Official publicationa magazine devotedhis life, works, and

of the HORATIO ALGER SOCIETY,to the study of Horatio Alger, Jr,,

influence on the culture of America.

1832 - 1899

Founded 196 I by Forresl Campbell & Kenneth B. Butler

Volume )O(III une 1

Horatio Alger, Jr., you were once my greatest joy:I revelled in your stories when a happy, care free boy;There was William Makepeace Thackeray, a novelist of

note;There were Bulwer, Scott and Dickens, but they got my

childish goat:They didn't have the pep and zip, Horatio, that you did,For you got underneath the vest of every bloonring kid,And a myriad young critics f-elt your fascinating punch,So they crowned you king, Horatio, of the literary

bunch !

Horatio Alger, Jr., all the types of boys you drew,Poor urchins of the streets, revealed the gentle soul of

you;There were Ragged Dick and Tattered Tom, with others

of their kind,Who all bespoke an honcst hcart, a pure, unselfish

mindlThrough trials and temptations they most perilously

passedTill virtuc was tiiunrphant, goocl Horatio, at the last;And as their thorny paths through lit'e your humble

herocs trodEach chapter was illumined by your simple faith in

God!

Horatio Alger, Jr., long ago your busy penWas laid aside, but to the hearts of grizzled, gray

haired menCome visions of their idol, and your name they often

bless.For you helped thenr not a little in their measure of

success;You were loved by hosts, Horatio, and you filled an

honored place;The memory of all your good time never can efface;And, if but a single blossom each old boy admirer

gave,What a mountain of sweet fragrance there would rise

above your grave!

Malutlm Douglus, "Horatio Alger, Jr.," ir The NewYork Herald, Section 2, Det'ember 12, 1920, p.2.

Nr:mbers 11 &'12

NE1{SBOY

HORATIO ALGER SOCIETY CHANGES OF ADDRESS

To further the philosophy of Horatio PI-725 Brian P. DohertyA1ger, Jr., and to encourage the spirit P.0. Box 915 vof Strive and Succeed that for half a Brookline, MA 02146century guided Alger's undaunted * * *heroes--lads r+hose struggles epitomized NEl{ ME},IBERS nEPORTEDthe Grea,t American Dream and flamed.hero id.eals in countless millions of PP-742 Mel Troschyoung Americans. 1621 Cole St.

0FFICERS Baltimore,MD'21223EUGENE H. HAFNEB PRESIDENTD. JAMES BIBEBG VICE-PRESIDENT MeI is a wholesale distributor ofCA-RL T. IIARTMANN SECRETARY newspapers, magazines, and books, andALEX F. SHANER TREASURER has sold. newspapers ever since he r+asPAUL F. MILLEB DIRECTOB ten years old. HAS member BarrieWILLIAM McCORD DIRECTOR Hughes told him of HAS.EDDIE LeBLANC DIRECTORWILLIAI"I D. RUSSELL DIRECTOR PF-743 Les Deue1GLENN S. CORCORAN DIRECT0R 248 Lark St.BEATRICE FORTNER DIRECTOR Albany, N.Y. 12210I{ILLIAM L. LEITNER D]RECTORROBERT E. SAWYER DIRECTOR A friencl of Les's sav the AlgerB0B BENNETT DIRECTOR EMERITUS Society mentionecl in a nersspaperRALPH D. GARDNER DIRECTOR EI,ffiBITUS article. Les is a book and record.MAX GOLDBERG DIRECT0R EMERITUS shop orrmer ancl has 112 Algers in his

collection. He also collects comicNewsbqy, the official organ of the character memorabilia.

Horatio Alger Society, is published bl- \/monthly (six issues per year). Member- PF-744 Ann Kreulship fee for any twelve month perioil ls 1955 12th St.$15.00, with single issues costing Fennimore, I{is. 53809$:.O0. Please make all remittancespayable to the Horatio Alger Society. Ann, an elementary school teacher,Membership applications, renewals, owns 60 Alger books. She also collectschanges of adclress, and other corres- toothpick holders, salt and pepperpond.ence should be sent to the Society's shakers, miniature dishes, rrand manySecretary, CarI T. Hartmaan, 4907 Alti- other things."son Drive, Lansing, Michigan 48910. i( * *

NEWSBOY STATI]E ANNIYERSARYNewsboy is indexed in the Morlern

Language Associationrs fnternational Gary Leveille announces that "the 9OthBrbliography. anniversary celebration of the Great

Barrington Newsboy Statue is to be heklThe Society recognizes Bob Bennett's on Saturday, August 10, at 1:OO p.m. A11

Horatio 1\}g., J..: A Comprehensive A11 Society members are corcliallyBibliography, as the most current, invited to attend."rlefi-nitive authority on Alger's works.

0n pages 13-14 of the March-April 1985Newsboy acl rates: 1 pager $32.00; one Nernsbolr Gary discusses the work of the

half page, $17.O0; one-fourth page, Great Barrington Newsboy Preservation$9.00; per column (1" r 3-3/4"), $Z.OO. Committee, which is responsible for theSentl ad.s, with check payable to the upcoming birthilay celebration. ThoseHoradio Alger Society, to Bob Sawyer, interested. can r+ri-te the Committee at2O4 MiI1 Street, Gahanna, 0H 43230. Box 562, Great Barrington, Mass. O123O. \-/

May-June

NEI{SBOY

NOTES FROM RAL?Hby RalPh D. Gardner

Itts nicer once in a while, to sitback and count our blessings. For allof us in the Horatio Alger SocietYtamong these blessings is the Ner'rsboy.I{hat better time for this retrospectiveinto our publication's past than now,when longtime Ed.itor Jack Bales has an-nounced that, due to pressures of li-brarian and teachi.ng scheclules, plus hisdecislon to complete studies for hisPhD, he must now relinquish the rei-nsof Editor. Jack hoPes this will be abrief hiatus. So d.o we aII.

There's no question but that any as-sociation's lifeline is its newsjournal. That goes cIoubIY for HAS,

with a membership spreacl across theUnltect States and overseas, makingNewsboy our primary source of continu-ous communication.

Something unique is that this publi-cation came into existence even beforethe Horatio Alger Society r'ras incor-porated. ft wa,s shortlY after thememorable Thanksgiving, L96L, meetingof Co-Found-ers Forrest Campbell ancl

Ken Butler, that Forrest--in JulY,1962--mineographed. his first two-pagenewsletter. He sent it to collectorswith whom he correspondetl (one of themwas me), or who ad.vertised for Algersin hobby magazlnes.

He openetl this first issue with:trGreetings , everyone. Letrs get ac-quainted.! Though we are strangers, Yetwe are frien<ls; for we have one thingin common. We both have an interestin Alger.rr

Forrest edited l.{ewsboy until July,1969 (for a consitlerabte time at hisown expense). Then Irene Gurman tookover cluring that August and September,until CarI Hartmann became Eclitor inOctober. CarI continued Newsbqy'sgrovth ancl exce]lent content until JackBales took over in SePtember, L974(although Jack earlier guest-editedseveral issues).

