Jaques (Jack) Cattell (2 June 1904 inGarrison, New York – 19 December 1961) was an American publisher and founder of a company bearing his name, "Jaques Cattell Press, Inc.," based inLancaster, Pennsylvania.[1][2]
There were two well-known psychologists inLancaster, Pennsylvania,James McKeen Cattell, PhD (1860–1944) and his daughterPsyche Cattell, EdD (1893–1988).
Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) andThomas Edison (1847–1931) began a publication calledScience in about 1880.Science failed twice beforeJames McKeen Cattell resurrected it in 1895. Cattell established 1901 "The Science Press" in New York City to publishScience and other journals. Under Cattell's direction, the press also began publishing The Biographical Directory of American Men of Science.[3] In 1923,James McKeen Cattell began The Science Press Printing Co. inLancaster, primarily because the city was an established printing center. The business eventually moved to 20 McGovern Avenue, a building across from thePennsylvania Railroad Station. Much of that building has been demolished.
James Cattell's son, Jaques, founded the Jaques Cattell Press in the 1930s and began publishing works of popular science in his father's Lancaster plant. James remained in New York, living upstate along the Hudson River and working on Science Press materials in an office inGrand Central Terminal inNew York City. WhenWorld War II began, the press operations began to ration and consolidate operations. James gave his home to his oldest son, McKeen Cattell (1891–1983), closed the office inGrand Central Terminal, moved to Lancaster and built a large apartment on top of the printing plant on McGovern Avenue. James died there in 1944. The printing plant was sold to Hughes Printing Corp. to settle the estate. It was renamed "The Business Press, Incorporated", and published prestigious magazines such as Foreign Affairs and Commentary. In 1947, Walter L. Connor took over as president of Lancaster Business Press. The Connor family lived in the Cattell apartment from 1947 to 1980. The apartment had 16 rooms and four stone fireplaces.
When the printing plant was sold to Hughes, James Cattell's son, Jaques, kept the name of Science Press. In the mid-1950s, James sold Science Press to Hughes, which moved it toEphrata, where it remains as a division of Cadmus Communications Corp. Hudson Cattell (born 1931) worked as publications manager for Science Press from 1953 to 1958.
Jaques Cattell moved toPhoenix, Arizona, and continued operating the Jaques Cattell Press. He died in 1961.[4] That same year,R. R. Bowker acquired Jaques Cattell Press, where it continued to operate out of Tempe, Arizona. Daniel Melcher (1912–1985), a senior executive ofR. R. Bowker, became president of Jaques Cattell Press in 1961.Xerox Corporation acquiredR. R. Bowker on January 1, 1968. The name, "Jaques Cattell Press," continued as a Division of RR Bowker, A Xerox Company. In 1985, Xerox sold RR Bowker toReed International. In 1981,Cambridge Information Group acquiredR. R. Bowker.[5]
