William Terry Couch (1901–1989) was a

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

intellectual and academic editor, known primarily for his work as director of the

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...

in the 1940s, and his work as Editor in Chief of ''

Collier's Encyclopedia ''Collier's Encyclopedia'' is a discontinued general encyclopedia first published in 1949 by P. F. Collier and Son in the United States. With ''Encyclopedia Americana'' and ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Collier's Encyclopedia'' became one of the th ...

'' in the 1950s. He also wrote and commented extensively on encyclopedias, their organization and role in modern society and academia. Friends, family and colleagues knew him as Bill Couch.

Biography

Couch was born in Pamplin City, Virginia in 1901. He was raised in Virginia and North Carolina. His family settled in

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange, Durham and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 census, making Chapel Hill the 17th-largest municipality in the state. Chapel Hill, Durham, and the state ca ...

before 1920. He attended the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

and after brief military service immediately following World War I, returned to Chapel Hill to work for the

University of North Carolina Press The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a university press that is part of the University of North Carolina. It was the first university press founded in the Southern United States. It is a member of the Ass ...

where he rose to be the director of the press and therefore a member of the university faculty. His brother, John Couch was also a member of the University of North Carolina Biology Department faculty. In 1943 (?), Couch was hired by the University of Chicago to direct its press under then Chancellor

Robert Maynard Hutchins Robert Maynard Hutchins (January 17, 1899 – May 14, 1977) was an American educational philosopher. He was president (1929–1945) and chancellor (1945–1951) of the University of Chicago, and earlier dean of Yale Law School (1927–1929). His& ...

. He was subsequently dismissed from that position in 1949 after a significant public academic controversy over the publication of

Morton Grodzins Morton M. Grodzins (11 August 1917 – 7 March 1964) was a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, as well as a dean of the school and an editor at Chicago University Press. He is known for coining the term " tipping point" in ...

' book ''Americans Betrayed''. Couch had published the book after refusing Hutchins' request to suppress the manuscript. In September 1952, P. F. Collier and Son Corporation hired Couch as Editor-in-Chief of its 20-volume ''

'', and of Collier’s annual ''Year Book''. Couch assumed his new job at a time of unprecedented consumer demand for encyclopedias. Under P. F. Collier President

John G. Ryan John Gerard Ryan (1910–1989) was an American publisher, president of P.F. Collier & Son Corporation and of The Richards Company, Inc., a subsidiary of Grolier Incorporated. He was pivotal to the 1950s and 1960s expansion of the American encycl ...

, Collier’s sales rose from $9 million in 1953 to $23 million in 1956 and over $25 million in 1957. As Editor-in-Chief, Couch sought to present multiple and varying perspectives on controversial issues addressed in the encyclopedia and in the annual Year Book. He quickly came under criticism from left-wing academics and librarians for soliciting article contributions from conservative and anti-communist writers. In Collier’s widely acclaimed Year Book for 1957, covering the dramatic events of 1956, Couch edited articles from three hundred contributors, while addressing explosive topics, such as the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

, and the anti-Communist

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

. Ryan generally supported Couch’s editorial policies and directed him to compile an expanded revision of ''Collier’s Encyclopedia'' by 1962. However, in 1957, outside investors seized full control of

Crowell-Collier Publishing Company Crowell-Collier Publishing Company was an American publisher that owned the popular magazines ''Collier's'', ''Woman's Home Companion'' and ''The American Magazine''. Crowell's subsidiary, P.F. Collier and Son, published ''Collier's Encyclopedia,' ...

, P. F. Collier’s parent company, and storm clouds began to gather for Couch. Already under a

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

investigation for an unregistered bond sale, Crowell Collier’s new management also held insider stock options and would profit personally from manipulating an increase in Crowell Collier’s stock price. Crowell Collier’s new directors, paper bag company executives with no publishing experience, pressured Ryan to loosen encyclopedia sales practices, lower customer credit standards, and cut Couch’s editorial budget. Ryan resisted, and despite generating record profits, was fired in April 1959. With his friend and ally gone, Couch’s days at P. F. Collier were numbered. Couch rebuffed a proposal by Crowell Collier’s chairman that the expanded revision of ''Collier’s Encyclopedia'' include one volume of equal page length for each letter of the alphabet. Unwilling to compromise his editorial standards, Couch was fired, following Ryan out the door in July 1959. In September 1959, after considering starting a new business with John Ryan, Couch joined publisher J. J. Little & Ives as Editorial Vice President. He left that position in 1966 and retired to North Carolina."William T. Couch". The News and Observer, Raleigh North Carolina. 1988-12-13. Page 23. Retrieved 2021-05-03. Couch married Elizabeth Calvert circa 1925 and had two children, Elizabeth and Jane. He died in 1989 in

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

after a prolonged illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Couch, William Terry 1901 births 1989 deaths American encyclopedists American print editors University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni 20th-century American non-fiction writers People from Chapel Hill, North Carolina People from Pamplin, Virginia