1 985

From the beginning, @@Y. has trulYbeen our members' g publication, itspages always open to Alger-related. news,activities and articles. Long among itsmost popular, useful features is BookMart, the free listing of Alger itemsthat readers regularl;r offer to eachother. This has helped to start, builciancl upgrade many collections.

Jack, vho hotcls the longest tenure as

Editor--well over ten years--has pre-sicled over $@y! greatest growth,and especialty its emergence as an in-creasingly wiclely-known journal ofIiterary quality. It is now citecl inseveral important volumes of scholarlypublications. In the most recent issueof the Modern Language AssociationInternational Bib1ioAraphy, of tenfistea Alger articles publishecl during1983, eight were attributed to $@E!lpaito"rs note: These citations are-l

as followsl:

ALGER, HORATTO, JR. (1832/4-1899)

[675r] Scharnhorst, Gary. "Biographicai Blindspots: The Case of the

Cousins Alger." Biography . 1983 Spring; 6(2): 136'147. [tAnd Alger'William Rounseville. On treatment in biography.]

Bibliography

[6752] Bales, Jack; Scharnhorst , Gzry. " Horatio Alger, Jr,: An Annotat-ed Bibliography of Comment and Citicism: Supplement I." Newsboy '

I983 Mar.-APr.; 2l(8'9): a-11.

[6753] Bennett, Bob. "Anonymous and Pseudonymous Writings ofHoratio Alger, Jr." Newsboy. 1983 May-June; 2 1(10'1 l): 4'5.

Novel

[6754] Eastlake, Robert D. "Printings of New York Co. Algers." ,l/ers-boy. 1983 May-June; 2l(10-ll): 5'7, l1'I3. [fPublishing history.]

[6755] Lemeunier, Yves. "Vision of Poverty and the Poor in the Novels

of Horatio Alger." 121-135 in Martin, Jean-Piene, ed. & pref. All MenAre Created Equal: Id1ologies, rdves et r6alit6s. Aix'en'Provence:Pubs. Univ. de Provence; 1983. 189 pp. [fTreatment ofpoverty; social

class.]

[67s6] WiUiman, Robert E. "The Alger'First Hardcovet Editions'Pub'lished by A. L. Burt." Newsboy.1983 Jan.-Feb.; 21(6-7): 7'9. [tPub-lishing history.l

Novel,/Falling in with Fottune

[675?] Scharnhorst, Gary. "Alger and Falling in vith Fortune," News-boy. 1983 May-June; 2l(10'11): 5. 1983 July-Aug.; 22(l-2): 12'13'

Sh ort story/Bi bliograPhY

[675s] Scharnhorst, Gary. "Alger Stories Reprinted in lhe PortlsndTranscript ." Newsboy . 1982 Dec.; 21(5): 7 - llh Portland TransciPt .)

t67591 ."'...-. 'rAlger's Contributions to the Boston True Flag." News-boy. 1983 Mar.-Apr.; 21(8-9): 20'23. llln True Flag.l

[67601 -.

"Alger's Contributions to the Boslon Americaa Union."Newsboy. 1983 Mar.-Apr.; 2 1(8'9): I 9. llln American Union .l

0ver the years, Nelrsboy articles con-tributecl toward persuacling a variety ofreference sources to change their long-incorrect entry of AIger's birthclate.

NEWSBOY

This engraving is oneof the most famousassociated vith news-boys and the Child-renrs Aid Society.It has appeared inmany of the Society'sannual reports, andCharles Loring Braceuserl it in his re-nowned. book, ShortSermons to Newsboys,in which he included.a historv of theNewsboys' LodgingHouse.

The copy of the en-graving here is takenfrom Children: APictorial ArchiveFrom Nineteenth-Century Sources, 240Copyright-FIee Illus*trations for Artists@Publications, Inc.,New York, 1978).Dover has recentlyreissued AlgerrsStruggling Upwarcl,with an fntroductionby Ralph D. Garclner(see review in March-April 1985 lssue ofNewsboy) .

Newsboy vas influential in our Commemor-tive Postage Stamp Committeers extra-ordinary--and highly successful--effortto have the Horatio Alger Sesquicenten-nial Stamp issuecl in 1982.

Werve been blessed beyoncl expectations,not onty with ed.itors and contributors,but with the quality of Alger cliscover-ies, analyses and research presented. onthese pages. Among many tlelights thatcome to mintl is Gilbert K. I{estgard IIrspubtication of Alger's early aclult

novels that originally appeared i. E$, 1g} S*. Louis Boclnarrs originalcartoons have brightenecl many issues.Many others could be noted here, butthere just isnrt enough space.

For newer members who maY not know,our Treasurer reportecl, several yearsagor that white annual dues (at thattime) were five dollars, publishingand cllstributing Newsboy cost almosttr.renty doflars per member. It was thenthat r're inauguratecl our auctions, the

May-June

NEI,{SBOY

income from r,rhich provide funds forNewsboy ancl other HAS activities.

fn addition to having served. as E-boyrs Editor (and more than once asActing Presiclent) over the generation ofour existence, Secretary Carl Hartmannhas d.one the most to keep Newsbolr reach-ing members, issue after issue. Heoversees the entire printing process,done by Lightning Litho Company, inLansing. Then CarI anil Jean stuff en-velopes, affix postage and labels andtruck bundles to the post office and- ontheir way to waiting readers.

Among things that make Newsboy enjoy-able and valuable is the active partici-pation of so many Alger collectors. Ifyou havenft contributed. 1ately; if youhave new information on Algerts writings,biography, bibliography, or significantnews about the sale of an Alger book,vrite it up for Newsboy.

Our Societyrs periodical is nowtwenty-three years old. Mature, butstill young. Let's a1l help to makeeach new issue as important anil excitingas the last !

***TILL DEATH DO YOU PART:

TI]E DONATION OF ALGER COLLECT]ONSTO L]BRAR]ES

by Jack BaIes

rrAn incid.ent occurred several yearsago at a major academic library r,rhichdemonstrates some of the problems re-latecl to buikling research collectionsin new areas, in this case the area ofpopular culture. An extensive collectionof novels on which films harl been basedwas donated to the library. The bookswere to be kept intact as a specialcollection in the rare book facility.The collection rd"as an important re-source for cinema studies and English.Somehow the original concept of thecollection \{as lost and the books wereprocessed according to normal gift pro-cedures. l{hen the tittes were searched,some were marked. as duplicates. Fur-thermore, a large percentage of the

1 985

books were shabby, yellow-looking paper-backs of popular fiction--mysteries,westerns, and" science fiction. Thewhole assortment s eemed an unimpressiveaddition to the libraryrs prestigiousresearch collections. A few books 'weread.tiecl to the general stacks, but themajority were either thrown away or putup for sale at a semi-annual book sale.

I'This was an unhappy event in thehistory of the library. The benefactorvas furious over the loss of a col-lection which he had assembled. withgreat care for many years. The librarystaff was embarrassed and apologetic,although some felt their actions werenot totally unjustifietl. Why should popfiction be collected. by acaclemic and.research libraries, Iet alone be place<Lsid e-by-sid.e vith books of fine print-ing and illustrated manuscripts?"

