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Street & Smith Collection

An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: MRC
Date: 8 Mar 2017

Biographical History

Street & Smith, or Street and Smith Publications, Inc., was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks, magazines, and comic books. Founded in 1855 by Francis Scott Street and Francis Shubael Smith, most of their publications were of the type known as "pulp fiction" and "dime novels."

Among its pulp fiction periodicals, Street & Smith published adventure and sea stories (Air Trails, Do and Dare Weekly, Red Raven Library, Sea Stories Magazine, Tiptop Weekly); detective and mystery stories (Clues, Doc Savage, Mystery Story Magazine, Nick Carter Weekly, Old Broadbrim Weekly, The Shadow); romances (Love Story Magazine, Romance Range); science fiction (Astounding Stories, Unknown); sports stories (All-Sports Library, Athlete); westerns (Buffalo Bill Stories, True Western Stories, Pete Rice Magazine, Western Story Magazine, Wild West Weekly); and young adult fiction (The Boys of the World, Bowery Boy Weekly, Live Girl Stories, My Queen). Many of the authors from Street & Smith's periodicals found their way onto the pages of the publisher's dime novels, which were issued in various series, including the Arrow, Bertha Clay, Eagle, Magnet, Medal, and Merriwell libraries. But perhaps the most successful of the dime novels were those issued in the Alger Series, the volumes of which promoted the comforting notion that virtue is invariably rewarded by wealth. (These rags-to-riches tales became so embedded in American popular culture that reference to a "Horatio Alger story" became synonymous with the realization of the American dream.) Street & Smith comic adventurers included Bill Barnes, Buffalo Bill, Doc Savage, the Red Dragon, and artist R.F. Outcault's Yellow Kid, whose first appearance in the New York World in 1895 marked the birth of American comics. Although Street & Smith specialized in pulp fiction periodicals and dime novels, it also published non-fiction periodicals for hobbyists (Air Progress, Air Trails Pictorial, American Modeler, Science World); movie-goers (Picture-Play Weekly); sports enthusiasts (Pic, Sport Pictorial, and Baseball, Basketball and Football Yearbooks); and women (Mademoiselle, You)

In 1937 Street & Smith began shrinking their line of pulp titles, ending that genre completely in 1949. In 1957 Street & Smith sold their remaining magazine titles to Conde Nast, which acquired the rest of their copyright in 2007.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Street & Smith Collection contains miscellaneous Printed material related to The Shadow comic strip, which ran from 1940-1942.

Arrangement of the Collection

No particular order.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

See also the Street & Smith Records.

Subject Headings

Persons

Grant, Maxwell, 1897-1985.
Greene, Vernon Van Atta.

Corporate Bodies

Street and Smith Publications.

Associated Titles

Shadow (Radio program)
Shadow comics.

Subjects

Adventure stories, American -- Periodicals.
Comic books, strips, etc. -- United States.
Popular culture -- United States.
Publishers and publishing -- United States.
Radio serials.

Genres and Forms

Clippings (information artifacts)
Comics.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Street & Smith Collection,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

The Shadow material, gift of Karl Schadow, 2013.

Table of Contents

Printed material

Inventory