Joseph P. Knapp

Joseph Palmer Knapp (May 14, 1864 – January 30, 1951) was an American publisher and philanthropist. Knapp has also been credited with the invention of the multi-color six-cylinder press.[1]

Joseph P. Knapp
Born(1864-05-14)May 14, 1864
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedJanuary 30, 1951(1951-01-30) (aged 86)
New York City, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationColumbia College of Columbia University
Occupationpublisher and philanthropist
Known forThis Week
Ducks Unlimited
J. P. Knapp Foundation
Spouse(s)
Sylvia Teresa Kepner
​
​
(m. 1886; div. 1903)​

Elizabeth Laing McIlwaine
​
​
(m. 1902; died 1922)​

Margaret Elizabeth Rutledge
​
​
(m. 1923; his death 1951)​
ChildrenClaire Antoinette Knapp (1889–1959)
Joseph Fairchild Knapp (1892–1952)
Parent(s)Joseph Fairchild Knapp and Phoebe Knapp

He was the son of Joseph Fairchild and Phoebe Palmer Knapp. His father was a past president of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and his mother was a hymn writer, credited with over 500 hymns, most notably "Blessed Assurance" with Fanny Crosby.

He was educated at Columbia College, matriculating with the class of 1884, but left after a year to become a member of the board in his father's company.[2][3]

In 1891, Knapp founded American Lithograph Company, which became a leading printer of Sunday magazines for newspapers. (The company later became Publication Corporation, which eventually owned a number of Knapp publishing properties.)[4]

Knapp published the Associated Sunday Magazine from 1903 to 1905.

In 1906, Knapp and partner George Hazen purchased the Crowell Publishing Company of Springfield, Ohio, incorporating it in New Jersey.[5] Crowell published the family magazines Farm & Fireside and Woman's Home Companion.

Knapp's Every Week, published between 1915 and 1918, reached a circulation of more than 550,000.[6][7]

Knapp was publisher of the New York Herald Tribune Sunday Magazine[8] in 1935 when he changed its name and began to syndicate it to other newspapers as the Sunday supplement This Week.[9] In the early 1950s, it accompanied 37 Sunday newspapers.[10] (After Knapp's death, at its peak in 1963, This Week was distributed with the Sunday editions of 42 newspapers for a total circulation of 14.6 million.)

Philanthropy

Knapp was interested in game bird conservation, and in 1937 founded the More Game Birds in America Foundation (with others including J. P. Morgan), which today is known as Ducks Unlimited.[11]

He contributed greatly to the Currituck County Schools in North Carolina and to the University of North Carolina.[12] Currituck County dedicated one of their public schools to Knapp. This school is currently the J.P. Knapp Early College High School, which was founded in 2008.[13]

Further reading
  • Spooner, Ken (2010). The Knapps Lived Here. New York, NY: Elm & McKinley. ISBN 978-0-578-06236-5.

References
  1. Joseph P. Knapp | 20th Century American Leaders Database Archived 2006-09-02 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "KNAPP'S HEIRS QUIETLY CONTINUE GIVING". scholar.lib.vt.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
  3. Catalogue of Matriculants who Have Not Graduated, 1758-1897. New York City: Columbia University. 1897. p. 30.
  4. "CROWELL COLLIER PLANNING MERGER; Offers $33-Million Stock to Publication Corp., Printers". timesmachine.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2016-04-23.
  5. "Crowell-Collier Publishing Company Records, 1931-1955" (PDF). Guide to the Crowell-Collier Publishing Company Records. The New York Public Library Humanities and Social Sciences Library Manuscripts and Archives Division. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  6. Crowell, Collier, Knapp, Ketupa.net
  7. Platnick, Norm. "The Sunday Magazine", updated from the original version in the Illustrator Collector's News, May-June 1999.
  8. "Press: Different This Week", Time, January 5, 1942.
  9. "Press: Knapp's Week", Time, February 24, 1935.
  10. 100 Years of Illustration and Design
  11. Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge 2001
  12. Mackay Island General
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-12-23. Retrieved 2010-12-02.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)


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