--Robert G. Sewe11, rrTrash orTreasure? Pop Fiction in Acad.emicancl Research Libraries, " .@!!3gg_and Research Libraries, NovemberL984, page 45O.

Much has been written in Newsboy andin Dime Novel Rooril-Up. concerning theai"ffi andfor seriesbook collection, for frequently r.i'e readhow a collectorrs valued books end upon top of the local trash heap upontheir ownerrs ill-timed d.emise. (Foranother horrifying example, see anarticle that IIAS member Jack Schorrsent me--r'01d Michael Hurley Real1-yLovecl a Goocl Bookr" Eg Angeles Times,November 4, L984, in Part VII of thatissue. Hurley collected books forf ifty years, and. rrhen he died.--withoutleaving a will--he was surround.ed. by$3OO,OOO worth of rare books.) Bobl{illiman and I discussecl the need foran HAS Estate Service years ago (Sof aiamuch of the initial groulclwork) , and noother proof as to its usefulness isneeded after one sees hov the Dick Sed-don Alger books have quickly found.good. homes.

There are other vays to clispose ofonets collection, holv'ever, and- some

NEWSBOY

people prefer to clonate their treasuresto libraries where stud,ents and. scholarsfor years to come can profit from them.Of course, as the initial quotation inthis article illustrates--and. I myselfhave seen--many valued volumes aresimply either thrown away or cast asid.eto be sold for 25Q ea,ch at the annualbook sale. (Ind.eed., several of my rarestAlgers were purchasecl at library salessuch as these).

As both a series book collector and a

professional librarian, I I'sit on bothsicles of the fence" so to speak. ThoughI occasionally despair of the rather un-caring attitude librarians have towarclgift books, I can s;rmpathize with theoccasional sticky situations--more thanonce have I been approachecl by someoneeager to donate his f atherts !rrarerr

book collection (and obtain, of course,a hand-some tax write-off ), ancl have hadto tell the person that rre just weren'tinterested in his dozen or so Read-errsDigest Cond.ensecl Books. MANI timesdonors have told me that they have rarebooks, and I can immediately tell thatve dicln't need the offered torn and tat-tered Yiking Press ed.itions. (Remember

....gift books are NEYER I'free.r' Muchlibrary staff time must be usecl to sort,select, cal,al-og, antl prepare the booksfor the library)

Numerous librarles have "gift poli-ciesrr that spelI out rrhat they can andcannot use. One such actual policy be-gins as follolss, and note in particularthe last t'characteristic of gift books":

"Librarlans are often offered. books andother materials at no apparent cost.These materials, called rgifts r' muycome from groups or ind,ivid.uals withinthe community, from d.onors outside thecommunity, or even (unsoliticecl) fromsome publishers. Gif ts have aclcled. manybooks to many libraries; they have also,unfortunatety, attded many that shouldnever have reached. the shelves. Manygifts are generate<l by individual house-cleaning activities, and. may prove a

mixed blessing for the library. Thesebooks tend to have the folloving

characteristics:"(1) OkI books vhose subject matter

i s out-of -ilate .

" (2) Used college texts with manyhand.written marginal comments.

"(3) Books ln poor repair that willnot last for more than a few circu-Iations.

t'(4) Best sellers of former years,especially book club choices, of whichthe library already has sufficientcopies.

''(5) Books printed. on poor paperthat will not stand normal use, or veryolcl books whose brittle paper will notIast.

"(6) Books that d.o not meet theIibraryts standards, such as children'sseries books, comics, etc.tr

My suggestion to a.1l persons interest-eil in d"onating books to libraries is toask to see the library's gift policy,and to be certain to see if the libraryreally I{'ANTS your books . Also , donrtexpect to have your treasures clis-ptayed in walnut glass-covered bookshelves in their own private room withyour name engravetl on a prominentlyplaced plaque. Irm afraid that thisidea--though incleed pleasing--is justnot. realistic.

0n a more positive note, some li-braries, which realize the historicalvalue of Algers ancl other series books,not only actively solicit donations butwould }ove to have Y0UR books. f am

familiar with some of these institutions,ancl they are listed below. (Practicallyevery tibrary has a copy of the AmericanLibrary Directory which Iists completen'amts ancl atld.resses) .

(t) The Marlboro Public Library inMarlboro, Massachusetts. Alger lived inMarlboro before he movecl to New York,and Margaret Grassby, the AssistantLibrarian, ls a gem of a librarian whohas helped me countless times in myAlger research over the past six orseven years. They maintain a fineAlger collection--ancl they even haveAlger's desk on display too. ftrs a

wonclerful place, and the library has

May-June

NEWSBOY

Note how this photo of the Nevsboysr LoclgingHouse is different from the one on page 5 d-n theMarch-April Newsboy. The worcls 'rBrace Memorialrrwere aclcled. above the 3rd. story afler the Lod.ge--and Chilclren's Aid Society--founder CharlesLoring Brace d.ied.

7

Bor+ling Green State Universityin Borsling Green, Ohio. Thisis one of the best-known col-Iections of d.ime novels, comicbooks, and series books in thecountry. The Jouraal of &Jll-Lar Culture is based. here.

(a) The Nye Popular CultureCollection at Michigan StateUniversity in East Lansing. CarIHartmam has occasionally com-mentecl to me about this collec-tion, vhich was established. in1968 at the instigation andvith the aid of Russel Nye,author of The UnembarrassedMuse and a pioneer in popularculture stud.ies.

(5) The Hess Collection atthe University of Minnesot,a inMinneapolis. Eddie LeBlancfrequently mentions the HessCollection in Dime Novel Round-ppr and I knov he thinks highlyof it. It was established in1954 when the Library receivecLa bequest of George Hess, whocollected. d.ime novels as ahobby.

(6) The Library of Congress,Irashington, D. C., which is theIargest storehouse of popularfiction in the country.

(7) Northern fllinois Uni-versity in Dekalb, noted" for

the A1bert Johannsen collectionbeen usecl by many Alger scholars overthe years.

(2) The Anerican Heritage Center atthe University of l{yoming in Laramie.Director Gene Gressley ancl I have cor-responded for years, and" he is a firmsupporter of popular culture and eagerlyaccepts all donations of Alger books.Ralph Gardner has tolcl me of Gene'swork many times and how the AmericanHeritage Center is used. by researchers.Gene's enthusiasm is contagious and herstops with me.

(3) The Popular Culture Library at

1 985

housingof d.ime novels.

**Gil l{estgard" writes that plans for

"21 in the Sunrrr the 21 st annual HASConvention, are all completed. Don?tforget the d-ates--l,lay 2-5.

