Recipient Biography

National Level Pugsley Medal -Alfred A. Knopf


 

Alfred A. Knopf (1892-1984) received the national level Pugsley Medal in 1959. The citation proclaimed:"He is a distinguished publisher, discoverer and developer of exceptional talent in writers, conservationist, historian, artist and patron of the arts, connoisseur of wines, naturalist and world traveler. He has published the most comprehensive books on national parks and the biography of Stephen T. Mather, recipient of the first Pugsley Gold Medal in 1928, and father of the present National Park Service. As a conservationist, he has traveled in all parts of the United States, especially in the West, and studied problems of the public domain, forests, river systems, and mountain areas. He has given special attention to national parks and monuments, and has served for six years as a member of the advisory board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings and Monuments, by appointment of the Secretary of Interior.

 He was chairman of the board for five years. He is a director of the Council of Conservationists, the Trustees for Conservation, and the Citizens' Committee for Conservation.His interest in history has brought him honors and memberships on commissions and boards of trustees, notably the Council of the Institute of Early American History and Culture and our own American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society.Knopf was born in New York City in 1892. He attended Columbia College, where he was the advertising manager for the Columbia Monthly; an undergraduate magazine. While attending the university, Knopf began corresponding with John Galsworthy, a British novelist with whom he became acquainted while working on the magazine. After his graduation in 1912, Knopf visited Galsworthy in Europe and not a lawyer as the family had hoped, returned home "determined to become a publisher and not a lawyer."To realize his aspirations, Knopf obtained his first job with Doubleday, Page and Co., where he learned the art of book publishing. Later, in 1914, Knopf became an editor at Mitchell Kennerly publishing firm, but when the company learned of his plans to establish his own business, his employment was terminated. Just two years after Knopf graduated from Columbia, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. opened its doors in 1915 with a capital investment of $5,000. It was located in a small office building where his father also had offices. With the life-long help of Blanche, whom he had married in 1912, it grew into a renowned publishing house.