The Saturday Evening Post Society

The Saturday Evening Post Society
Name	The Saturday Evening Post Society
Type	Nonprofit organization
Founded	1968
Headquarters	United States
Focus	Arts, culture, journalism, heritage

The Saturday Evening Post Society is a nonprofit cultural organization associated with the legacy of a historic American periodical. It supports preservation, scholarship, and public programs tied to American illustration, literature, popular culture, and journalism. The Society operates through publications, awards, exhibitions, and educational initiatives that intersect with museums, universities, libraries, and arts organizations across the United States.

History

The Society traces roots to the legacy of the original publication that featured illustrators such as Norman Rockwell, J. C. Leyendecker, N. C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, and Grant Wood. Its preservation efforts connected with institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Art Institute of Chicago. Early trustees and advisors included figures from publishing houses like Curtis Publishing Company, executives tied to RCA, scholars from Columbia University, curators from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and collectors linked to the Rockwell Museum. The Society has collaborated with cultural organizations such as National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, American Library Association, Modern Language Association, and Association of American Museums. Partnerships extended to regional museums like The Philbrook Museum of Art, Brandywine River Museum, and Palmer Museum of Art. Its archives intersect with collections at Pratt Institute, Parsons School of Design, and the Guggenheim Museum. The Society's historical programming referenced figures including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Ernest Hemingway, and Mark Twain in exhibits and symposia.

Mission and Programs

The Society's mission revolves around preservation, education, and promotion of American popular culture and illustration. Educational programs linked to institutions such as Yale University, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, and Stanford University target scholars, students, and curators. Residency and fellowship programs have been promoted alongside centers like The New School, Columbia University School of the Arts, Brown University, Princeton University, and University of Michigan. Outreach initiatives have partnered with libraries including New York Public Library, Boston Public Library, and Los Angeles Public Library, as well as historical societies like the American Antiquarian Society, the New-York Historical Society, and the Massachusetts Historical Society. Programs referenced authors and creators such as James Thurber, Dorothy Parker, O. Henry, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston. The Society has supported conservation projects involving institutions like the National Portrait Gallery (United States), the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Brooklyn Museum.

Publications and Media

The Society issues newsletters, catalogs, and scholarly monographs tied to exhibitions and retrospectives featuring artists and writers. Its editorial collaborations invoked names such as Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, and Walt Whitman. Media partnerships included periodicals and outlets like Time (magazine), Life (magazine), The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Harper's Magazine. Broadcast and film projects referenced archives and archives used by Ken Burns, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, and Tom Hanks in documentary or feature work. The Society produced exhibition catalogs and companion books referencing illustrators from institutions such as Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate Modern, and National Gallery of Art (United States). Digital initiatives engaged platforms comparable to JSTOR, Project MUSE, HathiTrust, Internet Archive, and Google Arts & Culture in disseminating materials.

Membership and Organization

The Society's governance structure has included boards and advisory committees with participants drawn from museums, universities, publishing, and media. Notable affiliated organizations and institutions represented by members included Princeton University, Yale University Art Gallery, Columbia Journalism School, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Southern California, and Northwestern University. Professional networks linked to the Society encompassed associations such as Society of Illustrators, American Society of Magazine Editors, American Antiquarian Society, Society for American Music, and Association of Writers & Writing Programs. Philanthropic and corporate supporters have included foundations like the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Guggenheim Foundation. Membership benefits historically involved access to archives at repositories such as Newberry Library, Morgan Library & Museum, and Huntington Library.

Events and Awards

The Society sponsored symposia, exhibitions, and awards that honored figures in illustration, journalism, and letters. Awarded recognitions have paralleled prizes like the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Peabody Award, Emmy Award, and Tony Award in prominence for their respective fields. Events have taken place in venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Lecture series featured speakers comparable to Susan Sontag, Arthur Miller, Toni Morrison, E. B. White, and William Faulkner. Exhibition collaborations were staged with organizations such as Smithsonian American Art Museum, New-York Historical Society, Chicago History Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Cleveland Museum of Art.

Impact and Criticism

Proponents cite the Society's role in preserving illustration and popular periodical culture, citing influence on curators, scholars, and collectors at Smithsonian American Art Museum, Rockwell Museum, Pratt Institute, Cooper Union, and Williams College Museum of Art. Critics have raised concerns about editorial decisions, curatorial bias, and commercialization in connections with corporate partners like Time Inc., Hearst Communications, Condé Nast, Gannett, and Tribune Company. Debates invoked scholarly forums such as American Historical Association, Modern Language Association, College Art Association, Organization of American Historians, and Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations over representation, canon formation, and archival access. Discussions around adaptation and digitization have involved platforms and stakeholders like Google Books, Europeana, Getty Research Institute, Digital Public Library of America, and National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program.

Category:Non-profit organizations based in the United States