***Del Brandt writes that 'rRalph cele-

brated. his 81 st brrthday October 2)and. celebratect- 60 years of vriting hisdaily column, "The Scribbter,tt for theBriclgeton Evening News, on December 10.He continued. to write the columnfollowing his retirement as Ed.itor. "

**J(

NE}TSBOY

8 1 trAS A sERTES BooK wRrrER(at the age of 12)

by GiI OrGara

It may or may not be a well-knor+.n factto the reaclers of Newsboy that Ed.r*rarclStratemeyer dicl not invent the method ofghost writing and mass-authorship whichcharacterized his famous literary syndi-cate. Nor was he the only entrepreneurto compete in this manner for the moneyof young American readers.

Now the story can be tolcl. One of theStratemeyer Slmd"icate rs fiercest com-petitors (or, perhaps better stated.,r?emulatorst') proclucecl a massive amountof fiction in a Nebraska farmhouse inthe micl-1960s. FuIIy a half dozenseries, aimed. at pre-teenage boys, wereall written, publishecl, and clistributeciby one person.

Me.

Recently I clug out a battered, card-board box from the most inaccessiblecorner of our closet ancl found" all thatremains, apparently, of GiI 0'Garatsown s;rnd.i-cate (although at the time ofits inception, I do not believe I wasaw'are that the various series I enjoyed.were the product of one manrs enter-prise). f was eleven years otd. in1965 (y"", fellas, I'm still a kid),when I began writing the Dick ThirctlyMystery Stories. I have fould somepapers which inclicate that I completqdat least six tales, and began others.AII I can find of this series is numbertvo, The Mystery of the Attic Yin<low,which revolved arounil a scientist gonebad, using his incred.ible devices tofurther his career .as a moclern highrray-man. Ten titles are listed. on the backof this little paper-covered book, butf suspect that some of these were worksin progress. Some of the basic plotswerenrt too bad, but the storytellingwas a little rough ancl there weremoments r+hen logic hatl a tough timegetting a foothold in the storyline ofthese adventures.

I hacl it in my head all these yearsthat the Dick Thirdly Series was one ofmy later projects, the first being a se-ries ca}led The Lamprs Mystery Stories.(Later called Lamp Mystery Stories). Ithink the reason for this confusion wasthat the Lamp Series was my own per-sonal favorite, and" the most successful.

By L965 I was a voracious reader ofseries books, particularly the NancyDrew and Hardy Boys books. I was alsoa boy who spent a lot of tj-me writing;story id.eas were a lot easier for me tocome by in those days, before I wastrying to make a living at iL. Anyway,the Stratemeyer Synclicate formula hadits influence on me, as a perusal ofthese stories indicates. Not only diclI follow the basic elements of style,character and pacing (complete withunnecessary cliffhanger at the end ofeach chapter), but I even imitatecl theformat ancl packaging of the books,with endpapers depicting the covers ofthe other books in the series that Ihad vritten (or plannecl to write).

There were eventually 28 LampMysteries listed on the back of thebooks, although not all of these wereactually r+ritten. The Lamp MysteryStories concerned the adventures ofPaul Lamp, 20, with clark hair ancl hisblond,, I8-year-o1d. brother Bob. (filonrt know why I chose those particularages, unless I wanted. to avoid anyproblems they might have solvingmysteries while in school--however, I'mnot at aII sure if that problem everrea115r occurred to me at the time). Theboys hacl a recl-haired. sister, Rita, whowas 16 anrl something of a scared"y-cat,for she d.id" not get J-nvolved much in theearlier books (although f gave her anampl-e share of the action as the seriesd.evelopecl .

The kids had lost their parents in anauto accid.ent and were on their own atthe time that the series began, althoughf did not bother to explain that untila later adventure (in fact, i, &Mlrstery on Route 66 they investigatethe area lshere their folks died vhile

\r'

May-June

NEI,fSBOY

\-

foltowing up on reports of hauntings atthat spot--presumably the ghosts oftheir d.eparted. parents. fn the enclthey discover a hijacker's cache ancl a

supposeclly togical explanation for thesightings).

From what I can gather from what re-mains of my rrritings during this era(1965-1967), r actually produced thefirst nine books in the series, and- be-gan work on number ten, which r+as nevercompleted. I also seem to have startetlto vrite some rand-om titles in theseries which were never finishecl. Ihave a sheet of paper with anillustrated s;rnopsis of a dozen othertales. The sJrnopses are very basicoutlines (with thumbnail sketches) d,one

for the purpose of jogging my memorywhen the time came to actually write thetales, and giving me ample leeway forembellishment (unbeknorrnst to me, my

method rv'as closer to the Stratemeyermoclus operandi than I realized.) . Anexample comes from the s;rnopsis ofThe Parrot?s Secret, which, in its

""tiiffi F?olrorr": r?orcl sea cap-tain tells of piraters treasure. Saysa blue parrot knor,rs where it is buried..Are robbed. Threatened. Find stringfor clue. (Hera mask on.) fina featherin rn'oocls outsicle of tovn. Captured.Man tries to make Bob tell where parrotis. Escapes by fighting men. Lampsfind" btue parrot. It says is buried. inMississippi outside of Gulfport. Find.it. Men try to steal it. Police cap-ture them.tt

Titles 23-28 were neither written' nor,in fact, carr I find any notes to indi-cate what these stories were to beabout, atthough I d.o remember beginningThe Lamps' Deteitive !lgg!5, which waspatternerl after The Hardrr Boys DetectiveHand.book, except that it was more aseries of stories in which each ofthe Lamps are placecl in some precarioussituation and the reader has to figureout a solution to it. (Answers lreresuppliecl) .

The finished book generally measured4t" x 6", stapled. on the sicle, with 60

1 985

to 80 hand.written pages (printed withlead. pencil). The covers were colored.with crayon. The stories were clivid.edinto chapters, and the book was completewith frontispiece and three internalfull-page illustrations.

f also began a few other series, in-ctuding The Dick Mint Stories, about ayoung inventor along the lines of TomSr^rift, Jr. ( 1 3 tittes , at least onefulty written, s)mopses on the othertrrelve), The John Dime Series, an imi-tation Don Sturdy (1 startecl, nevercompleted, others in preparation), asports series (2 tates of baseballwritten), and a series about a spyrpresumably inspireri by ChristopherCool (never really got off the ground,).

The Lamp Stories, as I said, follovecla baslc formula. The Secret of theWild Menr. I remember, dealt with rrd.rug

atticsrr, and The Secret of the MaskedMan revolved around a guy trying to getthe Lampsr baseball team to lose sothat he could. collect on a large bet.The CIue in the Compass was a little offthe beaten track, in that the boys areseparated by their enemies, Paul pre-sumably murdereil, but reunited. in theswampy Everglacles while searching for alost treasure.

These books vere slightly popular vithmy younger brother and sister, and laterwith my schoolmates, to whom I sold.copies for five cents (and" a harcl-eaTned.nickel it was, too--crampecl fingers andarl).

