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The University of Iowa Libraries

Guide to the Thomas Yoseloff Papers

Collection Overview
Date Span:1946 and undated
Creator:Yoseloff, Thomas (1913-2007)
Extent:2.00 linear feet.
Collection Number:MSC0735
Repository:University of Iowa Special Collections
Summary:Journalist and publisher. Managing editor of The Daily Iowan as a student, later wrote for newspapers including the New York Times and the Omaha World Herald. Collection consists of drafts for A Fellow of Infinite Jest (1946), a biography of Laurence Sterne, and his own autobiography, The Time of My Life.

Thomas Yoseloff was born on September 8, 1913, in Sioux City, Iowa, and traveled gradually eastward, reaching Spirit Lake, Iowa, at the age of seven, Mason City, Iowa, at the age of twelve, and becoming a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism at the University of Iowa at the age of twenty. In Iowa City he was managing editor of The Daily Iowan while he pursued his graduate studies. He did not finish, however, and in April 1935 he resumed his eastward migration before receiving his advanced degree, leaving with a brace of undergraduate prizes in journalism and debating.

He wrote articles for various newspapers, including the New York Times and the Omaha World Herald, and gathered news for two small Florida dailies, the Fort Lauderdale Daily News and the Daytona Sun Beach Record. Returning to New York, he began a career in book publishing, and became president of the publishing firm of Bernard Ackerman, Inc. He is the co-author of a children's version of The Merry Adventures of Til Eulenspiegel, and he edited a symposium entitled Seven Poets in Search of an Answer. He also published an autobiographical work, The Time of My Life.

In 1954 he acquired The Golden Cockerel Press. He was also founder of Associated University Presses.

Thomas Yoseloff died on December 24, 2007.

This collection consists of various drafts of two manuscripts, A Fellow of Infinite Jest and The Time of My Life. In 2008, an addendum more than doubled the size of this collection. This addendum consists of notebooks of columns and articles written by Yoseloff, mostly for the Daily Iowan, but there are some from unidentified newspapers. Also included are issues of The Pulse (the Mason City High School newspaper); some editions of The Masonian (Mason City High yearbook); two issues of Campus Crax, from Mason City Junior College; other writings by Yoseloff, and miscellaneous other items, including a series of photographs from the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Speakers at the University of Iowa.

Access: This collection is open for research.

Use: Copyright restrictions may apply; please consult Special Collections staff for further information.

Acquisition: Thomas Yoseloff donated these papers to the University of Iowa Libraries beginning in 1946.

Preferred Citation: Thomas Yoseloff Papers, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa.

Repository:University of Iowa Special Collections
Address:Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, IA 52242
Phone:319-335-5921
Curator:Greg Prickman
Email:lib-spec@uiowa.edu
Website:http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/

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