John Wanamaker

by Herbert Adams Gibbons

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1926

About the author

Herbert Adams Gibbons (1880-1934) was an American author, journalist, publicist and foreign correspondent. He was a foreign correspondent (1909-1916) in Greece, Spain, Turkey and other European countries, a serviceman with the American Expeditionary Forces in France (1917-1918), and a correspondent (1920-1931) for various American magazines in Europe, the Orient, and Africa. His works include: Paris Reborn: A Study in Civic Psychology (1915), An Afternoon in Pont-Croix (1915), The Foundation of the Ottoman Empire (1916), Songs from the Trenches: The Soul of the A. E. F. (1918), The New Map of Europe (1911-1914) (1918), The New Map of Asia (1900-1919) (1919), The Reconstruction of Northern France (1919), Riviera Towns (1920), Venizelos (1920), France and Ourselves: Interpretative Studies, 1917-1919 (1920), Anglo-Saxon Solidarity (1921), Europe Since 1918 (1923), An Introduction to World Politics (1923), John Wanamaker (1926), The New Map of South America (1929), Nationalism and Internationalism (1930) and Wider Horizons: The New Map of the World (1930).

Reviews

[Julie Bihn]

The life of John Wanamaker was so intimately interwoven with the fabric of his times that virtually everything written about the political and social and economic history of the United States since 1850 could be said to throw light upon his activities.

I'd argue that the inverse is also true in this biography. I read Volume 2*, which starts appropriately enough with Wanamaker working on his New York store, something I need to research for an upcoming novel. Over the course of the book, I found myself learning about America's involvement in World War I, the inflation that came alongside it and followed, and even about the Panic of 1907, which I'd had no idea existed (even though it surely would have shaped my characters' lives).

The biography literally puts Wanamaker's name among people like Ford and Edison, but in the Western US, anyway, I hadn't heard of John Wanamaker until I was looking at New York department stores circa 1912 and realized that my characters likely worked there. It's amazing how even famous people can be lost to history.

Overall, I think this is a very rosy portrait of an interesting man. It was published just a few years after his death, so I think the tone is appropriate. (A modern reader like myself finds his hiring practices to be problematic in the case of race/family origin, but the 1920s-era biographer predictably does not.)

It also notes that when people came to him with problems, he literally gave them a copy of Pollyanna. I'm sure Wanamaker had his faults, which aren't usually revealed in this volume, but he certainly sounds like a staunch optimist.

I found it interesting to read about a man who on the surface would seem like one of today's pro-business right-wingers, but who diverges from them in many ways.

Republican doctrines and deeds rebuilt the nation in spite of the effort of Democratic doctrines and deeds to break it down. We refused then as we refuse now to take any middle ground or to trust to the don't care Democrats.

And like Republicans of the era, he embraced protective tariffs. And yet:

There is something in the American heart that wants prosperity for other people. Then, too, we can't prosper just by ourselves. The country must learn that. We can't put a wall about ourselves. We must keep the gate open and have prosperity together.

April, 1912:

I hail the coming of the day when we shall have but one postage stamp the world over, but one system of measurement, but one coin, and but one language. It seems a great hope, and yet the truth is that we all have the same purpose--to elevate our countries--and a great readiness to understand one another and to be friends. The world is growing warmer-hearted and we are getting closer together. Let us stand against war; let us stand for peache; let us be careful not to misinterpret one another. We must believe in one another, and work together for the good, not of some little corner, but of the whole earth, from the rising of the sun to its going down.

Also:

He emphasized public education, faithfulness in fulfilling the duties of citizenship, and zeal for social service, as factors in bringing about better living conditions in America and in winning the world to Christ. But he never failed to subordinate all these things to Bible reading and study and to simple evangelical preaching.

At the 1920 dedication of his Philadelphia department store's radio station:

We are here to-night to do exactly what the Scriptures request: 'Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth; for He hath done marvelous things.' From the beginning God planted these wonders in the air and sky, dedicated to man's use, hid them, perhaps to give him the joy of discovering them, and finally placed in his hands the glowing torch of science to reveal them.

And:

At the fifth anniversary, in 1887, Professor Robert Ellis Thompson, addressing the graduating class, expressed the hope that before long women would be admitted to the University of Pennsylvania. Wanamaker, who was presiding, rose to his feet and led the applause that greeted this heresy.

I found it fascinating to see where Wanamaker's personality matched some of my characters, too.

Wanamaker got along with people, no matter how awkward or unusual the circumstances, becaues they felt his kindliness, and he knew how to put them at their ease without delay.

the best part of perfection is making things safe. We can't afford to have an elevator--not one--that is not equipped to make it the safest thing that we can lift with, and so with our electric lights.

There is at least one factual error, when it says that Wanamaker traveled on the maiden voyage of the Olympic after attending the coronation on June 29, 1911, and that he celebrated his seventy-third birthday (July 11) while on board. But the Olympic's maiden voyage was onJune 14, 1911 and certainly did not take more than three weeks. It's an inconsequential error, and I wouldn't be shocked if Wanamaker's copious personal notes may have called it a maiden voyage or something like it, giving the biographer the wrong idea. But when I find an error about something I know a good amount about, it always makes me wonder if there are also errors about areas that I don't know anything about, too.

Overall, though, it's a fine read for anyone interested in department stores or learning about a prominent optimist of the error.

*This appears to be a listing for a two-volume book, but I mainly needed to read Volume 2 for research and it's 497 pages long, so I'm counting it as a book, darn it! I might go back and read Volume 1 sometime, but time is finite and it's not strictly necessary to my research, so I'm not sure.

(Book is public domain! https://books.google.com/books/about/... )