My brother Pat, two years younger thanmyself, started a couple of his ownseries, lnspirecl by my efforts. Heonly completerl one book of The Mike andJoe Books, The Haunted. Cemetery (eachchapter printed- in a different color ofpencil), although the second. book inthe series, & Haunted" @[!9, *aspromising, as it dealt vith a castle inIreland. haunted by rrl,orksrr--creaturesr,'.ith green skin, webbed. feet and point-ecl head.s. Unfortulately, he never gotpast the first paragraph of the secondchapter when he callecl it quits. He

10 NEITISB0Y

also toyed rrith a Dana Girls type ofseries, The Jane and Nancy Books (nevercompleted) anrl later started The MatlMens' Club Series, about a Mark [idd"/Jerry TotIcI sort of group. One bookr,rritten, the second started butunfinished. rrhen the plot got far tootangled up.

AnSrway, the most popuLar of the LampMystery Stories seemed to be the firstin the series, The Mysterlr of theSeeking Ghost. I have fountl the orig-inal copy of the book, ancl am supplyingthe concluding portion here so that youcan see not, so much what sort of awriter f was at the sophisticated ageof eleven, but hov overvhelming was theinf luence of Eclwarcl Stratemeyer'sS;rnclicate on a hopeful young writer ofthe 1960s.

Briefly, Paul and Bob Lamp are in Kan-sas aitling an agetl couple vho claimthat their olcl house has recently beenthe site of several hauntings, seeminglyby a vhite figure which appears to beIooking for something. They weresearching the house for clues withRita vhen sudclenly the steps flat-tened. out, and. PauI slid dovn thestairs, ancl as he I'came near the footof the steps a trap door opened! AndPaul s1id. into it ! " Let us begin inwith Chapter XVf, ilThe Capture!":

Rita vas going to come d own thesteps when she saw what happened. Sheran upstairs and told Bob. The two .ranclownstairs, or should I say either jumped.

or sIicI . trPaul!r'Bob callecl , t'are youall right?r'

"He-e-lp!" Paul cried.. Rita talkeclto PauI while Bob ran to get a rope.Soon they hacl pulled PauI up. Afterdinner the Lamps took their flashlightsand searchecl the opening. They loweredBob clown into the cloor. rrHeylrr Bobshoutecl . I'PuIl me uplrr Ancl so theydid. trWow!rr he callecL. rrl saw somethingwhite d.own there! Moving! It mighthave been the ghost ! He looked, Ii-ke hewas looking for something!"

The next day the boys made a PIan.'rBob and I wilt go down that opening and

try to chase the ghost out. Mr. anclMrs. He1feild, you wait by the trapcloors . AnaI Rita, you wait outsid.e. rr

The boys went tlown the trap cloor.-l{hen they got down there, they turned ontheir flashlights. The boys lookedaround. They saw a metal ladder andclimbecl d.own it. Next they went d.ownsome rock steps into a hall with wallsmade out of solicl rock. 0f course itrras d.amp clown there, so the boys gottheir shoes wet. They went around abend and clown another flight of stairs.There they saw several closed cloors.'rNo.w what do we d.o?tr Bob asked. "Goafter himl" Paul saicl, pointing at awhite figure. They ran after it, soit startecl n:nning. Soon they lostit. trOh no.! tt Bob groaned,. t'Now wetvel-ost lt !rr I'Shh. . .rr Paul said. The boysturned. off their flashlights ancl creptalong the walIs. Soon they heard ano i s e . Paul sarr the ghos t . He pi ck edup a rock and hit it over the head.. Itclropped to the ground..

XV]ITHE TREASURE

The boys brought the ghost up ancltook off the hood. and sheet. Soon theyfound. out his name was Hank Slithvoodancl he had a partner, by the name ofHarry Slaveton. It seems Hank heard.that treasures are hiclclen in olcl houses,so he was looking for one. I{hen theLamps came he tried. to get rid of them.That is r+hy he sent Harry to beat themup. When that d.id.ntt r',ork he used dogs.But that diclnrt work. The police tookthe men away. rrl{ellrrt said Bob. rrone

case is solved.." AnrI he put his ha,nd.

on the waII and leanqcl on it. To hissurprise the wall caved in. rrEeklilRita cried. PauI jumpecl up and ranover to Bob. Fulling him up, ?aul sawa brown hancl-sewn bag. Paul picked.it up and opened it. In it was $1O,OOOworth of gold coins. AIso in it was anote. f t saicl:

Anyone who find.s this treasure getsiL, so good luck.

rrWowlrr Bob exclaimecl .rrI{ell , it ' s yours ,

t' Paul saicl ,handing it to the Helfeilds. rtNorr theysaid". rtYou helpeil us. You keep half ofit.rr And so it happenecl . On the way

May-June

NE-WSBOY

\-INTW YORK5.;ISMALLEST. SEYINGS BANKI

f$'"'"'''" - ': 'pAys rHE HIGHEST RATE:or INTEPEST

I'

Itru";H,Jit"::[T,x-il3:[#l#i-s#."r.-:r,,Hri*1"{"i}:1;trf"#*:i}r"v;| .lt'b""k"a by the children'B At-ul*.rl"" of {.ht;h \r.as a nickel with lwent out to spend lt. ."I soctetr pays at the end of each moltn

I o.ii"t t "

opened ab account at the 6 | He returnetl searing a palr of green

lstr'Oer cent. to each of its thtrty d"-|o.. cent. a month bank. lt<td gloves of moet startling shade.

l nosttor: on $'hatever balance they may i Tiihen the deposits'grbrl,' to any ap- j Ue ras barefooted, but that did. not

l.tMr. Rudotph Heig, the superlnten9- ldeposito"s to $-irlxlra$. their accounts I Another lad managetl to save $3 by

I ent, anc other officials try to teach the I ' ; place them in a big savings banx. I sreat efrort. ODe day a feeling of un-

lUoVs to Bsve therr money, so v.ear:,a.c: I Oia n" not do this a boy cqutal denosit l.est seizetl him and he n'ithdrew his

Itne rants $'as started on the .tn'lllSt and $.hen he bot ro bgin old *rrrl.c"ourrt anal s'ent out to spend th€

I noor of the. home, at 5 Duane street. I he coulal \-.irhdra$. enough to enable lproceeds.

lclose to the elerk's des

f of. a'large box divided int6--man}'_lit- li.f la plece oi rode tn one hand, and. atItle comnartmentgr 'There. is a roldrng I Urrl, of the ]ads start 1,ery bravety i the ott er enal $-as a gB tlog, the rrorstleover on hinges, and.oP ,.n", ":.:1 :t"l lin n"ciruins to save, but their good in- lexamnle ot a mongrel.possibte.leach eompartment is a slot \\'ltn a lr"rtiJns "oL 1e".,." th"*. I rt-r,enllur. Heic haal expralnett pa-Inumber. , i Tho.rra^i,ahrrl- qn^,rira o

^oh^air ^rltiently and kindly hovr lmpossible itI The]' frequently acquire a aleposit of i llerrtry arru srrrurJ lrurl rlrpuDsrprt lL

I Every_ ilepositor knows iust 1l-hich I iting u lo'as to keep a dog in the Ne*sboyD'igroi i"io" to hls o$n ritiru"t""x,

-o"alt"o or three dollars bv Du

las the borrs t,ome i" ^ ji^'"iiiri"t"oirl Ip"nny or a nit.ker in the srot at a lLoaeiitg' rrouse, the os'ner tearfullyl itretr r.artous occupations 'they dlon | ,1**, and then, in a spirit of recktess- l took the animal out and sold hlm forli;ii; .;';l"to tn" li.t: . .. . - ^ l;;;., :-*r;;;;

';,i ;;;;';;r:;'";.; I st, "",,t", and on 'rerurnins

"tu,'t"dlI Somelltrtps it ls lt half dollar, some- I , ,

Itrili','6,i"i".,-,ii* oii";il;lh r;"'-,lan,J "bror i: in" b1'u'eatins.""i+:",:l:::,"::::o""""o,r,. witu tre nro-J

l;i:A-";.;;l:,'i,Lir"jii.". .' '---'ior

friends to an o)'ster supper. ault sal'lceeds ot the safe.

