Harper, James, 1795-1869

American publisher; mayor of New York city.

American publisher; Mayor of New York City.

Founder of Harper and Brothers publishers and Mayor of New York City, 1844-1845.

Harper & Brothers was one of most prestigious American printing houses of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The original company, named J&J Harper, was established in 1817 in offices on Dover Street in New York by the two eldest of the four Harper brothers, James and John. The brothers were the sons of an English Methodist schoolmaster and carpenter who settled in Newtown, New York in 1740. Though James and John started the company, other members of the Harper family soon became involved in the business. After being apprentices for several years, the two younger brothers, Joseph Wesley and Fletcher, were included into the firm, which became in 1833 Harper Brothers with offices and printing house at 81 and 82 Cliff Street, New York. James, the eldest of the brothers, was perceived as the nominal head of the company while Fletcher was recognized as the authentic head of the business. James was the initiator of Harper's Magazine while Fletcher controlled the business and was responsible for the Weekly and the Bazaar. In 1844 James was also elected mayor of New York. He was a prominent figure of New York political life and enjoyed an exceptional repute. He died in a carriage accident in 1869.

After the death or retirement of the founders, the sons and grand-sons of the original Harper brothers continued their legacy. The later generations continued the tradition of coordinating the business as a family company under the strict rule of non acceptance of partners unrelated with the family. Until the middle of the twentieth century the company remained under the sole authority of the Harper family descendents. As directly instructed by Fletcher, the youngest of the first four initiators of the firm, all the sons entering the family business had to receive the highest education and after traveling through Europe for the purpose of learning foreign languages they had to enter the composition room. Under the direction of the foreman they had to learn to set a page as any compositor in the office and be able to earn a living in case of any vicissitudes.

In 1896, at the death of the last survivor of the second generation of Harpers, Philip Jacob Arcularius, the firm was under the control of seven cousins, each with separate responsibilities in a distinct department. Philip, born on October 21st 1824 was the son of James, one of the four founders of the company. He married Harriet Meade (Hyde) on June 30th 1846 and had a son James born in 1847. James married Lillie Mercein (Hyde) and had a son James Harper Jr. (1879 -1944) and a daughter Lillie Hyde Harper (1881-1941). James Harper Jr. married Helen Leale and had a son, James Harper (Jamie) born on 4th of July 1919. The present collection reflects mainly the lives of these members of Harper family and of the families related to them.

BIOGHIST REQUIRED Harper & Brothers was one of most prestigious American printing houses of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The original company, named J&J Harper, was established in 1817 in offices on Dover Street in New York by the two eldest of the four Harper brothers, James and John. The brothers were the sons of an English Methodist schoolmaster and carpenter who settled in Newtown, New York in 1740. Though James and John started the company, other members of the Harper family soon became involved in the business. After being apprentices for several years, the two younger brothers, Joseph Wesley and Fletcher, were included into the firm, which became in 1833 Harper Brothers with offices and printing house at 81 and 82 Cliff Street, New York. James, the eldest of the brothers, was perceived as the nominal head of the company while Fletcher was recognized as the authentic head of the business. James was the initiator of Harper's Magazine while Fletcher controlled the business and was responsible for the Weekly and the Bazaar. In 1844 James was also elected mayor of New York. He was a prominent figure of New York political life and enjoyed an exceptional repute. He died in a carriage accident in 1869.

BIOGHIST REQUIRED After the death or retirement of the founders, the sons and grand-sons of the original Harper brothers continued their legacy. The later generations continued the tradition of coordinating the business as a family company under the strict rule of non acceptance of partners unrelated with the family. Until the middle of the twentieth century the company remained under the sole authority of the Harper family descendents. As directly instructed by Fletcher, the youngest of the first four initiators of the firm, all the sons entering the family business had to receive the highest education and after traveling through Europe for the purpose of learning foreign languages they had to enter the composition room. Under the direction of the foreman they had to learn to set a page as any compositor in the office and be able to earn a living in case of any vicissitudes.

BIOGHIST REQUIRED In 1896, at the death of the last survivor of the second generation of Harpers, Philip Jacob Arcularius, the firm was under the control of seven cousins, each with separate responsibilities in a distinct department. Philip, born on October 21st 1824 was the son of James, one of the four founders of the company. He married Harriet Meade (Hyde) on June 30th 1846 and had a son James born in 1847. James married Lillie Mercein (Hyde) and had a son James Harper Jr. (1879 -1944) and a daughter Lillie Hyde Harper (1881-1941). James Harper Jr. married Helen Leale and had a son, James Harper (Jamie) born on 4th of July 1919. The present collection reflects mainly the lives of these members of Harper family and of the families related to them.

Although James Harper (April 13, 1795-March 27, 1869) is perhaps best known as one of the founders of what is today the HarperCollins publishing company, his other major achievement was serving as mayor of New York City. Harper was born in Newton, Long Island, New York, the oldest son of Joseph Harper, a farmer, carpenter, and storekeeper, and Elizabeth Kollyer, a Dutch burgher's daughter. He became drawn to the printing profession after reading Benjamin Franklin's autobiography as a young boy, and subsequently took on an apprenticeship at a print shop when he was sixteen. In 1817, he formed the J. & J. Harper printing company in New York with his brother, John. The other two Harper brothers, Fletcher and Wesley, joined the firm in the 1820s, prompting the company's name to change to Harper & Brothers in 1833. By 1830, the company was the largest book publisher in the United States. The company's success continued to grow towards the midcentury, as the brothers established the magazine Harper's Monthly and published the works of authors like Herman Melville, Edgar Allen Poe, and Washington Irving.

In 1844, James Harper was elected mayor of New York as a member of the American Republican Party, a nativist political organization which was the precursor to the Native American Party and laid the groundwork for the Know-Nothing Party. Founded in New York in 1843, the American Republican Party focused much of its anti-immigrant energies on Irish Catholics, and as mayor Harper removed Irishmen from the city's payroll. Though Harper was only in office for one year, during his term he created his own municipal police force (a year before the state established a system of city police wards), reduced animal traffic on the streets, and made garbage collecting and street sweeping more efficient. In accordance with his Methodist upbringing and membership in the Friends of Temperance, Harper also restricted the city's sale of liquor.

Harper ran for reelection reluctantly, stating in a letter to his party that though he could not "but think and feel that a more worthy candidate might be selected, I recognize also the right of my fellow citizens to call upon me, and my duty, as one who owes them much, to place myself at their disposal." The threat of violence that many New York voters feared after the outbreak of anti-Irish riots in Philadelphia, as well as the election of James Polk, the Democratic candidate for president in 1844, ensured that Harper was a one-term mayor. Following his defeat, Harper devoted the rest of his professional life to his publishing company. He never again ran for public office, and plainly wrote "I do not desire the office" in 1855 when he was rumored to be a candidate for the New York governorship (though he also conceded that he would accept the nomination if the "harmony" of the Know-Nothing party was threatened by lack of consensus). James Harper died in New York in a carriage accident in 1869.