The People Behind the Medal: John Newbery, Frederic G. Melcher, and Clara Whitehill Hunt

Abstract

In 1918, an idealistic forty-year-old bookseller from New England named Frederic G. Melcher arrived in New York to begin a new phase of his career as managing editor of The Publishers’ Weekly (PW), the publishing trade journal of record.

Melcher was not just a genial and dedicated bookman but also a tenacious industry advocate and an institution-builder of wide-ranging vision. Melcher always seemed to have energy to burn. During his early years at the magazine, he also served as secretary of the American Booksellers Association (1918-1920), co-founded Children’s Book Week (1919), and in 1920 helped lay plans for the National Association of Book Publishers, where he acted as that organization’s first executive secretary (1920-1924).