This clipping was sent in by HAS member Peter Eckel, renowned collector of news-boy memorabilia.

\- home Bob saicl, rrf wond.er what our nextcase will be?" Little did they know itwoukl be The Cfue of the ]diId, Men.

THE END

[Eaitu.ts note: HAS member Git 0'Garais the erlitor of the Yellowback Library,which just celebrated. its rr25th anniver-sary,'r that is, its 25th issue. YL isdevoted to series books ancl theirauthors r alrcl each issue is jam-packed.with interesting articles, photos, andcomments about the boys' books we loveso much to collect--ye old Ed.itor re-cently hacl a 5-part series on theHarcly Boys published! Cost is $1O.OOper year--write Gil at 81 1 BoulderAve., Des Moines, Iowa 50315.

Gil has also solicited opinions aboutstarting a 'rSeries Book CollectorsSocietyril and it appears that plans areunderwav to start such an organization.All details wilI appear in Yl--writeGil with your ideas and comments! !

1985

DUST JACIGTS ON BURT ALGERSby Brad. Chase

For the life of me, I cannot find muchin the literature about clust jacketswhich covered okl children's books pub-Iished. at the turn of the century. May-be Irm just not looking in the rightplaces or perhaps not much has beenwritten. In doing research for my.re-cent book about Burt Alger books, Ifound no. references to d"ust jackets.Even the Publishers Trade List Annual,when illustrating a newly publishedBurt Alger, pictured the book format,.not the clust jacket.

An;rway, the other day I d.ecicled. togather together my dust jacketed. BurtAlgers and see what I could. conclud-e,if anything. I have twenty Burt clustjackets in my collection, some of whichare in very nice shape, but many ofwhich are torn and some have somemissing pieces. AII are very fragileancl brittle. The following are some\-

12 NEWSBOY

general observations which might be ofinterest to the Alger collector, and, asfar as f know, is the only tliscussionaround. about d.ust jackets on Burt Algerbooks.

Essential-ly, I found. that my Burt clustjackets covered formats only in theChimney Corner Series. As you may re-call, the Chimney Corner Series vaspublj-shed. by Burt from I9O5 throughL9L7, has nine formats and only con-tains books written by Alger. fn otherBurt series, Alger was only one of manyauthors to be published.. Since I havenever seen or heard. of dust jackets inother Burt series, I suspect that forsome reason, Burt only used dust jacketsin the Chimney Corner series.

My twenty Burt rlust jackets coveredeight of the nine Chimney Corner for-mats. These d.ust jackets have a numberof things in common. For example, theyall have outline tSrpe drawings ancl nonehave more than one color, usually black.None have bibliographical informationon the folcls or o-n the insicle back ofthe jacket as some d.ust jackets pro-ducecl by other publisher contemporar-ies of Burt contain.

A11 my dust jackets have a listing onthe rear cover of titles Burt proclucedas part of the Chinmey Corner series.AIso on the back cover is the numberof titles in the series at that time,an illustration of a partially openAlger book and the 52-58 Duane Streetaclclress. This address likely means thejackets were procluced. between 19OO and1910 since Burt was locatecl there atthat time.

I have a dust jacket for the initlalformat in the Chimney Corner series(ned. Triangle, Number lp), which wasproduced in 19O5 ancl carriecl thirtytitles, all Algers. The dust jacket isalmost identical to the book format forboth the cover ancl spine. The jackethas tan paper containing black d.rawingsand r+ord.ing. On the front cover in thetitle block are the words: I'Chimney

Corner Series By Horatio Alger Jr.rt

with no tit1e. The title is only onthe jacket spine.

The next Chimney Corner format, FisherBoy -- Number 30, was prod.uced. by Burtin I9O7. As in the previous format, thedust jacket d.uplicates the book for-mat. The jacket also has tan paper,black lettering and black llne cle-signs. A few parts of the illustra-tion on the book cover are missing onthe jacket cover. Ancl , similarto theprevious jacket, on the jacket coverthere is no title, only the name of theseries and author.

My thircl jacket is on the Hunter for-mat vhich was introcluced in 1908. Thisjacket also consists of tan paper, blacklettering ancl black line clravings. Itd.iffers some from the previous twojackets in that the titte (Crit) is onthe cover of the jacket as we}l as onthe spine. A big clifference from theprevious jackets is that the jacket hasthe Fisher Boy format and does notcluplicate the book format as the otherjackets have up to this point.

I have seventeen other d.ust jacketsand they aII cover the five Cappecl Heaciformats which were the last five for-mats procluced by Burt as part of theChimney Corner Series. These jacketsare both on tan and" gray paper. The tanjackets cover primarily the l{alker for-mat, the first and only one of the fiveto be producecl in 1910. Apparentlyafter that year, Burt proclucecl graypaper clust jackets r.,hich harl both blackand" blue.line d.ravings and woril.ing. Therear of these dust jackets all show theAlger titles contained in the series,the number of titles, the Duane Streetad.clress, and a partial]y opened Valkerformat illustration with the title TheYounE Explorer.

None of these d.ust jackets show as anillustration on the jacket cover any ofthe Capped Hearl formats. The jacketcover design is similar to the format ofthe 1909 edition of the Joers .LuckSeries by Burt which has a cover illus-tration showing burning torches ancl

May-June

NE1,{SBOY 13

\-

\-

contains eight rlifferent picture ap-pliques. I have no evid.ence to showthat these dust jackets were used alsofor the Joe's Luck Series or for anyother format than the Capped- Head set.But I suspect they were.

One last note about Burt Atger d.ustjackets. I fouad a dust jacket for aBurt book written by Hezekiah Butter-worth which covered- the title: JacktsCarrier Pigeons, publishe.l r" oiIFmany titles in the Wide Awake Series,Stripes format. As you may recall,there was only one Alger in this format,Dan, The Newsbolr. The Stripes formathas six applique covers. My clust jacketis tan paper and shows one of the ap-pliques on the jacket cover along withthe title and authorrs name. The bookitself shows another of the six ap-pliques. f'11 just bet a similar dustjacket exists for @r The Ner{ebpy butit hasn't been found as yet.

