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June 28, 2002Volume 30, Number 32Four-Week Issue



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Beinecke exhibit features photos of literary notables

During visits to his office by such notables as poet Langston Hughes, authors Elie Wiesel and Richard Wright, and French literary theorist Roland Barthes, among many others, publisher Arthur W. Wang often grabbed his camera and took pictures.

Over time, Wang, who founded the publishing firm Hill & Wang with Lawrence Hill in 1956, amassed a collection, which he donated to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library last year.

From July 8 through the month of August, the library will exhibit 78 of Wang's black-and-white photographs spanning nearly 50 years. Wang is scheduled to be present for the opening of the exhibit on Monday, July 8, at 3 p.m. at the Beinecke Library, 121 Wall St. The event is free and open to the public.

Among the other individuals whose photographs are part of the now-retired publisher's collection are Harlem Renaissance writer Arna Bontemps; jazz poet, trumpeter and painter Ted Joans; poet and critic Mark Van Doren; and two Yale faculty members whose works have been published by Hill & Wang: Gaddis Smith, professor emeritus of history, and Alan Trachtenberg, the Neil Gray Jr. Professor of English and professor of American studies.

Trachtenberg, in fact, suggested to Wang that the photographs he had collected might be of interest to the Beinecke Library.

Wang relates how, in his early years taking photographs of authors and friends who passed through his office, he wasn't thinking about documenting history.

"I was surprised to see, later on, that the photographs had grown to become a real collection, part of the firm's history," he explains.

Wang graduated from Bowdoin College in 1940 and then worked in sales and as an editor for Doubleday, Knopf and T.Y. Crowell publishing companies. While working with Hill at A. A. Wyn, Inc., the two purchased a substantial part of the firm's backlist and several outstanding contracts to start Hill & Wang.

The company had early success with the series Dramabooks, which spanned from the 17th century to contemporary works for the theater. A few years later, Hill & Wang purchased a number of titles in the American Century series. The firm went on to publish more than 20 works by Roland Barthes in English translation and numerous distinguished titles in the area of American history. African-American authors are prominent on the Hill & Wang list, and the firm counts Elie Wiesel among its best-selling authors.

Hill & Wang was sold to Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 1971. Wang stayed on as publisher and editor-in-chief of the Hill & Wang imprint, while Hill established his own publishing firm.

For more information on the exhibit or to view some of Wang's photographs, visit http://highway49.library.yale.edu/arthurwangphotos.


T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Harold Attridge appointed as Divinity School dean

F&ES Dean Speth honored with Blue Planet Prize

Official accolades

Arjun Appadurai joins faculty as the Lanman Jr. Professor

W. Mark Saltzman to teach as Goizueta Foundation Professor

John Mayes II is appointed the director of Yale Procurement


MEDICAL SCHOOL NEWS

Yale SOM survey finds CEOs remain confident in auditors

YSN-affiliated practice offers care for women

Beinecke exhibit features photos of literary notables


OBITUARIES

The World in the City

Witt will coach women's ice hockey team this year

Yale now boasts eight certified HR professionals

Yale Books in Brief

Campus Notes



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