Rivers of America Series - History

History

The Rivers of America Series started in 1937 with the publication of Kennebec: Cradle of Americans by Robert P. Tristram Coffin, and ended in 1974 with the publication of The American: River of El Dorado by Margaret Sanborn.

Constance Lindsay Skinner initially conceived the series. She was also the first series editor. Skinner wrote an essay that was included in early volumes of the series in which she describes it as follows:

"This is to be a literary and not a historical series. The authors of these books will be novelists and poets. On them, now in America, as in all lands and times, rests the real responsibility of interpretation. If the average American is less informed about his country than any other national, knows and cares less about its past and about its present in all sections but the one where he resides, it is because books prepared for his instruction were not written by artists."

Skinner's unique vision extended to twenty-four volumes, but the series proved so popular that sixty-five volumes were eventually published over a 37-year period.

The publisher, Farrar & Rinehart, shepherded the project through four editors, and the publisher's evolution to Rinehart & Company and later Holt, Rinehart and Winston. The editors of the series were Constance Lindsay Skinner, who died at her desk editing the sixth volume in the series, Carl Carmer, who wrote the sixth volume in the series, Stephen Vincent Benét, and Hervey Allen. Associate editors were Elizabeth L. Gilman and Jean Crawford. The art editors were Ruth E. Anderson, Faith Ball, Benjamin Feder, Philip Fiorello and Lawrence S. Kamp.

The sixty-five books included in the series represent a wide cross section of writers and illustrators. The series' editors sought out poets, novelists, historians, and illustrators to produce a product that would be a literary sketch rather than a historical tome. For the most part, the editors were successful in bringing the folk life of America alive through the lens of the flowing of America's rivers.

The series includes the first book illustrated by Andrew Wyeth, The Brandywine; Marjory Stoneman Douglas' The Everglades: River of Grass which successfully focused public attention on the plight of the Everglades; Paul Horgan's Great River: The Rio Grande in America History, considered the definitive study of the early Southwest; and poet Edgar Lee Masters' The Sangamon.

The series represents one of the finest long-term efforts by a publisher to blend the talents of both writers and artists to present a tribute to the rivers that played such a vital role in the development of America. A testament to the editors' outstanding work is the fact that many of these volumes continue to be reprinted and the original editions are now considered highly collectible.

On April 9 and 10, 1997, a group of Rivers of America authors and illustrators were brought together by the Library of Congress to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the series. The Library of Congress published an Information Bulletin highlighting the celebration on June 7, 1997.