I realize this brief cliscussion onlyscratches the surface on the subject ofBurt d-ust jackets. There must be manyof you who have other jackets coveringyour Burt Algers and I'd love to hearfrom you. It will be only through suchcompil-ed information that we will beable to better und.erstand- what d.ustjackets were published by A. L. Burt ashe published books written by HoratioAlger , J'r.

[naitorrs note: Many, many thanks aregiven to Brad for his hard- researchinto the works of A. L. Burt Company.Letrs hope that he stays with this pro-ject--ancl best of luck to any other HAS

members who are unclergoing researchinto our favorite subject--HoratioAtger anil his books._l

x**MORE ON ALGEB PRICES

Bob Williman writes: tr . It seemssuch a common thing that some peopledonrt rrant other:s to possess the knowl-edge that TI{EY have , thaL I wond.er ifitrs human nature to be that way. Ifone can keep another in ignorance, hecan better take advantage of the other

1 985

guy. ff we know what the books areworth, we, as men of good. wilt r+hothink that itrs vrong to take unfairaclvantage of the other guy, should. letthat other guy know so he can getfair treatment in his transactions. Ttworks the other way too. Several timesthe occasion has come about that I havebeen offereal an Alger that I wanted,but at a ridiculous price. If I coulclshow the published value of the book, Imight incluce the seller to let me haveit at a fair price rather than walkingaway without it because of the sellerrsignorance. I have never heard. a valid.argument for maintaining ignorance, andI doubt if anyone will be able to comeup with one now on the matter of Algerbook values. . One guy wrote to meancl wanted. A]gers. He sent me his wanttist. Any Alger collector woulcl beIucky to have any of the titles that helisted. as wanted in good cond.ition. AIIwere scarce to rare. He specified thathe r+ould not pay over $4.00 for Algerbooks ! Maybe he is able to buy anAlger at HIS prlce from time to time,but every time he does, he takes ad-vantage of the ignorance of the seller.'r

Incid"entally, Bob writes that he wasoffered. a signeil, first edition Algerrecently, with a price tag of a illowthree-figurefr sum. The book: a Hurstcopy of Making His Way, with a signa-ture scrawled across the title page thatwas definitely NOT Alger's ! !

**t(I came across a new book recently--

l{ho Lived I{here: A Biographical Guid.eto Homes u,na Mus",--"ffi.,F;"m; Fir"-mlf"aiiorr=, 1983].' lr-ger's home in Marlborough is includ.ecl,as his the family house in Natick and.the Parsonage there. Atso mentioned.are some of his ad.d.resses in New yorkCity. An interesting book.

*tcxHAS member Dick Bales sent in a

clipping from the November 12, 1984 is-sue of Linnrs Stamp News. The articledea.ls with collecting stamps relatingto shoes, and. a picture of the A1gerstamp is includ.ed, r+ith the note that attshoeshine boy appears in the design.rl

14 NEWSBOY

REFLECTIONSby Kenneth B. Butler

Co-founder, Iloratio Alger Society

Creativity has been a basic urge in myIife, ancl it all startecl back in 1910when, as an eight-year-olcl boy, I read abook called, Brave and. BoId., by HoratioAlger. It inspirerl my ambitions and Iread- more and more of his ta1es. I ventthrough gracle school, high school, and.through college at the University of\{isconsin. f took to writing, but in ad.ifferent sense, for I was spebializingin journalism. Along with textbooks Igathered. books by Alger.

Thus, in 196I, when my father, a lettercarrier in Kalamazoo, Michigan, intro-ducerl me to a fellow-postman, ForrestCampbell, who also liked. Alger's works.Our frienclship brought acquaintance-ships vith other clevotees. I hatlsverved to the printing business atMendota, Illinois. Forrest anti I gota clozen or so of these A1ger fans to agathering at Mendota, and had itincorporated uncler the statutes of thestate of Illinois.

Forrest erlited" and proclueecl a bulletinon his mimeograph machine, r,rhich wenamed the Newsboy. Our club grew at anamazing pace, not only in number.s but ingeographical locations. Annual get-togethers grew ancl grerr. f became ac-quainted. r+ith a young student from thisa,Tea, Jack Ba1es, and Jack took over theeditorship of Newsboy. Ralph Garclnercame into the picture early, and hisbooks on Alger were printecl at WaysiclePress, my printing plant in Mend.ota.These books attracted. more and more A1-ger buffs to our growing Society.

As my Alger book collection was growing,I got into antique automobiles, and vhenI got the inspiration in the late 196Ostc create a museum, most naturally fincluderl a book store in our olcl-timeMain Street of shops, and. of course thefeature d.isplay as one enterecl the bookshop rras the Alger display. But mY

principal collection fillecl a huge book-case in my home. I dlcln't go into first

ed.itions, but I tried for bright cond.i-tion and" as many titles as f couldpro cure .

Jack Balesr long-time ed.iting ofNewsboy is an Alger story in itself.It is sad to see him shortly to takeleave, but the vork he passes on willprove a challenge to another genera-tion of Alger buffs.

**)eRANDOM REPORTS FROM ALGERLAND

by Jack Bales

*Scharnhorst, Gary and Bales, Jack.The lost life of Horatio Alger, Jr. Apr. 1985.p2ap.) illus. lndiana Unir,., $]7.95(0-253-14915-0). Calle.v.

We all knorv that a Horatio Alger story is abouta poor boy whose driving ambition and clever-ness enable him to become a rich, pou.erful tr'-coon, right? \tr/rong. Alger's most famous, tvpi-cal, and successful tale, Ragged Dick, is about astreet kid rvho, r.r'ith the help of a concernedman, learns hou,to be clean. decent, and on theroad to the middle class (rags-to-respectabilitr'.not to riches) . Our misconceptions about Algerdon't stop with his works. The first biographvof the u,riter rvas a fabrication, and none offour later biogranhers either checked the first'sfacts or searched for any other data themselves,Nearly everything that's been u.ritten abouthim is bunk. Scharnhorst and Bales expose aliprevious "authorities" and provide a massivelvdocumented first genuine biographl,'. It's live-Iier than the life it treats-Alger's orvn storvwas no more a rags-to-riches romance thanwere his books-and it's a u,onderful demon-stration of how ideological blinders and jour-nalistic hackrvork can turn mere ignorance intowhopping lies. To be indexed. RO.813'.1 (B) Alger. Horatio I Authors, American-19thcenturl, -Biographv IOCLCl 8{-.18295

Above is a review of Gary Scharnhorstrsand my nev book (the review is from theApril I issue of Booklist, a publica-tion of the American Library Associa-tion). fndiana University ?ress may beable to supply discounts to all HAS

members who vant to purchase the book.More on this when f knov details. Thereis one correction in the review--the bookis by Gary Scharnhorst with Jack Bales,not rrand. Jack Bales.rt

HAS member Dick Durnbaugh writes that

May-June

NEl{SBOY 15

\-

\-

he has bought a store building "to putmy trains and books in. Hope to have achildren t s museum somed-ay. tr

New member George Locko is interestedin buying first ed.itions, so any memberswith books for sale, please contacthim. (His aclclress is 4485 Ho1ty TrueLane, lfilmington, N.C. 284$). Georgealso notes that rtl r.v'as alr,rays profoundlyinterested. in Horatio Alger and neverknew that the IIAS existed until re-cently, through DaIe Thomas. Betterlate than never.tt

