Wright Howes (1882–1978)

Born in 1882 in Macon Georgia, to Davis Howes and Susan Wright Howes, Henry Wright Howes grew up with his brother Davis and sisters Emily and Mary among generations of Southern relatives. He attended Mercer University, a private men's college in Macon for a year before his father relocated the family to New York City. Howes attended Columbia University and then Columbia Law School, graduating in 1905. After practicing
law for two years in Rogers, Arkansas, Howes entered the antiquarian book business, first working as a clerk in a Boston bookstore, then briefly operating his own stores in Kansas City, Missouri, and San Antonio, Texas, before eventually moving to Chicago to work for Powner's Book Store in 1912. Zoe Heflin Reed, an Illinois native whom he had met in New York City some years earlier, joined him there shortly after.

In 1917, at the age of 35, Howes enlisted in the U.S. Army when the United States entered World War I. He spent two years in the army, first at Camp Grant, in Rockford, IL, and then in France, serving as an officer in an administrative capacity. Upon his return in 1919 he and Zoe married, and the couple moved to an apartment at 1142 S. Michigan Ave. Wright turned down an offer from Powner's to oversee their new Los Angeles location, instead choosing to remain in Chicago as Vice President of the growing company, and manager of one of its Chicago stores. He made numerous buying and selling trips for Powner's, likely gaining experience and building his own inventory at the same time. Near the end of 1924, Wright left Powner's, and the Howeses opened their first antiquarian bookshop in the ground floor of their apartment building: Wright Howes - Old and Rare Books. It was during this time the Howeses met Everett D. Graff, a collector of Americana and Newberry Library trustee who patronized the store. For the next 45 years, Wright and Zoe would operate some version of this business from their various residences. The Howeses specialized in rare and collectible Americana, with Wright's knowledge of American history complemented by Zoe's background in librarianship and bookbinding. Zoe also took on the accounting and management of the business, allowing Wright to focus on acquiring and selling books, and maintaining relationships with customers. Wright Howes kept detailed notes about the books he handled, which would later become the basis for his seminal bibliographic work, U.S.IANA.

The Howeses moved from the S. Michigan Ave. space to Chicago's north side in 1939. Instead of opening a new shop, they ran the bookselling business from their home, first at Chicago Ave. and Rush St. until 1951, and then the Irving Apartments at 1018 N. State St. Owned by the Newberry Library and located near it, with many Newberry employees in residence there, the Irving Apartments were deeply intertwined with library activity. It was while the Howeses lived there that Wright began compiling U.S.IANA, likely at the urging of his friend and customer Everett D. Graff, and with the aid of a fellowship from the Newberry. With much of Wright's research and writing done at the Newberry, the first edition of U.S.IANA was published in 1954, and the second, expanded edition in 1962.

When the Irving Apartments were sold and demolished in 1970, Wright and Zoe Howes sold off their remaining inventory and retired to Augusta, GA, where they lived in the Bon Air Apartments. Zoe Howes died in October of 1977 at 90 years old; Wright Howes died 6 months later at the age of 95.