David Laurance Chambers

(Jan. 12, 1879-Jan. 12, 1963). Born in Washington, D.C., David Laurance Chambers graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University in 1900, where he studied under Henry Van Dyke, Princeton’s chief literary figure of the time. In 1901, he earned his MA from Princeton as a Charles Scribner Fellow in English and, after graduation, became secretary to Van Dyke and compiler with him of Poems Of Tennyson (1903). He later wrote Indiana: A Hoosier History, Based On The Mural Paintings Of Thomas Hart Benton (1933). Subsequent honorary degrees include the LittD from Wabash College in 1937 and the LLD from Indiana University in 1948.

In 1903 Chambers went to work for the publishing firm of Bobbs-Merrill in Indianapolis. Four years later, he became a member of the firm, where for almost the next half-century his guidance increasingly became a part of its daily operations. He was made vice president in 1921, editor in 1925, and president in 1935. In 1953, he was elected chairman of the board, though as a major stockholder he remained active in the firm until its sale to Howard W. Sams And Company of Indianapolis in 1958.

He knew many of the distinguished writers of his day, among them James Whitcomb Riley and Meredith Nicholson, and published a number of them. On his lists were the popular novels of John Erskine, Earl Derr Biggers, Alice T. Hobart, Inglis Fletcher, Katharine M. Jones, and Ayn Rand. He also published Bruce Barton, an advertising executive, U.S. congressman, and writer of guidebooks; Richard Halliburton, a travel writer who swam the length of the Panama Canal; Elmer Davis, a New York Times journalist best-known for his history of the newspaper; and Irma S. Rombauer’s and Marion Rombauer Beckerfe The Joy Of Cooking.

His love for American history, especially Civil War history, was reflected in nonfiction books such as those by Henry Steele Commager (a prolific historian), Bertita Harding (a biographer of European royalty who lived in Indianapolis for many years), and Glenn Tucker (who wrote popular history and was born in Jackson County). During his 28 years as editor, he produced 10 bestsellers and 8 books that won literary awards, among them 3 Pulitzer Prize winners. He was responsible for the development of the highly successful “Childhood of Famous Americans” series for children, after creating the position of children’s book editor in 1946.

Chambers served as vice president and director of the National Association of Book Publishers and was a member of the Council of the Princeton University Press. In 1910, he married Nora Taggart, daughter of Thomas Taggart, former mayor of Indianapolis and U.S. senator. They had three children. Eulogized as a relatively obscure great man, he left his personal imprint on almost every trade title Bobbs-Merrill published during the second quarter of the 20^th century.

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