The Open Court Connection
The Edward C. Hegeler home, La Salle, Illinois was built in 1874-1876. This stately family home served as the headquarters of The Open Court Publishing Company from its formation in 1887 until recent years (and serves as the logo for the Open Universe imprint). The ground floor of the mansion housed the editorial offices and, for a time, was the printing and distribution center for books and journals.
The Carus family is still active in supporting the house museum which is open to visitors for tours, seminars, and private events. To schedule a tour of the Hegeler Carus Mansion or for more information, visit the Hegeler Carus Foundation.
Honoring the heritage of Paul Carus of Open Court (1887-1919), Carus Books was founded by Paul’s grandson, Blouke Carus. Carus Books, with its Open Universe and Carus Education imprints, took a torch from the Open Court Publishing Company, which excelled from more than a century in the publication of outstanding titles in philosophy, popular culture, psychology, science, and world religion.
As the official repository for the Open Court Publishing Company, the Special Collections Research Center of the SIU Morris Library has made the full run of the The Open Court magazine available at OpenSIUC via the Internet. For more information about Open Court Books, The Monist Journal, and the original Open Court correspondence (1887-2015) please visit here.
The Cricket Connection
Marianne and Blouke Carus supported each other in their publishing ventures. Each distinguished in their own right, Marianne Carus was Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Cricket Magazine Group, published by Carus Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois.
A native of Germany, Mrs. Carus majored in English and German literature at the University of Freiburg and continued studies in French Literature and Art History at the Sorbonne, Paris, and the University of Chicago.
Mrs. Carus spoke about children’s literature, creative writing, and children’s magazines at many universities and at conferences and served on many distinguished boards such as the ALSC, IBBY, and the International Youth Library. She was director on the ALSC Board , the Executive Board of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People, Basel, Switzerland), and Director of the renowned International Youth Library in Munich, Germany. Mrs. Carus received an honorary doctors degree in humane letters from Illinois Wesleyan University and was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Association of Educational Publishers.