Gustavus Myers

Gustavus Myers

Gustavus Myers (born March 20, 1872 in Trenton, New Jersey , † December 7, 1942 in Bronx, New York City ) was an American journalist and historian who published some influential studies on capital formation. His name is associated with the music-racing era of American literature.

biography

Early years

Gustavus Myers was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1872 to Abram and Julia Hillman Myers.

Career

In 1891, Myers went to New York City as a reporter for the Philadelphia Record, where he stayed for the rest of his life. In the 1890s, Myers became a member of the People's Party (commonly referred to as "populists") and later joined the Socialist Party of America (SPA).

In the decade of the 1910s, Myers became one of the leading scholars of the American socialist movement. He has published a number of volumes for the Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, the largest publisher of Marxist books and brochures. Between 1909 and 1914, Myers published three volumes on the history of the wealthy family in the United States, followed by another volume on the subject in Canada. This was followed by a book on the history of the United States Supreme Court . These publications were often cited in an academic context for several decades, with the publication of Myers' History of the Great American Fortunes in one volume in 1936, his work gained new attention.

Myer's break with the Socialist Party in 1917 happened because the party opposed American intervention in World War I. In 1918, Myers supported the American war effort by publishing a book entitled The German Myth: The Falsity of Germany's "Social Progress" Claims. he attacked what he called "Germany's Sinister Propaganda" (Germany's evil propaganda).

Myers received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1941, which he used to write a book titled "The History of Bigotry in the United States ." Myers died before the work could be published; Random House did not publish the work until after his death.

Death and inheritance

Gustavus Myers died on December 7, 1942 in Bronx, New York. He was 70 years old at the time of his death.

Myer's estate is held by the University of Wyoming American Heritage Center at Laramie. Archival records include photographs of Myers' manuscripts and unpublished manuscripts of two non-fiction books. A finding aid is available on site.

In 1984 the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights was founded. From 2001 to 2008, the Myers Center presented annual awards for books that dealt critically with bigotry in America. In 2009, the year of the 25th anniversary of the Myers Center, the center was closed for lack of funding.

Works

• History of Public Franchises in New York City. Reform Club Committee on City Affairs, New York 1900
• The History of Tammany Hall. New York: self-published, 1901. Revised edition , Boni and Liveright, 1917.
• History of the Great American Fortunes. Volume 1 ; Volume 2 ; Volume 3 . Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1909-1910; Single volume edition, New York, 1936
• Beyond the Borderline of Life: A Summing Up of the Results of the Scientific Investigation of Psychic Phenomena. Boston: Ball Publishing Co., 1910.
• History of The Supreme Court of the United States. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1912.
• A History of Canadian Wealth. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1914. One volume only of a projected two volumes published.
• "A Study of the Causes of Industrial Accidents," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 14 (Sept. 1915), pp. 672-694.
• The German Myth: The Falsity of Germany's "Social Progress" Claims. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1918.
• Ye Olden Blue Laws. New York: Century Co., 1921.
• The History of American Idealism. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1925.
• America Strikes Back: A Record of Contrasts. New York: Ives Washburn, 1935.
• The Ending of Hereditary American Fortunes. New York: J. Messner, 1939.
• History of Bigotry in the United States. New York: Random House, 1943. Published posthumously.

Web links

Wikisource: Gustavus Myers  - Sources and full texts

• Gustavus Myers Center homepage

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c d e} Francis X. Gannon: A Biographical Dictionary of the American Left: Volume 4. Boston: Western Islands, 1973; pp. 507-508.
2. ↑ Listing for the Gustavus Myers Papers , University of Wyoming, Laramie. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
3. ↑ Gustavus Myers Center For The Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America: "Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights 2002 Award Winners" ( Memento of September 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), December 10, 2002.
4. ↑ Loretta J. Williams, The Gustavus Myers Center For The Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America website ( Memento of the original from February 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Boston, Massachusetts. Retrieved July 18, 2010. 
5. ↑ Loretta J. Williams: "With Sadness, Myers Center Closes: Announces Awards for Outstanding Titles in Human Rights" ( Memento from July 21, 2011 on the Internet Archive ), Peacework Magazine , New England Office of the American Friends Service Committee , Cambridge, Massachusetts, issue no.396.
6. ↑ frequent German editions since 1916 in various publishers, see catalog of the German National Library; also reprint (German) at Bibliobazaar, 2009, 2010
7. ↑ myerscenter.org Retrieved on July 18 of 2010.