William J. Benners Papers
Call Number
Dates
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
William J. Benners, (1863-1940), was a writer, publisher, and historian of dime novels, a class of popular fiction that flourished in the mid to late nineteenth century and into the early twentieth. The William J. Benners Papers consist of letters to Benners from family members, various authors, and publishers, fragments of dime novel manuscripts, several research and accounting notebooks, and miscellany such as scrapbooks and photos. The collection includes material on and belonging to Benners gathered by Ralph Adimari during Adimari's extensive research on the history of the dime novel. It also includes some personal papers of dime novel authors Charles Garvice and Emma A. B. Sharkey (pseud. Mrs. E. Burke Collins), and publisher Frank Tousey.
Biographical Note
William James Benners, Jr. (1863-1940) was a writer, publisher, and historian of dime novels, a class of popular fiction that flourished in the mid- and late-nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century. Benners, also a poet, actor, and avid traveler, maintained correspondence with many dime novel authors, aimed to compile a directory of popular writers, bought and sold stories and publishing rights, and penned some dime novels of his own.
Benners was born in Philadelphia on September 27, 1863, the son of William, Sr. and Frances Ann. He had two brothers, Harry H. and A. Eugene, and a sister Novella. At an early age Benners showed an affinity for the literary arts, and was not much interested in working at his family's lumber business.
Benners was an avid reader of dime novels from age eight and read romances later in life. At ten he wrote his first poem, and at 25 he began writing some serials for George Munro's New York Fireside Companionand later for the Chicago Ledger. His professional writing career did not last long, but he was a devoted letter-writer for much of his life. It was when Benners was about thirty that he began his "vast letter correspondence with the popular writers of the day," according to Ralph Adimari in his biography of Benners in Dime Novel Round-Up. (Two copies of DNR Vol. 26, No. 9 are housed in Fales; one is part of the Ralph Adimari Papers.) The romance novelists Emma Burke Collins, Alex McVeigh Miller and Mary R. Estey were his most faithful correspondents. After his death a bulk of Benners's correspondence was destroyed by his nieces because of concern over their personal content. Ralph Cummings, the DNRUeditor who nursed Benners in his last years and referred to the man as Uncle Billee, wrote to Adimari that Benners's nieces "didn't believe in his letters falling into other hands. They were putting stuff on the fire when I discovered what they were doing. I sure was lucky to get what I really did."
Benners planned to create a directory of dime novel and romance authors--a formidable task considering that so many writers published under pseudonyms, and different writers often used the same pseudonym--but this project never went beyond the research stage. He did, however, begin enterprising as a literary agent and a buyer and seller of stories and publishing rights. Adimari recounts that in 1902 Benners purchased the entire output of the Leslie Company, publisher of the juvenile magazines Frank Leslie's Boys and Girls Weekly, Frank Leslie's Young American, and Frank Leslie's Boys of America.Two months later he sold the Leslie material to William H. Gannett for $950. It is not known how much of that sum was profit, but we do know that Benners profited handsomely selling the stories of romance writer Charlotte M. Brame, who wrote under the pseudonym Bertha M. Clay. According to Adimari, who consulted Benners's accounting books, "he was paid from $15 for a short story up to $300 for a serial. So that sales may have reached higher than $10,000... When Ralph Cummings gave me part of the William J. Benners collection, at least one-third of the notes were devoted to Clay-Brame productions and in many letters to others he lauds her stories to the skies." Brame penned some 200 titles as Bertha Clay. Indeed, the Clay brand was so lucrative that several other authors went on to produce hundreds of stories using this nom de plume, including Benners himself.
Adimari writes: "Although Benners had many sweethearts he never married." He was engaged to Laura Jean Libby, a romance writer, from 1891-1893 but they were not wed. In a 1958 letter to Adimari from Ralph Cummings, Cummings writes that, "according to what Uncle Billee [Benners] told me, was that Laura Jean Libby wanted his $3 or $5000.00 ring to wear, and he wouldn't let her have it, so that was the end of there [sic] romance, so he told me, as he has been going with her for quite some time." After a long illness, Benners died on April 4, 1940 in his native Philadelphia.
