George P. Putnam
Encyclopedia
George Palmer Putnam was an American
publisher, author and explorer. Known for his marriage to and being the widower of Amelia Earhart
, he had also achieved fame as one of the most successful promoters in the United States during the 1930s.
and the grandson of his namesake, George Palmer Putnam
, who was the founder of the prominent publishing firm that became G. P. Putnam's Sons
. He studied at Harvard University
and the University of California
.
During World War I
, George Putnam served with the United States Army
field artillery. In 1926, under the sponsorship of the American Museum of Natural History
, he led an expedition to the Arctic
, up the west coast of Greenland
. The following year he headed another expedition for the American Geographical Society
to collect wildlife specimens on Baffin Island
.
In 1911, he married Dorothy Binney (1888–1982), the daughter of Edwin Binney
, inventor and co-owner, with cousin C. Harold Smith, of Binney & Smith Inc., the company that made Crayola
crayons. They had two sons, David Binney Putnam (1913–1992) and George Palmer Putnam, Jr.(born 1921), and for a time lived in Bend, Oregon
, where Putnam was the publisher and editor of the local newspaper, the Bend Bulletin. He was mayor of Bend from 1912 to 1913. He left Bend in 1915 to become the private secretary to Oregon governor James Withycombe
.
where George Putnam entered the family publishing business in New York City. There, he was responsible for the publication of the Charles Lindbergh
autobiography We.
In 1930, the various Putnam heirs voted to merge the family's publishing firm with Minton, Balch & Co., which became the majority stockholders. George P. Putnam resigned from his position as secretary of G. P. Putnam's Sons and joined New York publishers Brewer & Warren as vice president.
A significant event in Putnam's personal and business life occurred in 1928, before the merger. Because of his reputation for working with Lindbergh, he was contacted by Amy Guest, a wealthy American living in London
who wanted to sponsor the first-ever flight by a woman across the Atlantic Ocean
.
. As it turned out, they shared many common interests: hiking, swimming, camping, riding, tennis and golf. Having divorced in 1929, Putnam spent an extensive amount of time with Earhart, which resulted in an intimate relationship and, in 1931, their marriage.
Following Earhart's successful 1932 flight, Putnam organized her public engagements and speaking tour across the United States. Shortly after, he took charge of promoting her career and arranged for endorsement contracts with a luggage
manufacturer and a line of ladies' sportswear. In addition, Putnam published two books Earhart wrote about her flying adventures.
Earhart disappeared in 1937 while attempting to set another flying record to fly around the world, and Putnam published her biography in 1939 under the title Soaring Wings. Putnam later donated many of Earhart's belongings, including a flight jacket, to Purdue University
, where she had worked as a career counselor. Other personal effects were sent to the Women's Archives in New York.
Putnam had Earhart declared dead on January 5, 1939, and remarried on May 21 of that year to Jean-Marie Cosigny James.
With America's entry into World War II
in 1941, he rejoined the active military, serving as an intelligence officer, enlisting as a captain and rising to the rank of major by 1942. In 1945, he and "Jeannie" divorced; she had initiated the action, citing incompatibility. Shortly after, he remarried again, to Margaret Havilland.
In late 1949, Putnam fell ill, suffering from kidney failure; he died in Trona, California
in the first week of 1950, aged 62. He was cremated and his ashes were interred in the Chapel of the Pines Crematory
in Los Angeles
.
George Putnam authored a number of books, including:
In 1927, the Boy Scouts of America
made George Putnam an Honorary Scout, a new category of Scout created that same year. This distinction was given to "American citizens whose achievements in outdoor activity, exploration and worthwhile adventure are of such an exceptional character as to capture the imagination of boys...". The other eighteen who were awarded this distinction were: Roy Chapman Andrews
; Robert Bartlett; Frederick Russell Burnham
; Richard E. Byrd; George Kruck Cherrie
; James L. Clark; Merian C. Cooper
; Lincoln Ellsworth
; Louis Agassiz Fuertes
; George Bird Grinnell
; Charles A. Lindbergh; Donald Baxter MacMillan; Clifford H. Pope; Kermit Roosevelt
; Carl Rungius; Stewart Edward White
; and Orville Wright.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
publisher, author and explorer. Known for his marriage to and being the widower of Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...
, he had also achieved fame as one of the most successful promoters in the United States during the 1930s.
