John Chipman Farrar papers

The publisher John Chipman Farrar was born to Edward Donaldson Farrar and Sally Wright in Burlington, Vermont, in 1896. Farrar attended Yale between 1914 and 1919. His education at Yale was interrupted with a year of service with the Intelligence Division of the Army Air Service during World War I.

Early in his life Farrar aspired to be an author, and during his time at Yale he published two volumes of verse (Portraits and Forgotten Shrines), wrote and produced a play, Nerves, worked on the Yale Literary Magazine and co-edited the Yale Book of Student Verse , 1910-1919. While at Yale University Farrar met Stephen Vincent Benet, with whom he collaborated on several publications and projects.

After graduation Farrar went on to work as a reporter and to publish poetry; however, he is best known as a publisher and editor. Farrar’s first publishing job was with George Doran in 1921; when the firm merged and became Doubleday, Doran & Company in 1927, Farrar was promoted within the company. In 1927 Farrar and his colleague Stanley Rinehart formed a publishing company together. While successful for a number of years, the men separated in 1946, at which time Farrar created Farrar, Straus & Company with Roger Straus. Farrar and Straus would remain in partnership throughout the rest of their lives, with the company adopting several names over its lifetime, including Farrar, Straus & Young, Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, and Farrar, Straus, & Giroux.

In addition to maintaining his publishing firm, Farrar was also involved in encouraging authors. In 1926 he founded the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference at Middlebury College with Robert Frost. He served as the president of the New York Chapter of the International Association of Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, and Novelists (PEN), as director of the Marlboro Fiction Writers’ Conference (1949-1951), and on the boards of the Poetry Society of America and the Writers’ Board for World Government. Farrar also taught at New York University (early 1920s) and Columbia University (1945-1947).

In 1926 John Farrar and Margaret Petherbridge Farrar (1897-1984) married. A graduate of Smith College (1919), Margaret Farrar is best known for her work editing crossword puzzles for Simon & Schuster and The New York Times. She also played a role in publishing; she was editor of mystery books at Farrar & Rinehart and Farrar, Straus, & Giroux and served as a member of the board of directors of Farrar, Straus, & Giroux following John Farrar’s death in 1974. John and Margaret Petherbridge Farrar had three children: John Curtis Farrar, Alison Farrar Wilson, and Janice Farrar Thaddeus.