Finding Aid to the Community Crusade for Worth-while Children's books Records, 1948-1949 Finding Aid to the Community Crusade for Worth-while Children's books Records, 1948-1949 North Jersey History and Genealogy Center
The Morristown and Morris Township Library One Miller Road Morristown, NJ 07960
Overview of Collection Comet Books HM6 Comm Crus Rec Community Crusade for Worth-while Children's books Records, 1948-1949 .5 linear feet in 1 manuscript box History of Comet Books, Pocket Books Jrs and Morristown, New Jersey

Comet Books, a series of 25 cent paperbacks for junior readers, were published during the late 1940's by Pocket Books. It appears that Pocket Books chose Morristown to be a test market for the series. This collection contains materials in which Morristown residents advocated for the reading of Comet Books and for the benefits the books would impart on the town's youth. However, by the end of 1949 the company chose to rename the Comet Books series for two reasons: they didn't want to confuse "Comet" with "comic" and, results of a study showed the new name of "Pocket Book, Jrs" had more of an appeal to both young adults and their parents.

General Sources:

Inexpensive Books for the Junior High School. Frogner, Ellen: The English Journal, vol 39 no 7 (Sept 1950), pp 384-387.

 Scope and Content of the Records

This collection is composed of marketing campaign materials including; posters, a pressbook, a press release, a pamphlet, as well as newspaper and magazine reprints.

Arrangement of the Records

The three manuscript folders of the collection are arranged in one manuscript box, while the fourth folder is an oversized one. Altogether the folders contain items dating from 1948-1949, as well as documents that are undated.

Important Information for Users of the Collection

These records are open to researchers. Records may be copied for use in individual scholarly or personal research, however, as with all materials in the North Jersey History Center researchers are responsible for obtaining copyright permission to use material from the collection. Material in the Community Crusade for Worth-while Children's books records, may be photocopied, but because this material is a permanent part of the History Center's collections, researchers are advised to photocopy with care, using only the edge copier for bound material.

Preferred Citation

Community Crusade for Worth-while Children's books Records, 1948-1949. North Jersey History and Genealogy Center, The Morristown and Morris Township Library.

 Processing Information

Finding Aid arranged, described and encoded by North Jersey History and Genealogy Center Archivist, Fall 2009.

 Container List 1 1 Press release and pamphlet, 1948-1949. 1 2 Pressbook, 1948-1949. 1 3 Magazine and newspaper reprints, 1949. FOLIO 1 Posters [2]: Postal Telegraph and Comet Book News; newspaper advertising supplements [4 items], not dated.