Early life
Born in Rye, New York, he was the son of John Bishop PutnamJohn Bishop Putnam
John Bishop Putnam was treasurer and a director of the venerable book publishing firm founded by his father, G.P. Putnam & Sons. He was born in Staten Island, New York on July 17, 1849 to George Palmer and Mrs. Victorine Haven Putnam, a year after his father founded the firm...
and the grandson of his namesake, George Palmer Putnam
George Palmer Putnam
George Palmer Putnam was an important American book publisher.-Biography:Putnam was born in Brunswick, Maine. On moving to New York City, Putnam was given his first job by Jonathan Leavitt, who subsequently published Putnam's first book...
, who was the founder of the prominent publishing firm that became G. P. Putnam's Sons
G. P. Putnam's Sons
G. P. Putnam's Sons was a major United States book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group.-History:...
. He studied at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, George Putnam served with the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
field artillery. In 1926, under the sponsorship of the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
, he led an expedition to the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
, up the west coast of Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
. The following year he headed another expedition for the American Geographical Society
American Geographical Society
The American Geographical Society is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the world...
to collect wildlife specimens on Baffin Island
Baffin Island
Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut is the largest island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Its area is and its population is about 11,000...
.
In 1911, he married Dorothy Binney (1888–1982), the daughter of Edwin Binney
Edwin Binney
Edwin Binney is best known for his invention of the Crayola crayon.In 1885, Binney took control of his father's business, Peeksill Chemical Co. While experimenting with a mixture of slate waste, cement, and talc, Binney created the first:) dustless white chalk. The invention was awarded a gold...
, inventor and co-owner, with cousin C. Harold Smith, of Binney & Smith Inc., the company that made Crayola
Crayola
Crayola is a brand of artists' supplies manufactured by Crayola LLC, which was founded in 1885 as Binney & Smith. It is best known for its crayons...
crayons. They had two sons, David Binney Putnam (1913–1992) and George Palmer Putnam, Jr.(born 1921), and for a time lived in Bend, Oregon
Bend, Oregon
Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States, and the principal city of the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, and, despite its modest size, is the de facto metropolis of the region, owing to the low population...
, where Putnam was the publisher and editor of the local newspaper, the Bend Bulletin. He was mayor of Bend from 1912 to 1913. He left Bend in 1915 to become the private secretary to Oregon governor James Withycombe
James Withycombe
James Withycombe was a British-born American politician, a Republican, and the 15th Governor of Oregon. Prior to entering politics he was farmer and sheep rancher in the Tualatin Valley, leading to appointment as the state's veterinarian and then as head of what became the Oregon State University...
.
Business interests
Within a few years, the family moved back to the East CoastEast Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
where George Putnam entered the family publishing business in New York City. There, he was responsible for the publication of the Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
autobiography We.
In 1930, the various Putnam heirs voted to merge the family's publishing firm with Minton, Balch & Co., which became the majority stockholders. George P. Putnam resigned from his position as secretary of G. P. Putnam's Sons and joined New York publishers Brewer & Warren as vice president.
A significant event in Putnam's personal and business life occurred in 1928, before the merger. Because of his reputation for working with Lindbergh, he was contacted by Amy Guest, a wealthy American living in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
who wanted to sponsor the first-ever flight by a woman across the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
.
Amelia Earhart
Guest asked Putnam to find a suitable candidate and he eventually came up with the then-unknown Amelia EarhartAmelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...
. As it turned out, they shared many common interests: hiking, swimming, camping, riding, tennis and golf. Having divorced in 1929, Putnam spent an extensive amount of time with Earhart, which resulted in an intimate relationship and, in 1931, their marriage.
Following Earhart's successful 1932 flight, Putnam organized her public engagements and speaking tour across the United States. Shortly after, he took charge of promoting her career and arranged for endorsement contracts with a luggage
Luggage
Baggage is any number of bags, cases and containers which hold a traveller's articles during transit.Luggage is more or less the same concept as "baggage", but is normally used in relation to the personal luggage of a specific person or persons Baggage is any number of bags, cases and containers...
manufacturer and a line of ladies' sportswear. In addition, Putnam published two books Earhart wrote about her flying adventures.
Earhart disappeared in 1937 while attempting to set another flying record to fly around the world, and Putnam published her biography in 1939 under the title Soaring Wings. Putnam later donated many of Earhart's belongings, including a flight jacket, to Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
, where she had worked as a career counselor. Other personal effects were sent to the Women's Archives in New York.
Putnam had Earhart declared dead on January 5, 1939, and remarried on May 21 of that year to Jean-Marie Cosigny James.
