Series II.I. Office of the President: Corporate Special Projects Staff: Edgar P. Smith Files, 1960-1966, inclusive
Extent
Scope and Contents
Edgar Smith's files document his work for the President's Office pursuing new business ventures for Time Inc. including new magazine development and subsidiary acquisitions. His folder "Magazine search: Industrial" contains a copy of the advertisement Time Inc. placed in the Wall Street Journal in 1960 stating that an "Established publishing company wishes to buy or acquire interest in promising trade or general circulation magazines..."
Records include correspondence of proposals and ideas forwarded to Smith by other Time Inc. executives such as Chairman of the Board Andrew Heiskell, President James Linen, Time Publisher Bernard Auer, and Manfred Gottfried, part of the original Time Inc. staff and in a corporate develoment role similar to Smith; correspondence with other publishing companies; and background information on the companies and their products. Records regarding a range of pursuits are in "New investments" and "Magazine search."
The "New investments" folders includes records on the Silver Burdett textbook publishing company acquisition, possible acquisition of the Berlitz Schools of Languages, the sale of Time Inc.'s magazines Architectural Forum and House & Home, a declination from Houghton Mifflin for a merger with Time Inc., along with other possible magazine or book publisher acquisitions.
Arrangement
Organized alphabetically with arrangement imposed by the archivist.
Biographical Note
Edgar P. Smith joined Time Inc. in 1946 as a Fortune writer. He was promoted to Fortune assistant managaing editor in 1952, and is credited with developing the "Annual Directory of the 500 Largest Corporations" also known as the Fortune 500. In 1957, he was appointed as the Architectural Forum managing editor to work on its "reorganization and redirection."
In February 1959, Time Inc. President Roy E. Larsen announced Smith was transferring to the Office of the President to work on several corporate special projects. The main project cited in his bio file is the acquisition of the textbook publishing firm Silver Burdett Co. It was acquired by Time Inc. as an operating division in 1962.
In 1962 Smith joined Time-Life Broadcasting, Inc. as a vice president in charge of broadcasting. He later worked on Time Inc.'s cable television interests and retired in 1975.
Citations:
"Edgar Smith, 69, Dies; Retired Time Executive." New York Times (New York, NY), October 12, 1989, http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/12/obituaries/edgar-smith-69-dies-retired-time-executive.html.
Time Inc. Bio Files, MS 3009-RG 2, New-York Historical Society.