The Gingrich papers consists of a mixture of personal and office files detailing the management of Esquire magazine and Gingrich's various other interests and activities. The collection, consisting of correspondence, speeches, photographs, and subject files, should be used in conjunction with the files of Esquire Magazine which came to the library at the same time but with a separate deed of gift. The two collections together are indispensable for any study of Esquire, Gingrich's career as a publisher, and the influence of Gingrich on the careers of some of America's most important literary figures of the twentieth century.
Founding editor of Esquire Magazine in 1933 and its publisher beginning in 1952, Arnold Gingrich was a distinguished author, journalist, and nurturer of literary talent. Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan December 5, 1903, he graduated from the University of Michigan in 1925. He began his career writing advertising copy for a group of Chicago-based trade magazines. In 1931, he became the first editor of Apparel Arts (which later became Gentlemen's Quarterly). In 1933, along with David Smart, a publisher, and his partner William Weintraub, Gingrich helped to found Esquire, and where he given the title of editor and vice president. In 1936, he took on additional responsibilities as editor of Coronet. At Esquire, in its early years, Gingrich was responsible for attracting famous authors to write for the magazine. These included Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John O'Hara, John Steinbeck, H.L. Mencken, and Sinclair Lewis. Published in later years were such authors as Vladimir Nabokov, John Updike, Saul Bellow, James Baldwin, and Truman Capote. He continued with all of these responsibility until 1945 when moved to Switzerland serving as European editor of Esquire and Coronet (1945-1949).
Gingrich returned to the United States in 1949 becoming vice president of Cowles Magazines, Inc. where he worked until 1951. In 1952 he was named publisher and senior vice president of Esquire. Here he was responsible for much of the magazine's renewed popularity in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s when the magazine became more journalistic in its content. Gingrich served in this responsibility until 1974 when he was named senior vice president and editor-in-chief of Esquire and Gentlemen's Quarterly.
In addition to his publishing responsibilities, Gingrich was a notable author of books and articles, many of them dealing with his passion for fly-fishing. Also as an avocation, Gingrich was a collector of old violins.
Gingrich died July 9, 1976.