Later years
In 1938, Putnam set up a new publishing company in California, George Palmer Putnam Inc.With America's entry into World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1941, he rejoined the active military, serving as an intelligence officer, enlisting as a captain and rising to the rank of major by 1942. In 1945, he and "Jeannie" divorced; she had initiated the action, citing incompatibility. Shortly after, he remarried again, to Margaret Havilland.
In late 1949, Putnam fell ill, suffering from kidney failure; he died in Trona, California
Trona, California
Trona is an unincorporated community in San Bernardino County, California. In 2000 it had a population of 2,742. Trona is at the western edge of Searles Lake, a dry lake bed in Searles Valley, southwest of Death Valley. The town takes its name from the mineral trona, abundant in the lakebed.It is...
in the first week of 1950, aged 62. He was cremated and his ashes were interred in the Chapel of the Pines Crematory
Chapel of the Pines Crematory
Chapel of the Pines Crematory is a crematory and columbarium located at 1605 South Catalina Street Los Angeles, California, in the historic West Adams District a short distance southwest of Downtown...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
George Putnam authored a number of books, including:
- Smiting the Rock
- Hot Oil
- In the Oregon Country
- Death Valley and Its Country
- Hickory Shirt
- Soaring Wings (1939 biography of Amelia Earhart)
- Wide Margins (1942 autobiography)
Honors
Amelia Earhart, George Putnam's second wife, was the first president of The Ninety-Nines, an organization of (originally) 99 female pilots formed in 1929 for the support and advancement of aviation. Putnam had proposed an award as a means of honoring anyone who supports an individual member of the group (known as a "49½"), a Chapter or Section, or the organization as a whole. The George Palmer Putnam 49½ Award was originated to recognize such exceptional support of The Ninety-Nines.In 1927, the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
made George Putnam an Honorary Scout, a new category of Scout created that same year. This distinction was given to "American citizens whose achievements in outdoor activity, exploration and worthwhile adventure are of such an exceptional character as to capture the imagination of boys...". The other eighteen who were awarded this distinction were: Roy Chapman Andrews
Roy Chapman Andrews
Roy Chapman Andrews was an American explorer, adventurer and naturalist who became the director of the American Museum of Natural History. He is primarily known for leading a series of expeditions through the fragmented China of the early 20th century into the Gobi Desert and Mongolia...
; Robert Bartlett; Frederick Russell Burnham
Frederick Russell Burnham
Frederick Russell Burnham, DSO was an American scout and world traveling adventurer known for his service to the British Army in colonial Africa and for teaching woodcraft to Robert Baden-Powell, thus becoming one of the inspirations for the founding of the international Scouting Movement.Burnham...
; Richard E. Byrd; George Kruck Cherrie
George Kruck Cherrie
George Kruck Cherrie was an American naturalist and explorer.Cherrie was born in Iowa. He took part in about forty expeditions, mostly to Central and South America, including Theodore Roosevelt's South American Expedition of 1913–1914, when Cherrie was collecting specimens for the American Museum...
; James L. Clark; Merian C. Cooper
Merian C. Cooper
Merian Caldwell Cooper was an American aviator, United States Air Force and Polish Air Force officer, adventurer, screenwriter, and film director and producer. His most famous film was the 1933 movie King Kong.-Early life:...
; Lincoln Ellsworth
Lincoln Ellsworth
Lincoln Ellsworth was an arctic explorer from the United States.-Birth:He was born on May 12, 1880 to James Ellsworth and Eva Frances Butler in Chicago, Illinois...
; Louis Agassiz Fuertes
Louis Agassiz Fuertes
Louis Agassiz Fuertes was an American ornithologist, illustrator and artist.-Biography:Fuertes was the son of Estevan and Mary Stone Perry Fuertes....
; George Bird Grinnell
George Bird Grinnell
George Bird Grinnell was an American anthropologist, historian, naturalist, and writer. Grinnell was born in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in 1870 and a Ph.D. in 1880. Originally specializing in zoology, he became a prominent early conservationist and student...
; Charles A. Lindbergh; Donald Baxter MacMillan; Clifford H. Pope; Kermit Roosevelt
Kermit Roosevelt
Kermit Roosevelt I MC was a son of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. He was an explorer on two continents with his father, a graduate of Harvard University, a soldier serving in two world wars, with both the British and U.S. Armies, a businessman, and a writer...
; Carl Rungius; Stewart Edward White
Stewart Edward White
Stewart Edward White was an American author.-Biography:Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan he attended Grand Rapids High School, and earned degrees from University of Michigan ....
; and Orville Wright.