Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Harry N. Abrams

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.abrams72
Creators:
Abrams, Harry N.
Cummings, Paul
Dates:
1972 March 14
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1 Sound tape reel
Sound recording
5 in.
29 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Harry N. Abrams conducted 1972 March 14, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art. Abrams speaks of his educational background including classes at the National Academy of Design, the Art Students League, and New York University. He recalls his book designs, advertising and mail orders for Schwab and Beatty (1928-1936) and the Book-of-the-Month Club (1936-1950) and his association with Illustrated Modern Library and Illustrated Junior Library.
Scope and Contents
He discusses the organization and early problems of the Abrams Publishing Company, paperback reprints, translations, foreign publications and successful titles. Abrams speaks of the Abradale Press, the Norman Rockwell series, the Contemporary Painters series; and the characteristics of book club and bookstore customers. The interview concludes with a description of his art collection.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Harry N. Abrams (1905-1979) was a publisher from New York, New York.

Administration

Immediate Source of Acquisition
This interview is part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 1 hr.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Art publishing -- New York (State) -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Publishers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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