Weak Finances

The Press was still on weak foundations financially. Harold Murdock, father of Kenneth B. Murdock '16, Higginson Professor of English Literature, was brought in to put the Press on a sound financial basis.

When Murdock died in 1936, Dumss Malone, editor of the "Dictionary of American Biography," took over as director. The Press began to overflow into 38 Quincy Street, present site of the Russian Research Center. Only the top five executives established offices there; shipping, accounting, and some editing were still done from Randall Hall.

Malone left to become professor of American History at Columbia in 1943. A prominent Boston publisher, Roger L. Scaife '97, was appointed the new director.

The war diminished Scaife's staff at 83 Quincy Street to 20. The volume of business was inversely proportional, for the Chinese and Japanese grammars and dictionaries swelled sales.

A year after Wilson became director in 1947, the Press moved its offices to 44 Francis Avenue, across from the Divinity School where it is today.

The Press did some more expanding and now stores and ships books from the basement of Andover Hall. It also maintains a display room at 22 Dunster Street.

The Press is an important part of the general publishing community. It is important both in volume of business and in the number of titles issued annually. Still more significant, the Press produces titles of quality, value, and influence in a coat-ridden field where commectal publishers often push aside good books for works of a flashier nature and greater sales potential.