References:
Adimari, Ralph. "William J. Benners: The First Historian of the Dime Novel." Dime Novel Round-up, Vol. 26, No. 9, September 15, 1958.
Arrangement
Series IA consists of correspondence grouped into folders for each correspondent. The folders are arranged alphabetically by the correspondent's last name; within each folder the letters are arranged chronologically.
Series IBconsists of undated galleys and manuscript fragments arranged alphabetically by the author's last name.
Series ICconsists of miscellaneous items including cancelled checks, notes and photos relating to Benners's friend, writer Charles Garvice, several undated notebooks, including many that had been reused and annotated by Ralph Adimari, a birthday album for Emma Tell, a personal scrapbook, and a bound collection of serials.
Missing Title
- Series IA: Correspondence, 1869-1940
- Series IB: Galleys and Manuscripts
- Series IC: Notebooks and Miscellany
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists of personal correspondence from Benners's family and many dime novel authors, business correspondence from publishers, manuscript fragments, financial records and cancelled checks, notebooks, scrapbooks, and photographs.
Subjects
Genres
People
Access Restrictions
Materials are open without restrictions. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Use Restrictions
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, which was created by William J. Benners, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); William J. Benners Papers; MSS 548; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.
Location of Materials
Provenance
The William J. Benners Papers were acquired by Edward G. Levy, the dime novel collector who made large donations of dime novels to Fales, from Ralph Adimari, editor and historian, in November 1964. Adimari had obtained Benners's letters and notes throughout the 1950s from Ralph F. Cummings, the Dime Novel Round-Upeditor who nursed Benners at the end of his life. Levy also purchased parts of Benners's dime novel collection directly from Cummings. In 1970 Levy wrote to dime novel historian J. Edward Leithead: "As you may know, I wound up with most of William J. Benners's literary estate--about 2/3 of the items in my gift [to Fales] came from that source." Levy donated the Benners Papers to Fales in 1966.
About this Guide
Revisions to this Guide
Edition of this Guide
Repository
Series I A: Correspondence, 1869-1940.
Scope and Contents note
Correspondence to Benners from publishers and individuals.
The American Boy [William C. Sprague], 1906-1907
Baer, Lucy A.; [aka "Kate Hill", "K.F. Hill"], 1914-1922
Benners, Alfred E. [brother], 1890-1910
Benners, Mrs. F [mother], 1894-1902
Benners, Novella [sister], 1902-1923
Benners, William J. Sr. [father], 1884-1892
Bennett, Emerson, 1899-1901
Carrigan, Franklin P., 1925
Collins, E. Burke, 1893-1897
Collins, E. Burke, 1895-1898
General note
Various publishers to E. Burke Collins.
Comfort, Lucy Randall, 1909
Corey, Frank A., 1896-1928
Crowell, Mary R., 1919
Currier Publishing [George H. Currier], 1907
Digman's Magazine [E.J. Wood], 1907
Dumont, Frank, 1901
Estey, Mary R. [aka Clara Percy], 1914-1919
Gannett, W.H. [Comfort Magazine], 1902-1909
Hanshaw, Thomas W., 1910-1911
Heustis, Charles H., 1911
Holmes, Mary Jane, 1902
Homefolks Publishing, 1884-1892
Hubbard, Alice, 1913
Jacobs, George W., 1901-1907
Jones, Emma Garrison, 1891-1917
The Ladies' Favorite Magazine [J. Hodgkinson], 1907
Ladies' Home Journal, 1894-1902
Lupton, F.M. [People's Home Journal; Good Literature], 1892-1910
McIntyre, John T., 1918
McKendry, Caroline E. [pseud: M.J. Calder], 1869-1886
General note
To Mrs. C.E.M. from Frank Leslie's publishing.
