Professional Papers

Description

Bertram K. Little's professional papers thoroughly document his career from 1926 to 1947, before he assumed the position of Director at SPNEA. Little began his career in 1926 as a clerk in the advertising department of the publishing house Little, Brown & Company. From 1930 to 1934, Little operated a rare bookshop, The Counting House. The papers on The Counting House offer a vivid look at this venture, with photographs of the store's interior, advertisements printed by Little, and clippings of articles pertaining to the store. There is also extensive correspondence with Charles E. Tuttle, a Vermont book dealer, throughout the early 1930s. Little worked briefly as the Advertising Director at Lothrop, Lee & Shepard from 1935-1936 before serving as Associate Editor of The Open Road for Boys magazine from 1936-1944 and 1945-1947. Among the papers from The Open Road Publishing Company are thirty-six issues of the magazine featuring his work. During the final year of World War II, Little left The Open Road Publishing Company and served as the Director of the American Red Cross Blood Donor Center in Boston. The papers from this job offer an interesting look at the home front war efforts in Boston, with numerous photographs, publicity papers, and news clippings. These papers complement papers from Little involvement in various civil defense organizations, which are arranged in the Organizations subseries. For documentation of Little's time at SPNEA, researchers should consult the preceding subseries, SPNEA Papers, as well as the institutional archives of SPNEA/Historic New England.