Edward W. Bok
Encyclopedia
Edward William Bok (9 October 1863–January 9th, 1930) was a Dutch born American editor and Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

-winning author. He was editor of the Ladies Home Journal for thirty years. Bok is credited with coining the term living room
Living room
A living room, also known as sitting room, lounge room or lounge , is a room for entertaining adult guests, reading, or other activities...

as the name for room of a house that had commonly been called the parlor or drawing room
Drawing room
A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained. The name is derived from the sixteenth-century terms "withdrawing room" and "withdrawing chamber", which remained in use through the seventeenth century, and made its first written appearance in 1642...

.

Life and career

He was born in Den Helder
Den Helder
Den Helder is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula...

, The Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. At the age of six, he immigrated to Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, USA, and became an office boy with the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1876. In 1882, he began work with Henry Holt and Company, and then, in 1884, he became involved with Charles Scribner's Sons
Charles Scribner's Sons
Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing a number of American authors including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Robert A. Heinlein, Thomas Wolfe, George Santayana, John Clellon...

, where he eventually became its advertising manager. From 1884 until 1887, Bok was the editor of The Brooklyn Magazine, and in 1886, he founded The Bok Syndicate Press.

After moving to Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

 in 1889, he obtained the editorship of Ladies Home Journal, when its founder and editor, Louisa Knapp Curtis
Louisa Knapp Curtis
Louisa Knapp Curtis , sometimes known only as Louisa Knapp, was the author of a column, and later, the separate supplement included with the magazine, Tribune and Farmer, that in 1883 would become a separate magazine, the Ladies' Home Journal, which still is published.Her column in the Tribune and...

, stepped down to a less intense role at the popular, nationally-circulated publication. It was published by Cyrus Curtis, who had an established publishing empire that included many newspapers and magazines.

In 1896 Bok married Mary L. Curtis
Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist
Mary Louise Curtis Bok , was the founder of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She was the only child of the magazine and newspaper magnate, Cyrus Curtis and Louisa Knapp Curtis, the founder and editor of the Ladies Home Journal...

, the daughter of Louisa and Cyrus Curtis. She shared her family's interest in music, cultural activities, and philanthropy
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...

 and was very active in social circles.

During his editorship, the Journal became the first magazine in the world to have one million subscribers and it became very influential among readers by featuring informative and progressive ideas in its articles. The magazine focused upon the social issues of the day. It also became the first magazine to refuse patent medicine
Patent medicine
Patent medicine refers to medical compounds of questionable effectiveness sold under a variety of names and labels. The term "patent medicine" is somewhat of a misnomer because, in most cases, although many of the products were trademarked, they were never patented...

 advertisements. In 1919, after thirty years at the journal, Bok retired.

In 1923, Bok proposed the American Peace Award
American Peace Award
The American Peace Award is awarded to American Citizens working to further the cause of world peace.- The 1924 American Peace Award :The American Peace Award was created in 1923 by Edward W. Bok, who believed that the United States Government was not taking initiative to promote peace in the world...

.

In 1924 Mary Louise Bok founded the Curtis Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...

 in Philadelphia, which she dedicated to her father, Cyrus Curtis, and in 1927, the Boks embarked upon the construction of Bok Tower Gardens
Bok Tower Gardens
Bok Tower Gardens is a botanical garden and bird sanctuary, located north of Lake Wales, Florida, United States. It consists of a 250-acre garden, the tall Singing Tower with its carillon bells, Pine Ridge Trail, Pinewood Estate, and a visitor center...

, near their winter home in Mountain Lake Estates
Mountain Lake Estates Historic District
The Mountain Lake Estates Historic District is a U.S. historic district , located north of Lake Wales, Florida, off the US 27A Scenic Highway....

, Lake Wales, Florida
Lake Wales, Florida
Lake Wales is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. The population was 10,194 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 11,802 . It is part of the Lakeland–Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, which was dedicated on February 1, 1929 by the president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...

. Bok Tower sometimes is called a sanctuary and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 as a National Landmark
National landmark
A National landmark is a site identified by a national authority as one possessing nationally–significant natural, historic, or scientific resources...

. Bok is used as an example in Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie
Dale Breckenridge Carnegie was an American writer, lecturer, and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills...

's How to Win Friends and Influence People
How to Win Friends and Influence People
How to Win Friends and Influence People is one of the first bestselling self-help books ever published. Written by Dale Carnegie and first published in 1936, it has sold 15 million copies world-wide....

.


Bok is credited with coining the term living room
Living room
A living room, also known as sitting room, lounge room or lounge , is a room for entertaining adult guests, reading, or other activities...

as the name for room of a house that was commonly called a parlor or drawing room
Drawing room
A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained. The name is derived from the sixteenth-century terms "withdrawing room" and "withdrawing chamber", which remained in use through the seventeenth century, and made its first written appearance in 1642...

. This room had traditionally been used only on Sundays or for formal occasions such as the displaying of deceased family members before burial. Bok believed it was foolish to create an expensively furnished room that was rarely used, and promoted the new name to encourage families to use the room in their daily lives. He wrote, " We have what is called a 'drawing room'. Just whom or what it 'draws' I have never been able to see unless it draws attention to too much money and no taste..."

His 1920 autobiography, The Americanization of Edward Bok, won the Gold Medal of the Academy of Political and Social Science and the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography
Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography
The Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author.-1910s:* 1917: Julia Ward Howe by Laura E...

. Edward W. Bok died on January 9, 1930. His grandson is Derek Bok.

Published works

  • Successward (1895)
  • The Young Man & The Church (1896)
  • Her Brother's Letters (1906)
  • Why I Believe in Poverty (1915)
  • The Americanization of Edward Bok (1920)
  • A Dutch Boy Fifty Years After, edited by John Louis Haney (1921)
  • Two Persons (1922)
  • A Man from Maine (1923)
  • Twice Thirty (1925)
  • Dollars Only (1926)
  • You: A Personal Message (1926)
  • America Give Me a Chance (1926)
  • Perhaps I Am (1928)

External links

  • Edward Bok profile at Internet Accuracy Project
  • Successward (1895) full text digitized online version from the University of Michigan Library MBooks.
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