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There, Assistant Professor of Art Olivia Timmons has been collaborating with University Archivist Sara DeCaro and several students to reproduce some of the Little Blue Books once published by E. Haldeman Julius.
They are using a Vandercook press for the project, which requires hand inking, hand turning, and is meticulous. Once pages have passed across historic metal plates, each representing a page from one of Haldeman Julius’ famed pocket-sized books, they must dry on a rack for 24 hours. Then, they are assembled.
The noted publisher produced between 300 and 500 million of the Little Blue Books between 1919 and 1978 as a way to educate the working class. When they began, a hardback book, which typically cost half a worker’s daily wage, was hard to come by. Paperbacks and bookstores didn’t yet exist. Libraries were rare.
Little Blue Books put stories, both non-fiction and fiction, into the hands of many for little. In nearly 2,000 different titles, they were printed on cheap pulp paper and sold for 5 to 10 cents each in heavily frequented places like drug stores and train stations, and by mail order.
They covered a wide array of topics, some seemingly racy at the time: “What Married Women Should Know” and “How to Get a Divorce.” Others were more to the point: “Africa -- It’s Place in Modern History” by W.E. Burghardt Du Bois and “Insects and Men: Instincts and Reason,” by Clarence S. Darrow.
Following World War II, J. Edgar Hoover added Haldeman-Julius to the FBI’s enemies list. In 1951, Haldeman-Julius was convicted of tax evasion. A month later, he was found dead in his swimming pool, having drowned.
His company continued to print the books until 1978, when the printing plant and warehouse were destroyed by fire.
Today, a copy of each Little Blue Book is housed in Special Collections at the university’s Axe Library, along with historical records about Haldeman-Julius and metal plates used to print many of the books.
Collections of the series also are housed at Kent State University, Bowling Green State University, and California State University-Northridge.
It was when student intern Angel Abshire (Graphic Communications) began cleaning the plates for DeCaro that the reprint project was born.
They decided to make the Little Blue Books the subject of a proposal for the National Council of Public History Conference, planned later this month in Canada.
Their proposal was accepted, and not only will they make a presentation, but take along reprints of the books to hand out to attendees, and a small printing press so that they can demonstrate onsite.
“This is such an interesting way to make history more understandable and more visible,” DeCaro said.
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