Earl Reed Silvers Papers

Earl Reed Silvers was born in Jersey City, New Jersey on February 22, 1891. He graduated from Rahway High School in 1909. As an undergraduate at Rutgers College, he edited the Targum and the Scarlet Letter and the Y.M.C.A. Handbook. Silvers interests in literature earned him the position of vice president to the Philoclean Society. He was described as an outstanding athlete playing track to football, experiences that he would later explore in his stories of sport heroes that emboldened the spirit of gamesmanship. He excelled also in literature receiving the Vail Prize for Scholarship, the Second O'Grady and Bussing Speaking Prizes, the Suydam Prize in English Composition, special honors in English, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.(1) A remarkably self-motivated young man, Silvers worked his own way through his undergraduate years. He entered Rutgers College "...with only forty dollars to his name, and when he graduated four years later, he had a bank account of ten times that amount...and even bought his own clothes. He stoutly maintains that every boy who wants to earn a college education can do so."(2) He earned his A.B. in 1913.

In 1912, he wrote a "Hymn to Old Queens," which was published originally in the Targum (date unknown) and later in the Daily Home News, May 17, 1912. From June to September of 1913, he served as editor of the Rahway Record. (3)

From 1913-1916 he remained at Rutgers as secretary of the Alumni office. On December 14, 1916, he married Edyth I. Terrill, they had two children: Earl Reed and Edith Evelyn (Daly). A third son, Terrill, died on September 10, 1923. (4)

From 1916-1925, he assisted then president Demarest and simultaneously served as director of public information. From 1917-1919, Silvers created and maintained the Rutgers College War Service Bureau. The Bureau's mission was "keeping Rutgers men in touch with the college and with one another" during World War I. Silvers' also documented the activities and impressions of Rutgers men involved in military service and other war-related activity. During this same period he served as editor of the Rutgers Alumni Quarterly from 1914-1921 and continued in the same capacity from 1921-1929 of the Rutgers Alumni Monthly. During 1926-1933 he also edited the University Extension Record, and later 1933-1936 edited the Alumni Council Bulletin.

From 1916 he had begun publishing short stories in magazines and newspapers, such as Boy's Life and Young People. In 1923, Rutgers conferred upon him an honorary A.M. Between 1920-1923, Silvers published hundreds of articles and had managed to publish several books, from Dick Arnold of Raritan College to Ned Beals Works His Way. Over the span of his lifetime, Silvers published 1,000 articles and published 30 books. His first adult novel, If In Years to Come was published April 25, 1944.

Short stories were his main stay, but he encouraged the further reading of boys and girls with his serial, "In the book corner with Earl Reed Silvers," he managed also to encourage his young audience to submit their own reviews, some of which were published. His interest in youth extended beyond juvenile literature and from 1926 he was the assistant directory of the Highland Nature Camps, Naples, Maine. In 1935 he added to these duties as Director of Activities at Camp Sokokis, Bridgeton, Maine. In 1935, he became the advisory editor of the Boys and Girls' Newspaper, sponsored by the publishers of Parents' Magazine. During the same year he was appointed president of the Board of Education of Rahway. (5) From 1929-1944 he was an associate professor of English. 1935-1937 he also was served as the executive secretary of the Rutgers University Fund Council. An active member of the American College Publicity Association, he served as its president 1929-1930. In 1942, he was awarded a Litt. D. from Rutgers University. From 1944 until his death in 1948, he was the Dean of Men. In 1937, Silvers was appointed first Director of the Rutgers University Press. (6) As prolific as he was, Silvers at times found it necessary to mask his identity with pseudonyms: Harrison Chase; Carl R. Seasman; David Stone (used in at lease six books); Raymond L. Summers. (7) Silvers had every reason to mask his identity. His article was a written defense of collegiate athletics in view of the recent published report of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching where it was established "...that the country's universities are buying athletes to participate in their intercollegiate contests."

On his endeavors as an author, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote: "I wish that all associate professors of English wrote with such tenderness and humor." Orson Welles: "I read it four years ago...one of the warmest and nicest love stories I ever found for radio." William F. Bigelow: "It is seldom that an editor publishes anything that practically everybody praises...that has been the fate of your story."

On March 6, 1948, he sent a postcard to Dr. William H. S. Demarest: "It is lovely here and I am feeling better already..." He died in Florida on March 26, 1948. (8)

(1) Targum, October 12, 1921. (2) American Boy, July 1918. (3) Rutgers Alumni Monthly, November 1921 (4) Ibid., October 1923 (5) Ibid., May-June, 1935 (6) Johns, Francis, "Donald F. Cameron and the Libraries, 1945-66," Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries, v. 39 no. , June, 1977. (7) "Spirit of Christmas," Young People's Weekly, v. 45 no. 50, December 14, 1929. Identified in the hand of Silvers; "The Football Business," New Republic, v. 60 no 779: 319, November 6, 1929. Manuscript on copy. (8) Box 1, Folder 2.