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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2012
It is not often—perhaps fortunately—that Baker Library receives a collection totaling four tons. That was the approximate weight of material brought by moving van from Augusta, Maine, this past May. The four tons comprised the paper remains—apparently untouched since the early nineteen-hundreds—of the E. C. Allen mail-order and publishing house, which flourished in Augusta during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Of the four tons, approximately one and a half are represented by bound and unbound files of Home and Fireside, Sunshine, Golden Moments, and the dozen other farm and home magazines published by Allen and his associates. Another ton consists of the oleographs, or colored reproductions of oil paintings, distributed as premiums or as mail-order offerings. The remaining ton and a half is the measure of the business records, bound and unbound, with which we are here chiefly concerned. It is expected that the full story of the enterprise will be told later, possibly by someone working for a Ph.D. degree. But before describing the collection itself, and some of the incidents met in its arrangement, a brief account of E. C. Allen's activities will be helpful.
1 For many facts about the concern the writer is indebted to Edward A. Whitney, a nephew of Mr. Allen's and the donor of the collection. Allen's own advertisements and his circular letters to agents, always colorful and personal, also reveal much about the man and his methods. The “C” in his name was used for the convenience of signing only.
2 George P. Rowell, founder of Printers' Ink tells in Forty Years an Advertising Agent (pp. 196–198) of Allen's early success in selling a recipe for making soap.
3 Allen was a guardian of True's children.
4 He published the first parallel Bible printed in this country, placing the Authorized Version of 1611 and the Revised Version of the 1880's in parallel columns on the page. Mr. Whitney reports that his uncle was particularly proud of this publication.
5 Rowell, in the publication previously cited, tells how Allen, about 1870, asked him to place an advertisement in every newspaper in the country. Rowell estimated this would cost $30,000, and Allen paid cash, obtaining a 5 per cent discount.
6 P. O. Vickery, C. E. Nash, and Sprague & Son were also publishing in Augusta at this time; therefore the statement in the American Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking (1894) is on the conservative side. It calls Augusta “a very important printing and publishing center. The volume of work done there probably exceeds that of any other town of the same size in the Union.” Vickery was at one time in Allen's employ.
7 A typed memoir of E. C. Allen, written after his death, states that he made this enterprise a going concern. Some shipping accounts and letters are in the collection.
8 Mr. Whitney's father was business manager of the company for fifteen years. Samuel W. Lane, one time mayor of Augusta, had also worked for E. C. Allen, as head of the editorial department.
9 Someone had many years ago removed the more valuable stamps. Enclosures had of course also been removed, but collections of damaged Canadian stamps and of worn, and possibly counterfeit, fractional or postal currency were found.
10 H. Hallett & Co. were strict about the habits of their employees. At least there is in the collection a temperance pledge signed by C. F. Fuller, Clerk.
11 There are a few letters from Ingraham and from Phoebe A. Hanaford, a wellknown woman minister and author, in the collection.
12 Baker Library possesses an incomplete file of Comfort Magazine, published by Gannett, a rival of Allen's in Augusta. Reference to Gannett's magazine will further show the historian the type of material, particularly advertising, popular at the time.