a mere $16.7 million on $420 million in sales.  By comparison, the company’s former profit center, P.F. Collier and Son, had managed over $5 million in profit in 1956 on sales of just $25 million. Crowell Collier & Macmillan had financed its 1960s expansion with a mountain of debt, amounting to $75 million in 1973, and interest on the debt proved a heavy burden.

Encyclopedias, books and educational materials

Since 1909 (vols 1-25) and 1910 (vols 26-50) P.F. Collier and Son had published the 50-volume ''Harvard Classics'' (expanded to 51 volumes in 1914), an anthology of classic and world literature. The company continued to publish the Harvard Classics and expanded its line of encyclopedias by beginning work on a new multi-volume set on social sciences.

In 1969, The Federal Trade Commission ordered the company to stop deceptive sales of ''Collier's Encyclopedia''. The agency charged the company with "Implying through promotional literature and door-to-door salesmen that a set of the encyclopedias would be given free or at a reduced price if yearly supplements were purchased."

In 1960, Crowell began to expand further into general book markets. Collier Books, the paperback division of Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, began publishing in October 1961 at the rate of 50 paperback titles a month. The list included scholarly books, nonfiction and fiction reprints and original works. Crowell-Collier Press was a hardcover publisher started in 1962 with a focus on adult nonfiction and children's books. The children's series, the Modern Masters Books for Children, was edited by anthologist Louis Untermeyer and included picture books by Robert Graves (''The Big Green Book''), Shirley Jackson (''9 Magic Wishes'') and Phyllis McGinley (''The B Book''). The books were created using a controlled vocabulary of fewer than 800 words created by elementary educators.

In 1962, Crowell also purchased book club distributor Scientific Materials, Inc., which included Library of Science, Science Book Club, Natural History Book Club, and Basic Book Service. In addition to the four professional level book clubs, two others aimed at young adults including the Young Adults' Division and Junior Scientists Division of the Library of Science were also a part of the acquisition. Crowell-Collier later that same year turned around and sold the toy manufacturing arm of Scientific Materials, Inc. to Allis-Chalmers manufacturing

In 1962, Crowell made another push into the book market with a purchase of book clubs and retail bookstores. In the same year, they purchased 16 Brentano's bookstores. At the time bookstores were heavily competing with department stores and discount houses offering reduced rates for bestsellers. By 1967, the Brentano's chain had grown to 21 stores and had sales of $7 million.

In 1962, Crowell-Collier Publishing Company created a new division called Crowell-Collier Educational Corporation. The educational arm was created to develop instructional and reference materials as well as teaching aids for us in schools, colleges, adult education, business, and industrial training and home study.

Other acquisitions included the following:
* English Language Services, Inc. (1962), instructional materials used abroad to teach English-as-a-second language.
* Publication Corporation (1968)
* Associated Films, Inc. (1968), an educational film distribution company
* Bruce Publishing Company (1968), a publisher of Catholic religion and educational books.
* P.J. Kenedy & Sons (1968), a publisher of Catholic religion and educational books.
* Hagstrom Company, Inc (1968), creator of educational materials and services.
* Fleetwood Films, Inc. (1968), films for home and educational use.
* Pandex, Inc, (1968) a reference company.
* Brandon (1968), another education and film distribution company.
* G. Schirmer, Inc.,(1968) a music and publishing company
* Studio Vista, Ltd. (1968)—British publisher of books on graphic arts, architecture and design.
* Geoffrey Chapman