To order images and/or obtain permission to use them commercially, please contact the KSHS Reference Desk at KSHS.reference@ks.gov or 785-272-8681, ext. 117.
For more information see the Copyright and Permission FAQ.
A photograph of Benjamin Smith Hibbs who grew up in Pretty Prairie, Kansas. He graduated from K. U. in 1923. The following year Hibbs was hired as a teacher at Fort Hays State College, where he founded their department of journalism. Between 1926 and 1929, he edited several Kansas newspapers and earned a reputation as one of Kansas' outstanding editors.
At the age of 27, Curtis Publications of Philadelphia offered him the job of associate editor of their national monthly magazine, Country Gentleman. In 1940 he was made editor-in-chief of the magazine.
In 1942 Curtis executives asked Hibbs to take over the editorship of their faltering weekly, the Saturday Evening Post. During the 20 years he edited the magazine, he modernized its contents, style, and format and doubled its circulation to 7 million by 1961. In 1942 it was Ben Hibbs who published Norman Rockwell's now famous illustrations of the Four Freedoms. In 1962 Hibbs resigned from the Post to become editor of Reader's Digest, a position he held until his retirement in 1972.
Date: Between 1940 and 1945
Item Number: 222173
Call Number: B Hibbs, Benjamin *1
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 222173
Business and Industry - Occupations/Professions - Journalists
Collections - Photograph
Date - 1940s
Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Photograph
Type of Material - Photographs
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/222173