Nelson Antrim Crawford

Nelson Antrim Crawford (1888-1963) was an American poetry, American poet]], academic, and magazine editor.

Life
Crawford was born in Dakota Territory, and raised in Iowa. He received degrees from Iowa State University and the University of Kansas.

Crawford then became a teacher of English and journalism at Kansas State University. He was named head of the college printing department and press service and produced college texts. In 1918 he became chairman of the journalism department in 1918.

Well-known in national literary circles, Crawford was connected to several magazines including Look, Poetry, and The American Mercury. Also, he was the editor for forty of E. Haldeman-Julius's Little Blue Books. In 1924 he was appointed as the first director of public information for the U. S. Department of Agriculture. By 1928 Crawford was living in Topeka and Arthur Capper, president of Capper Publications, chase him to be editor-in-chief of Household Magazine, a position he held for twenty-three years. During that time circulation increased sixty percent to well over two and a half million. One reason for that success was Crawford's addition of first-rate contributors to the magazine. Among them were Carl Sandburg, Jesse Stuart, William Gibson, Sinclair Lewis, and Karl Menninger. Crawford wrote several novels and edited and published Author and Journalist, a magazine for writers. Upon retirement he was a visiting professor at Kansas State and on the faculty of the Menninger School of Psychiatry in Topeka, where he taught scientific writing. During his career he was president of the American Association of College Editors, the American Association of Teachers of Journalism, the American College Quill Club, and was an officer of the National Press Club.