Horatio Alger Society

01/03/2025

Intwresting article.

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12/24/2024

The Horatio Alger Society's publication, "Newsboy," is bidding farewell to 2024 and ringing in 2025 with two noteworthy issues. Did you know that Frank Gruber, famed for his westerns and detective fiction, was a big Horatio Alger fan and wrote a book on him? Gruber revealed in his autobiography, "The Pulp Jungle" (1967) that “the Alger books influenced me more than anything else in my life. . . . The books inspired me to become a writer, to write books like those of Horatio Alger.”

The November-December "Newsboy" has a detailed profile of Gruber’s life, including excerpts from his correspondence with a noted Alger collector. The issue also features a study of "The Boys’ Home Series" by publisher A. L. Burt, a heretofore unknown Alger poem, and an analysis of how artificial intelligence treats Alger and key themes in his works.

The packed January-February "Newsboy" (to be published near the end of January), will include an 1895 newspaper article on Alger and his annual vacation in Old Orchard Beach, Maine; a profile of Alger’s informally adopted boys, John and Edward Downie; the second part of a series on Alger’s books published by the firm A. L. Burt; and a Society member's reminiscences about his visit with the son of juvenile author Leo Edwards (books include the Jerry Todd and Poppy Ott series, among others); and news of the forthcoming Society convention, to be held May 1-4, 2025, at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, which is the official repository of the Horatio Alger Society.

In this issue there will also be an announcement of a sizable monetary donation, which will help further the Society's programs, such as an annual college scholarship for a deserving student.

Shown here is the paperback edition of Alger's "Joe's Luck," a photograph of Frank Gruber, and the cover of the magazine "Detective Fiction Weekly," which features one of Gruber's hundreds of stories. (These photographs all appear in the November-December "Newsboy.")

Much more will be coming up in 2025, and articles have already been written for the March-April, May-June, and July-August issues. If you have any questions or are interested in joining the Horatio Alger Society and receiving "Newsboy," please contact Editor Jack Bales at [email protected]. He will be happy to email you a PDF of a recent issue so you can, as the newsboys of a bygone era used to shout to passersby, “Read all about it!”

03/08/2024

The 2024 annual convention of the Horatio Alger Society will be held in Fredericksburg, Virginia on May 2-5, 2024. Following are some important links.

Convention Update: https://www.horatioalgersociety.net/204_convention%202024%20preliminary%203.html
Tentative Schedule: https://www.horatioalgersociety.net/204_convention%202024%20preliminary%203.html
Conference Registration Form: https://www.horatioalgersociety.net/204_2024%20convention%20registration%20form.pdf

03/08/2024

The latest issue of Newsboy, our official publication" is in the mail and on the way to our membership. Articles include the following.

-- "The Fredericksburg Fourth" -- 2024 Horatio Alger Society convention preview, with photos, schedule and registration form.
-- "Thompson & Thomas -- Often overlooked, this publisher deserves respect." Second of two parts.
-- "Letters To The Editor" -- This column has picked up recently with interesting information and commentary.

If you want to receive a copy of the Newsboy, join here:

The 2024 annual convention of the Horatio Alger Society will be held in Fredericksburg, Virginia on May 2-5, 2024. Click here for for the third convention preliminary report from Jack Bales, convention host. Click here for the tenative conference schedule. Click here for a conference registration fo...

02/16/2024

“Books epitomize this idea of something useful and beautiful,” -Dr. Kalika Sands (Sotheby's)

The ‘bookshelf wealth’ trend encourages us to think about our interior spaces as expressions of our intellectual passions.

11/18/2023

The latest issue of Newsboy, our official publication" is in the mail and on the way to our membership. Articles include the following.

-- "The Fredericksburg Fourth" Update: A History Unseen by Tourists
-- Tribute to longtime Partic'lar Friend and Newsboy contributor H. Alan Pickrell
-- "The "Cris" Criswell and "Peewee" Dewire aviation series by Lewis E. Theiss (second of two parts)

If you want to receive a copy of the Newsboy, join here:

The Horatio Alger Society (H.A.S.) membership fee for any 12-month period is $25.00 ($20.00 for 55 and older). There is also the Sustaining Member option, which is $50.00 for any 12-month period. Sustaining members do not receive any additional membership features, just the knowledge that they're do...

09/09/2023

Here is another interesting article (reprint) of an interview with author L. T. Meade regarding her writing process. Never fear, this is still a Horatio Alger page, but most of us collect far more than Alger and are interested in period contemporaries, male and female.

Despite her wide contributions to genre literature, Irish author L. T. Meade is now remembered, if at all, for her girls’ school stories. However, in 1898 the Strand Magazine, famous for its fictions of crime, detection, and the uncanny, proclaimed Meade one of its most popular writers for her con...

09/09/2023

I was doing some research on a famous, prolific author of girls (and more) books around the same time as Alger. I thought this article was interesting and in a similar vein to discussions I have taken part in regarding Alger and his books.

We mark the centenary of Ireland’s forgotten bestselling author of 280 books, pioneer of girls’ school fiction and crime stories

09/02/2023

The latest issue of Newsboy, our official publication" is in the mail and on the way to our membership. This is our annual convention issue. Articles include the following.

-- M.A. Donohue's Onward Series: The Alger formats defined.
-- The "Cris" Criswell and "Peewee" Dewire aviation series by Lewis E. Theiss.
-- An early glance at the 2024 H.A.S. convention.
-- Excellent columns: President's Column, Editor's Notebook, Letters to the Editor and a Book Review

If you want to receive a copy of the Newsboy, join here:

The Horatio Alger Society (H.A.S.) membership fee for any 12-month period is $25.00 ($20.00 for 55 and older). There is also the Sustaining Member option, which is $50.00 for any 12-month period. Sustaining members do not receive any additional membership features, just the knowledge that they're do...

06/23/2023

Here is an excellent whimsical article on the New York Antiquarian Book Fair.

In the Park Avenue Armory, a buzzing hall of superfans are keeping the building blocks of our culture alive

06/22/2023

The latest issue of Newsboy, our official publication" is in the mail and on the way to our membership. This is our annual convention issue. Articles include the following.
-- Host Jack Bales' report on the convention held May 4-7, 2023, in Fredericksburg,Virginia.
-- Article on the 2023 H.A.S. Strive and Succeed Award recipient.
-- Introductory column by new H.A.S. President Carol Nackenoff.
-- Executive Director's report on the annual Board of Directors Meeting.
-- Annual fiscal year financial report.
-- Complete results of the fund-raising auction.
-- Latest in a series of 1850s Horatio Alger short stories from Boston's The Yankee Blade, in its first Newsboy appearance.

If you want to receive a copy of the Newsboy, join here:

The Horatio Alger Society (H.A.S.) membership fee for any 12-month period is $25.00 ($20.00 for 55 and older). There is also the Sustaining Member option, which is $50.00 for any 12-month period. Sustaining members do not receive any additional membership features, just the knowledge that they're do...

05/23/2023

A House without physical books is not a home! Your thoughts?