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Pippin properties, Inc. records
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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Pippin Properties, Inc. is a New York City-based boutique literary agency, founded by Holly McGhee in 1998, that primarily focuses on children's and young adult literature. Pippin provides its clients, which include authors and illustrators, with support, including but not limited to editorial, legal, foreign rights, film rights, intern, licensing, marketing, and accounting.
As of 2024, the all-woman agency grew to include five employees and agents. Pippin represents 188 children's book authors and artists and has brought over 812 works to publishers.
According to Publisher's Marketplace, the agency's leading clients include Kathi Appelt, Harry Bliss, Doreen Cronin, Kate DiCamillo, Anna Kang & Christoper Weyant, An Na, Jandy Nelson, LeUyen Pham, Sean Qualls, Peter H. Reynolds, and Taeeun Yoo. Some of its most notable projects include Newbery Medal winners The Tale of Despereaux and Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo; New York Times Bestseller & Printz Medal winner I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson; International bestseller and Christopher Medal winner The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds; New York Times Bestseller and Caldecott Honor winner Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin & Betsy Lewin; Geisel Medal winner You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang & Christopher Weyant; and When Everybody Wore A Hat by William Steig.
As of 2024, the full roster of Pippin clients includes authors Kathi Appelt, Katherine Applegate, Stephen Barr, Cassie Beasley, Rocky Callen, Joanna Cotler, Doreen Cronin, Jarrett Dapier, Kate DiCamillo, Jan Eldredge, Beth Ferry, Leah Henderson, Anna Kang, Lindsay Lackey, Justin Lowe, Adrian Matejka, Amber McBride, Holly McGhee, Kate McMullan, An Na, Jandy Nelson, Kathy Nuzum, Jason Reynolds, Paul Reynolds, Eileen Rosenthal, Laurel Snyder, Jeanna Steig, Jonathan Stutzman, Gita Varadarajan, Sarah Weeks, and Ibi Zoboi; and illustrators Zoey Abbott, Jon Agee, Nadia Alam, Ann Arnold, Chelsea Beck, Bob Bianchini, Harry Bliss, Drew Brockington, Christopher Browne, Youssef Daoudi, Medar de la Cruz, AJ Dungo, Rob Dunlavey, Alison Farrell, Heather Fox, Tony Fucile, Marnie Galloway, Lee Gatlin, Jason Griffin, Abby Hanlon, A.N. Kang, Edward Koren, Pascal Lemaître, Betsy Lewin, Elizabeth Lilly, Renata Liwska, Ross MacDonald, Jennifer K. Mann, Fred Marcellino, Peter McCarty, Jim McMullan, Eugenia Mello, Lisa Mundorff, Tao Nyeu, LeUyen Pham, Sean Qualls, Michael Regina, Peter H. Reynolds, Sujean Rim, Edel Rodriguez, Marc Rosenthal, Isabel Roxas, William Steig, David Exra Stein, Jeremy Tankard, Tomi Um, Jason Walz, Christopher Weyant, and Taeeun Yoo.
Sources:
"Pippin Properties, Inc." Publishers Marketplace. https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/hmcghee/
The Pippin Properties, Inc. records measure 24.3 linear feet and date from 1968 to 2023, with the bulk of the material dating from 1990 to 2019. The records largely document Pippin's founding and its work with clients.
The collection is of value to researchers interested in the work of literary agents, publishing, and the work of and on behalf of the authors and illustrators represented by Pippin Publishing, Inc.
The collection is organized in 5 series: I. Administrative and founding documents; Series II. Client files [authors and illustrators]; Series III. Illustration portfolios; Series IV. Advance reading copies; and Series V. Contracts [RESTRICTED]. Researchers will find overlap across the series. Many of the same authors are represented in many, if not all, of the series.
Series I. Administrative and founding documents mostly represents the purchase and sale of the Pippin office on 38th Street in New York City, Pippin's anniversaries and holiday celebrations, correspondence with clients, marketing material, and legal and founding documents such as trademark registration, employer identification number application, and incorporation documents.
