author
William Edmond Pulsifer
b. 1852
Best known for a concise history of American educational publishing, this Maine-born schoolmaster turned textbook executive brought a practical insider’s eye to how schoolbooks were made, sold, and improved.
1 Audiobook
A Brief Account of the Educational Publishing Business in the United States
by William Edmond Pulsifer
About the author
William Edmond Pulsifer was born on April 16, 1852, in West Sumner, Maine. A biographical sketch in Maine; a History says he was the son of Moses Gilbert and Nancy Amelia Pulsifer, and that his early schooling took place in the local schools of Sumner.
Later accounts describe a steady rise from teaching in rural Maine into the world of educational publishing. A 1920s notice in The Educational Screen says he became president of D. C. Heath Publishing Company and praises his path from “country school-master” to the head of a nationally influential textbook house.
Pulsifer is remembered today chiefly for A Brief Account of the Educational Publishing Business in the United States (1921), a short historical survey of American schoolbook publishing. The work reflects the perspective of someone who knew the trade from the inside and wanted to record how educational books and publishing houses developed over time.