
Marian Calabro is an author and publisher of history books and the founder and president of CorporateHistory.net,
[ which produces corporate histories.][
]
Author
Calabro began her career at Dell Publishing
Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...
and the film company Learning Corporation of America.
Her earliest books, written for young adults, include ''Operation Grizzly Bear'' (about wildlife biologists Frank and John Craighead
Frank Cooper Craighead Jr. (August 14, 1916 – October 21, 2001) and John Johnson Craighead (August 14, 1916 – September 18, 2016), twin brothers, were American Conservation movement, conservationists, naturalists, and researchers who made i ...
; on the International Reading Association’s Young Adults Choices list, 1991), ''Great Courtroom Lawyers: Fighting the Cases that Made History'', and ''Zap! A Brief History of Television''.
''The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party'', Calabro's chronicle of the westward-bound Donner Party
The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California interim government, 1846-1850, California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent ...
pioneers who resorted to cannibalism in winter of 1846–47, broke through to adult audiences. ''Booklist'' described it as "a combination of well-researched factual detail, a gripping narrative, strong characterizations, and a thoughtful analysis of the historical record". It is listed as one of the recommended readings in the John F. Kennedy Library's ''One Country, Many Voices: Cultural Connections to Our History, An Annotated Bibliography for Grades 6-8.''
She was a featured author in the Historical Literacy Conference at the University of Delaware.
Corporate historian
Calabro established a publishing firm, CorporateHistory.net, which produces printed and multimedia histories based on documentary research
Documentary research is the use of outside sources, documents, to support the viewpoint or argument of an academic work. The process of documentary research
Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of kno ...
and oral history interviews. Calabro believes this sort of research and writing performs an important historical function: Often, the American dream is told through the stories of these businesses. ... Every company has crises, and naturally no company wants to trumpet its mistakes, but a good corporate history owns up to the crises and represents them as turning points and lessons learned.
Her book on the Melwood Horticultural Training Center not only relates the 40-year history of a private agency serving adults with developmental disabilities, but includes reflections on running a nonprofit organization by her co-author, Melwood’s President Emeritus Earl Copus.
''Flying High Again'' outlines the key issues faced by the Plattsburgh Airbase Redevelopment Corporation (PARC) during the rapid and successful redevelopment of the Plattsburgh Air Force Base
Plattsburgh Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air Command (SAC) base covering 3,447 acres (13.7 km) in the extreme northeast corner of New York, located on the western shore of Lake Champlain opposite Burl ...
. Gilbert Duken, chairman of the Board of Directors, noted that he and other members of PARC "agreed that other communities facing similar circumstances might benefit from a written account of PARC’s experiences".
According to the company website, several of their books have won Apex awards.[Why Choose Us?]
Corporatehistory.net website. Accessed on December 13, 2013.
For a book celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Northwest Community Hospital
Northwest Community Hospital (NCH) is a 489-bed acute care hospital in Arlington Heights, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1959, the hospital serves 200,000 outpatients and 20,000 inpatients annually. The hospital operates a Level 2 Trauma Cen ...
in Arlington Heights, IL, the focus was on the individuals and groups who form the backbone of the hospital. "People are really at the heart of any organization," says Calabro. "We like to be able to tell their stories with lots of visuals that link the past to the present." Among the sources for this chronicle were newspaper clippings, board minutes, letters, historic artifacts, and architectural drawings.
After writing a book for Pep Boys
Pep Boys is an American automotive aftermarket service chain. Originally named Pep Auto Supply, the company was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1921 by Emanuel "Manny" Rosenfeld, Maurice "Moe" Strauss, W. Graham "Jack" Jackson, and Moe ...
, Calabro appeared on The History Channel’s Modern Marvels
''Modern Marvels'', formally known under A&E as ''Time Machine'', is a television series first aired by the History Channel in 1995, but previously under A&E starting December 10, 1993. It is the History Channel's first and longest-running prog ...
series in “The Auto Store” (aired 10/5/2005), which included the story of Pep Boys and other auto-parts companies.
Other clients of CorporateHistory.net include Advance Auto Parts
Advance Auto Parts, Inc. is an American automotive aftermarket parts provider. Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, it serves professional installer and do it yourself (DIY) customers.
Company History
In April 1932, Arthur Taubman purch ...
, A. W. Hastings & Co., Clinton County ARC, Dominion Resources
Dominion Energy, Inc., commonly referred to as Dominion, is an American energy company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia that supplies electricity in parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and supplies natural gas to parts of Ut ...
, M.C. Dean, Inc., The Clorox
The Clorox Company (formerly Clorox Chemical Company) is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of consumer and professional products. As of 2024, the Oakland, California-based company had approximately 8,000 employees worldwide. N ...
Company, and Towers Watson
Towers Watson & Co. was a global professional services firm that provided risk management services, human resource consulting, actuarial services, and investment management
Investment management (sometimes referred to more generally as fina ...
, for which it created a history book for internal use called ''Our Family Tree: The Towers Watson Story.''
Calabro is a graduate of Rutgers University
Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
, where she was in the first class of women admitted to Rutgers College and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...
society.[ A native of ]Kearny, New Jersey
Kearny ( ) is a town in the western part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and a suburb of Newark. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 41,999, an increase of 1,315 (+3.2%) from the 2010 census cou ...
, she lives and works in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey
Hasbrouck Heights (pronounced HAZ-brook /ˈhæz.bɹʊk/) is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 12,125, an increase of 283 (+2.4%) from the 2010 census ...
.[ She has been quoted on business subjects by ''USA Today'',] the ''Washington Post'', and other media.
References
External links
Personal website
Corporatehistory.net website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Calabro, Marian
Living people
American women writers
American writers of Italian descent
People from Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey
Rutgers University alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century American women
Writers from Bergen County, New Jersey