BIG NEWS FOR STRATEMEYEB FANS--PeterI{alther writes: rtlfent to a bookstoreover the lreekend.. As it turns out, itis run by the same person rv'ho went clownto New York in the faII ancl inventoriedthe entire archives of the StratemeyerSynd.icate, and boy, d.id. he have somestories to tell! Stratemeyer it seemed.never threr.r anything away, and the 250carclboarcl boxes must attest to this.Inc1uded are letters by Foster, Rath-bone, Garis, as weII as from the pub-lishers (G&D, Mershon, I&S, etc.), andalso letters as he said by ?'Mrs. Algerrr--but I think he must have meant Mrs.Cheney, right? AIso, two or three fited.rawers fuIl of manuscripts, some un-published-, as r+ell as music and azillion letters. After telllng JackDizer about this we both almost had acoronary over the phone.rt

Bill Russell sent in a page fromI,lg Life and I, an autobiography by PautHutchens, author of the rrsugar CreekGangrr books. 0n page 35--from thefirst page of the chapter titled.I'Oats and Wild Oatsr'--Hutchens writes:I'The Hutchens library was vetl suppliedwith Horatio Alger books which inter-vove with thein+holesome adventures;strong principles of courage, honesty,courtesy and thrift. . Especiallydid I admire the courage and keenthinking of Mark Mason and And,y Gordonland even in those early d.ays, I began tobe polite, to tip my hat to the lad,iesancl to be amtitious to be like thestrong, clean young men of those books.t?

The Howards S. Cullman Fellor+ship

1 985

was award.ed, last November by theCommissioners of The Port Authorityof Nen, York and New Jersey to IIASmember Peter J. Eckel, a cinematog-rapher for the bi-state agency. Peterwill assess the use of electronictechnology by major regional corpora-tions and develop a collection ofvideotape cassettes and associated.reference materials that will serveas a resource for the teaching of thefund,amentals of vid.eotape prod,uctionwithin the Port Authority. Congratu-lations, Peter! !

HAS member ZeLLa Fry regularly givestalks on Horatio Alger, and we appre-ciate her continual support.

fnterested. in series books? Therersa new orga,nizations callecl the SeriesBook CoIIector's Society, sponsoreil--or uncler the auspices of--HAS memberGiI 0'Gara ancl hi-s Yellowback Library.Hardy Boys coll" "toTJIffi-EIIu.hi" i"the new Presid.ent. 'Write lnirr- at 5ZTOMoceri Lane, Grand- Blanc, Michigan48439.

I recently read a fascinating articleon HAS member Herman Kurland, r+hich vasin the April 16, L975 (10 years ago)issue of the Columbia Press. Herman isa }ong-time environmentalist, and thevery Iengthy articles clescribes his manyactivities.

Jack Schorr, 853 So. Lemon St.,Anaheim, Ca1if. 92805, writes that hehas some Algers for sale. The 1O booksare all to be sold. in one lots, for$25 ptus $2 postage. AtI are in verygood. condition, and all are from Super-iorrs Alger Series. The books are:#4, Bents Nugget; #6, Frank Fowlerl#13, Paul Prescott's Charge, #12, JacobMarlowers Secret, #16, The Store Boy (2copies); #Zl, The young Explorer, #?,6,Phil , the Ficldl er; #41, Mark Masonr sYictory; #+2, l, Cousin's ConspiTacy.

Jack also encloserl with his letter anewspaper clipping about a 93-year-oldwoman working on her high schoot d.iptoma.He notes that I'this sure portrays theAlger characterts d.etermination. tt

16 NEWSBOY ISSN OO2B-%96

AL6R, Horatio. Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in New York. Boston: Ioring,lI86Bj . First edffi of Fare and Fortuneas due "In Decsnber". Octa6. Origjnal purple cloth. Sfigfrt-Effifl to--spine ard to parts of crcvers, but a rsnarkably fine, clean cogg of tkri-ss-c.tce iten. Galrdner, p. I03. $1250'00

Rolfe Chase sent in the above ad from the Heritage Bookshop in Los Angeles.He writes: rtCan you believe the price?rr

Bracl Chase sent in an article from theNovember/December 1984 issue of TheRoyal Bank kjt"r, publishecl by theRoyal Bank of Canada. Entitletl rrA

Sense of Achievementrrr the articletliscusses Algerrs philosophy ancl works.

Nineteenth Cenlgg Literature g4ti-

"iffi a rerererrce uoottffi"" by GaIe Research Company inDetroit. The latest volume has a verylong section on Horatio A1ger, Jr.,which includ.es a goocl biographical essayon him, plus an annotatecl bibliographyof vorks about him. A multi-pagesection--in Volume 8 of the series--itoffers some excellent commentary andevaluation.

*)C*

BOOK MART

The listing of Alger books in thisdepartment is free to HAS members.Thus, it is assumed. that all books canbe returneti if the buyer is not satis-fiecl rrith them. Please Iist title,publisher, cond.ition, and price. Ifbook for sale is a f irst etlition, givebibliography used to determine same.

Offered by Gary Leveille, 128 1{illiamsAve., I{insted., Conn. 06098. AIl booksare $4.00 each.

Luke -Wa1ton

Strong and SteadyYoung MinerYoung ExplorerYoung ExplorerChester RandDriven From Home

Joers LuckDan the NewsboySamts ChancePaul the PeddlerHectorrs InheritanceFacing the ltiorld.Making His I[ayMaking His I{ayOnly an Irish BoSr

Brave and" BoIcIStrive and Succeed

HurstDonohueHurstA. L. BurtNer,, York BookA. L. BurtHurstHurstA. L. BurtA. L. BurtI{instonHurstDonohueA. L. BurtNew York BookNew York BookNew York BookNew York Book

AIso, Gary has for sale The Newsboy?artners, by Frank l{ebster (Cupp1es andLe;n), and. I{atch and .Ifait (with anewsboy on correr, published by Hurst),by 0liver Optic.

Shifting for HimselfJackr s l{ard.Herbert Carterrs LegacyHerbert Carter's LegacyStrong and Stead.yTom Thatcher's FortuneErie Train BoyYoung SalesmanJecI , the Poorhouse BoyLuke Walton

Fed.eralIfinstonMershonNer,r York BookMershonA. L. BurtHurstA. L. BurtDonohueDonohue

Other books for sale includ.e theones owned. by Jack Schorr--see noticeon page 15 in this issue.

.**

I received, a nice note from FlorenceOgilvie Schnell (whose grandfatherpublished. some of Alger's books)l Sheis one of the youngest itsenior citizensrrI know (I put the term in quotes be-cause f rve alr+ays d.islikecl that phrase).Though she vill miss the convention thisyear, she asks to be rememberetl to allher friencls. She will be travellingabroad this year, as she has d.one somany times in the past. Speaking ofthe convention, by the time you readthis it rrill be over. My best wishesto all who attencled.!