Series II. Client files [authors and illustrators] contain a diverse range of material relating to Pippin clients and Pippin's work with those clients. Not all of the material in this series was generated by Pippin. This material represents various aspects of the clients' work, including but not limited to documents representing the creation of the works [ex: notes, sketches, editorial dummies or mock-ups of proposed publications, and folded and gathereds or non approval proofs], marketing and promotional material, inventories and sales information, reviews and press, and awards. There is also correspondence between Pippin, mostly Holly McGhee, and the clients and biographical information of the clients. The clients that comprise the bulk of the material in the client files include Jon Agee, Harry Bliss, Kate DiCamillo, Pascal Lemaître, Renata Liwska, Ross Macdonald, Fred Marcellino, Jim and Kate McMullan, Jason Reynolds, Peter H. Reynolds, David Small, Jeanne Steig, William Steig, David Ezra Stein, Jeremy Tankard, and Taeeun Yoo.
The client files are arranged alphabetically by last name for the clients with a significant amount of material, followed by an "Other clients" sub-series which contains clients whose work is less well represented.
Series III. Illustration portfolios includes portfolios of mostly printed digitally-rendered illustrations by Pippin clients. These portfolios were compiled by Pippin in 2023 and the majority of the illustrations included are undated.
Series IV. Advance reading copies (ARCs) include 67 titles by Pippin clients. ARCs are the free copies of books distributed by a publisher before the book is printed for mass distribution and released to the general public. In some cases, these texts differ slightly from the final version, though it is unclear if that is the case for any of those included in this series.
Series V. Contracts is restricted due to the presence of personally identifiable information and payment information. For access information, please see the conditions governing access note.
The contracts include all contracts generated during the clients' work with and representation by Pippin Properties, Inc. Examples of contracts include in-house documents (agency agreements) and agreements with external bodies, such as publishing agreements facilitated by Pippin, contracts for film and audio adaptations of Pippin authors' work, foreign-language publishing agreements, illustrator contracts, licensing agreements, and collaboration contracts. Some pippin clients have a significant number of contracts. For those clients, the contracts have been arranged and described alphabetically by work title. When title ranges are given for contracts, researchers should note that these contracts are alphabetized by the title on the contract which, in some cases, is not the final title of the work. When there are several books in a series, books in that series are included with the contracts for the first title of that series. Most of the material in the contracts series, however, is simply available under the client's name.
Sold by Gerald Cloud (Petaluma, CA), 2019, 2022, and 2023.
People
Subject
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
- Finding Aid Author
- Kelin Baldridge Smallwood
- Finding Aid Date
- 2024 May 17
- Access Restrictions
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The bulk of this collection is open for research use, however, Box 1, Folders 1-4, 35; box 2, folder 11-12; box 3, folder 10; and boxes 15-25 are restricted until 2100 due to the presence of banking and personally identifiable information.
The entirety of Series V. Contracts, found in box 15-25, is restricted due to payment and personally identifiable information.
To access author and illustrator contracts, researchers must provide proof that an author is deceased or seek approval from a living author by contacting representatives at Pippin Properties, Inc. Researchers can seek this approval by emailing info@pippinproperties.com and providing the subject line "UPenn Archive Contract Request."
The use of original VHS tapes in Box 6 and 18 is restricted. If the original does not already have a copy, it may be sent to an outside vendor for copying. Patrons are financially responsible for the cost. The turnaround time from the time of request to delivery of digital items will depend on the nature of the material and is subject to review for condition. Please contact the Kislak Center (kislak@upenn.edu) for cost estimates and ordering. Researchers should be aware of specifics of copyright law and act accordingly.
- Use Restrictions
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Copyright restrictions may exist. For most library holdings, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania do not hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the requester to seek permission from the holder of the copyright to reproduce material from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.