McKendry, Caroline E. [pseud: M.J. Calder], 1850-1916, n.d.
General note
From various others; to Benners from C.E.M.'s niece.
Miller, Alice M. [pseud: Sister Mittie], 1890, 1902
General note
1890 letter to Benners includes story outline. 1902 letter has Adimari notation.
Munro Publishing, 1889-1921, n.d.
New York Ledger, 1893
Saturday Evening Post, 1890-1919
Sawyer, Eugene T., 1922
Sheldon, Mrs. Georgie [pseud: Mrs. S.E. Downe], 1892-1920
Stanley, Charlotte M., 1892
Stoddard, William O., 1902
Street & Smith, 1869-1899
Street & Smith, 1900-1903
Street & Smith, 1904-1917
Street & Smith [to C.E. McKendry], 1870-1885
Stuart, Marguerite B. [pseud: Mary Stuart Broadbent], 1919
General note
Various publishers to E. Burke Collins.
Taylor, Annie J.D. [pseud: Leslie], 1910
Vickery & Hill, 1895-1907
Waggaman, Mary T., 1916-1919
Walsh, Maurice C., 1916-1919
White, Matthew Jr., 1902-1914
Wight, Emma H., 1914-1919
Miscellaneous, 1881-1899
Miscellaneous, 1900-1910
Miscellaneous, 1911-1920
Miscellaneous, 1921-1940
Miscellaneous, n.d.
Business and legal correspondence, 1901, 1907, 1912
General note
1907 legal document has Adimari notation.
Series I B: Galleys and manuscripts.
Scope and Contents note
This series contains galleys and partial manuscripts for various dime novels.
Galleys and biographical sketch, 1894
General note
Galleys for Mary E. Bryan's A Modern Heathen, with notes by Benners; letter to Benners from publisher George Munro's Sons; biographical sketch of Bryan taken from the New York Ledger (with an Adimari notation).
Manuscript fragment, n.d.
General note
One page of MS for The Haunted Bayouby E. Burke Collins.
Manuscript fragment, n.d.
General note
Partial MS of an untitled piece by unknown author, with Adimari notation ("This may be E. Burke Collins?... Mrs. Miller?").
Manuscript fragment, n.d.
General note
First page of MS for Willful Goldie's Love Dreamby Daisy Darling.
Series I C: Notebooks and Miscellany.
Scope and Contents note
Series IC contains several of Benners's notebooks, many of which were later annotated and reused by Ralph Adimari. Other ephemera (photos, scrapbooks, etc.) relating to Benners is also included.
Legal Agreement [Frank Leslie Publishing House], 1902
Manuscript: Benners biography, n.d.
General note
MS for a biographical sketch of Benners by E. Burke Collins.
Cancelled checks, 1894-1916
General note
Cancelled checks, signed by Benners, issued by the Philadelphia Trust, Safe Deposit and Insurance Company.
Garvice, Charles, n.d.
General note
Notes, photos, and ads relating to British dime-novel author and friend of Benners, Charles Garvice.
Notebook, n.d.
General note
List of serials and prices.
Notebook, n.d.
General note
List of titles, miscellaneous notes.
Notebook, n.d.
General note
Small memo book with Adimari's written label on first page: "Titles and Names up to 1929."
Notebook, n.d.
General note
Benners's notebook with extensive notes by Adimari. Contents include: list of titles by publisher (Adimari); list of authors; one-page biography of Laura Jean Libby by Benners.
Emma Tell birthday album, n.d.
General note
An album of handwritten poems dedicated to Emma Tell.
Personal scrapbook, n.d.
General note
Benners's personal scrapbook of clippings.
Book of stories, 1896-1916
General note
A bound volume of stories culled from various serials. Includes pieces from The Strand Magazineand Detective Story Magazine.
Notebook, n.d.
General note
A book of bibliographical notes by Benners, later annotated and reused by Adimari.
Notebook, n.d.
General note
Benners's notebook labeled "Expense Account", later used extensively by Adimari.