Summary
Overview
Archives of Story Magazine and Story Press
151 linear feet, 256 archival boxes, 7 cartons, 8 packages
This collection is stored at Firestone Library and Firestone Library.
This collection is stored onsite at Firestone Library. Original Ernest Hemingway materials in box 9, folder 1, and original J. D. Salinger materials in box 14, folders 25-26; box 27, folder 22; box 35, folders 12-13; box 37, folder 24; and box 78, folder 19
are stored in special vault facilities.
Requests will be delivered to Manuscripts Division, RBSC Reading Room
.
Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections
Manuscripts Division
One Washington Road
Princeton, New Jersey 08544 USA
Abstract
Consists of the fairly complete working business files of the original Story and other related publishing ventures of owner-editors Martha Foley and Whit and Hallie Burnett, and the new Story author files of Richard and Lois Rosenthal. Included are editorial and personal correspondence, business and financial records, and artwork.
Description
Description
The collection consists of the fairly complete working business files of the original Story (1931-1967) and other related publishing ventures of owner-editors Martha Foley, Whit and Hallie Burnett, and the new Story (1989-1999) author files of Richard and Lois Rosenthal. The collection includes editorial and personal correspondence, business and financial records, and artwork. Among the numerous writers represented in the files are Ludwig Bemelmans, Erskine Caldwell, Truman Capote, Joseph Heller, Norman Mailer, Carson McCullers, William Peden, J. D. Salinger, William Saroyan, Jesse Stuart, and Tennessee Williams, plus new writers who have gone on to garner literary acclaim since 1989. Special format materials consist of photographs, scrapbooks, phonograph records and tape recordings, and printed materials.
Collection Creator
History
Story magazine was founded in 1931 by journalist and editor Whit Burnett and his first wife, Martha Foley. The inaugural April/May 1931 issue of Story (167 copies) was printed on an old mimeograph machine in Vienna, Austria, and featured short stories by new authors. In 1933, the printing of Story was moved to New York City. Burnett and Foley created The Story Press in 1936. By the late 1930s, Story's circulation had reached as high as 21,000 copies. Authors discovered and published by Story in those early, fruitful years included Joseph Heller, J. D. Salinger, Tennessee Williams, and Richard Wright. Story also published the early work of such authors as Carson McCullers, William Saroyan, and Ludwig Bemelmans, and sponsored numerous awards, including W.P.A., Armed Forces, and an annual college fiction contest.
Beginning in 1942, Burnett's second wife, Hallie Southgate Burnett, collaborated with him on both The Story Press and Story, with the latter publishing the early work of Norman Mailer, Truman Capote, and John Knowles. In the early 1950s, Story was briefly published in book form. The original magazine format returned in 1960, and endured until publication was suspended in 1967 due to a lack of funds. However, Story's name continued to live on through the Story College Creative Awards, of which Whit Burnett was director from 1966 to 1971.
After a twenty-year hiatus, Story was revived as a quarterly magazine by publisher Richard Rosenthal and editor Lois Rosenthal, also a husband and wife team, who fulfilled their promise to Whit Burnett that they would relaunch Story one day. This new version of Story was published from 1989 to 1999, under the auspices of F & W Publications in Cincinnati, Ohio. Story was a five-time finalist and two-time winner of the National Magazine Award for fiction, and had a circulation of over 40,000 subscribers. The Rosenthals carried on the Story tradition of publishing a mix of well-known authors, such as Andrea Barrett, Barry Lopez, Joyce Carol Oates, and Carol Shields, and new authors, such as Junot Díaz, Elizabeth Graver, and Abraham Rodriguez. In late 1999, owing to the impending sale of F & W Publications, the Rosenthals made the decision to end their stewardship of Story with the publication of a final Winter 2000 issue.
1931
Story is founded by Whit Burnett and his first wife, Martha Foley, in Vienna. 1932Story is printed in Palma, Majorca.1933
Story transfers its printing to New York City. 1936The Story Press is founded in New York1942Hallie Burnett, Whit Burnett's second wife, becomes co-editor of
Story and The Story Press. 1948Publication of
Story magazine is suspended (due to financial difficulties). 1951
Story is published in book form (until 1953). 1960
Story is reactivated by Whit and Hallie Burnett (with William Peden and Richard Wathen Princeton '39 as associate editors). 1966
Story is acquired by Scholastic Magazines, Inc. 1967Publication of
Story is suspended by the Burnetts. 1989
Story magazine and The Story Press is relaunched by Richard and Lois Rosenthal in Cincinnati, Ohio. 1999The Rosenthals end their publication of
Story with the Winter 2000 issue.
Collection History
Acquisition
Princeton University Library made the initial purchase from Whit and Hallie Burnett in 1965, which was later followed by gifts from William Peden in 1969, Hallie Burnett Zeisel in 1979, a bequest from the estate of Hallie Burnett Zeisel in 1998, and a gift by Richard and Lois Rosenthal in 1999.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Sylvia Yu and Heather Shannon in 2000. Finding aid written by Sylvia Yu and Heather Shannon in 2000.
Bibliography
Wallace Stevens' letters were published in the Glenn MacLeod article "A New Version of Wallace Stevens," Princeton University Library Chronicle, XLI(1):22-29, Autumn 1979.
Bibliography
Most of the information in the historical note is summarized and compiled from “What's STORY magazine? - A Brief History,” published on the Writer's Digest website at: http://www.writersdigest.com,as well as from the Gale Literary Databases and the Story collection files.
Princeton University Library Finding Aids 
View Entire Finding Aid
Download Finding Aid