Collection of Helen Gentry Press Ephemera and Prospectuses

Collection

Identifier: MS.1949.005

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of printed ephemera and prospectuses for work produced by Helen Gentry at the Helen Gentry Press, from approximately 1930-1935. It includes multiple copies of The Leaflet, edited by David Greenhood and multiple prospectuses both for works intended for adult readers, as well as books in Gentry's Juveniles series.

Dates

Creation: about 1930-1935

Creator

Gentry, Helen, 1897-1988 (Person)
Greenhood, David (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to researchers.

Conditions Governing Use

The Clark Library owns the property rights to its collections but does not hold the copyright to these materials and therefore cannot grant or deny permission to use them. Researchers are responsible for determining the copyright status of any materials they may wish to use, investigating the owner of the copyright, and obtaining permission for their intended publication or other use. In all cases, you must cite the Clark Library as the source with the following credit line: The William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Biographical Note

Helen "Billy" Gentry (1897-1988) was a printer, book designer, and typographer. Trained in fine bookmaking and printing at the Grabhorn Press in San Francisco, she started the Helen Gentry Press in 1930. In 1934, she moved with her husband David Greenhood to New York, where she did design work for Simon and Schuster and other publishing houses, including designing the classic 1953 Harper & Brothers edition of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In 1935, she co-founded Holiday House with Vernon Ives and Ted Johnson, devoted to publishing well-designed children's books in fine bindings. Her work was often included in the American Institute of Graphic Arts' fifty best-designed books of the year, and appeared in an AIGA solo show in 1939. In 1963, Gentry moved with her husband to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she continued to work as a freelance designer.

(Biography from SNAC Cooperative)

Extent

.21 Linear feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Physical Location

Clark Library.

Provenance

The majority of this collection appears to have been assembled over time by Robert E. Cowan and the staff of the Clark Library; 6 items (it is unclear which) in this collection were purchased from bookseller Maxwell Hunley in 1949.

Processing History

This collection was uncataloged and filed alphabetically with the Clark Library's Fine Press Ephemera collection until May 2025, when it was processed and cataloged separately by Rebecca Fenning Marschall.