Halsey William Wilson, a student working his way through the University of Minnesota founded The H. W. Wilson Company with his roommate, Henry S. Morris way back in 1898. The company published its first first original reference title, The Cumulative Book Index, that very same year. Wilson’s book selling business served students and educators working at the university. When Morris graduated he sold his share of the business to Wilson.
In 1901 the company published The Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature. During the mid-aughts, Wilson published a variety of postcard featuring scenes around Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota. In 1911, Wilson moved the business to White Plains, New York. Six years later in an effort to serve the demand for specialized indexes, Wilson bought a five-story building near the Harlem River in the Bronx and the company stayed put for the next 94 years. The company continued to make a name for itself publishing print references, like Facts About the Presidents, Famous First Facts, and the highly acclaimed monthly magazine Current Biography. In 2011, H. W. Wilson Company merged with EBSCO Publishing and the new company moved operations to a town called Ipswich in Massachusetts.
