Archives: Milestones

Marquis Who’s Who editors and former President of the United States, Harry S. Truman carry on an ongoing debate about whether he had served as the 33rd or 32nd president. President Truman claims that Marquis has repeatedly made the mistake of listing him as the 33rd President of the United

Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican presidential nominee in 1948, is a friend of Marquis publisher Wheeler Sammons Jr., who is known to have a hearty sense of humor. As the election nears, all the polls indicate that Dewey has a solid lead over current President Harry S. Truman. The Chicago

Opening to Broadway audiences at the Hudson Theatre on November 14, 1945, the play, “State of the Union” by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse chronicles the life of a fictional Republican presidential candidate. In the play, one of the characters picks up an edition of Who’s Who and remarks that the other

Albert Nelson Marquis’ death on December 21, 1943, made front-page news across America. Numerous editorials praised him for his decades as a chronicler of American achievement. The New York World Telegram summed up his contributions as follows: “It was never our privilege to meet Albert Nelson Marquis, but to us

Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a great demand for Who’s Who in America arises from the mushrooming war agencies in the first half of the 1940s. Only a fraction of government orders were met for Volume 22 (1942-1943), Volume 23 (1944-1945) and Volume 24 (1946-1947). One colonel calls publisher

The average age of listees in Who’s Who in America is in the mid-50s, but there are some very young listees as well. The youngest listees are child actresses Shirley Temple and Margaret O’Brien. Shirley Temple, who had already acted in more than 15 movies, makes her debut in the

By 1927, Who’s Who in America grows to include more than 26,000 listings. The standards of admission remain stringent but are broadened to include ambassadors to the United States, foreign actors of renown in America, and additional businessmen, among others. Still, generally speaking, one group is conspicuously absent: athletes. The

The sole owner of A.N. Marquis & Company for 40 years, Albert Nelson Marquis is now 71 years old. Thinking ahead, he becomes concerned over the fate of Who’s Who in the event of his death. He worries the brand might fall into unscrupulous hands that will diminish the high

In the 10th edition of Who’s Who in America, the length of former president Theodore Roosevelt’s biography sets a record for presidents (a record that still stands). He increases the length of his biography from 54 lines to 104 between 1911 and 1918, by principally adding his extensive list of

Harry Houdini, arguably the greatest and most famous magician of all time, states that he does not want his occupation in Who’s Who in America to be listed as “magician.” He repeatedly implores the Marquis editors to categorize him as an “actor, inventor, and author,” a request that is politely ignored.