George H. Mifflin

{{Short description|American publishing executive (1845–1921)}} '''George Harrison Mifflin''' (1845–1921) was an executive in the publishing business. He served as president of Houghton Mifflin.<ref name=nyt/>

Mifflin was born in Boston.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w6mp58cf|title = Mifflin, George H. (George Harrison), 1845–1921, - Social Networks and Archival Context}}</ref> He graduated from Harvard. He joined Hurd and Houghton in 1867<ref name=isfdb/> and worked for its subsidiary Riverside Press.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MKxbAgAAQBAJ&q=george+mifflin+publisher&pg=PT1463|title=Encyclopedia of American Literature|first=Manly|last=Inc|date=June 9, 2013|publisher=Infobase Learning|isbn=9781438140773|via=Google Books}}</ref> He continued with Hurd and Houghton's successor companies: "Houghton, Osgood & Co., 1878–1880; Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1880–1888; and the Houghton Mifflin Company, having been President of the last-named company since 1908".<ref name=nyt/> He partnered with Henry Oscar Houghton in 1872.<ref name=isfdb>{{Cite web|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/publisher.cgi?137|title=Publisher: Houghton Mifflin|website=www.isfdb.org}}</ref>

Houghton died in 1895 and Mifflin took over leadership of Houghton, Mifflin & Company. He communicated with some of its prominent authors through good times and bad.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N3mJDnIihsEC&q=george+mifflin+publisher&pg=PA132|title=Together by Accident: American Local Color Literature and the Middle Class|first=Stephanie C.|last=Palmer|date=December 16, 2008|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=9780739132128|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Mifflin was at first skeptical of the company's investment in educational publishing.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vg0mDQAAQBAJ&q=%22george+mifflin%22+publisher&pg=PA92|title=Class Clowns: How the Smartest Investors Lost Billions in Education|first=Jonathan A.|last=Knee|date=November 29, 2016|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231543330|via=Google Books}}</ref> He was socially connected to Sarah Wyman Whitman, who designed elegant book covers for the business.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://community.bowdoin.edu/news/2014/06/library-acquires-sarah-whitman-bookbindings/|title=Library Acquires Sarah Whitman Bookbindings | Bowdoin News Archive|first=Doug|last=Cook}}</ref>

He died in Boston at the age of 75.<ref name=nyt>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1921/04/06/archives/george-h-mifflin-dead-president-of-houghton-mifflin-co-publishers.html|title=GEORGE H. MIFFLIN DEAD.; President of Houghton Mifflin Co. Publishers, Dies in Boston at 75.|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 6, 1921}}</ref>

==Further reading== * Ellen B. Ballou, ''[https://archive.org/details/buildingofhouseh00ball/mode/2up The Building of the House: Houghton Mifflin's Formative Years]'', Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1970 * "George H. Mifflin", ''Cambridge Tribune'' XLIV.6 April 9, 1921

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mifflin, George H.}} Category:1845 births Category:American business executives Category:Businesspeople from Boston Category:1921 deaths Category:Harvard College alumni