Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 1973)
n n n UUWJ By Ken Merlin School of Journalism The grand old gentleman of textbook salesmen in Nebraska is Gil Saunders, 77, host of the textbook exhibit, which opened Monday in the Centennial Room of the Union. Saunders retired as a textbook salesman from Holt, Rinerhart and Winston in 1964. He now acts as a consultant and "pinch-hit salesman" in Nebraska and Texas. He's a little man who comes up and shakes your hand like he wants to. He says he is happy with his work and doesn't plan to quit his semi-retired job which has taken him to Texas each January and February for the past nine years. In Texas he sells books and fishes for sand trout. Meeting people "I like being a salesman. I stay as far away from the office as I can. I enjoy going out and meeting school people," he said. One of his friends in the field of education is Dorcas Cavett, UNL professor of elementary education, who has known Saunders since she was a young girls. (She is also the stepmother of Dick Cavett, the television personality.) Mrs. Cavett first met Saunders through her father, who was a textbook salesman for a rival company. "Gil Saunders was never high powered. He's the old style salesman who is always up-to-date on new materials, both his and his competitors," she said. "He uses the soft sell approach. He talks content and method in a language easily understood by educators." Also educators Textbookmen are frequently educators in their own right and often are called upon to demonstrate materials in the classroom, Mrs. Cavett said. Saunders was a school superintendent in Milford before he returned to college and received his masters degree in education from the University in 1928. He took a job the same year as a textbook salesman, because, "I had too big a family and too little money to get a doctorate." He worked for the University Publishing Company in Lincoln from 1928 to 1935 when he joined John C. Winston Company which became Holt, Rinehart and Winton fn 1960. Informed Mrs. Cavett said Saunders is "the most informed man for his age in education that I know. He's been in the book business longer than anyone in Nebraska," she said, "of that I'm certain." Norman Thorpe, w(k retired as associate dean of Teachers College last December, recalled meeting Saunders, "a most congenial kind of person, very much respected by school people around the state." rnm" ' '-"H .i rt r J .,. - ..". .... I . . I ' s f, . ' J ' " ' if Pftoto by Ken Mnrliri Gil Saunders Thorpe was a school superintendent from Panama at the time Saunders was in his first year as a salesman (1928). Farm boy "I always felt he was totally trustworthy," he said. Tlioipe and Saunders occasionally meet in Lincoln and exchange lies on fishing in Minnesota where both go, "but to different areas so that neither can verify the other's story," Thorpe said. Gil Saunders was born on a farm in Webster County and attended a one-room rural school in Cowles, Nebr. Saunders wife and mother are living. He has been married 57 years and his mother is in her nineties. They live in Lincoln in a home they purchased in 1941. Saunders is secretary of the Nebraska Professional Bookman of America which represents 40 textbook companies. He has held every office in the organisation including several terms as president. What changes have occurred in the textbook business and in the annual Textbook Exhibit at the UNL over the past 45 years during which, as Thorpe recalled, "Gil Saunders sold a pile of books?" Changes Saunders said the period almost has brought an end to the family-owned, independent textbook publishing house. He said his own company's absorption into the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in 1965 was typical of the period. With the conglomerates came increased competition and cost-consciousness. He predicted a decline in the number of display copies of textbooks and materials available to libraries and teachers, who usually have little say about which books are bought. Even now some companies are saying "you can have this book for examination, but if you don't buy it, send it back," he said. "It won't effect the college level as it will the public school. The college professor has more say and, thus, is more important to the company who sells books," be said. Profit margin small Saunders said that contrary to miliar belief the ma rain nrofit in the T - - - , . . . j - j ... - - - textbook business is small. "A lot of money is spend on pO research and in paying the author's royalities. Textbook salesmen seldom, get rich, but they do call on nice, people. School people are almost: always ladies and gentlemen," he said. The people he conacts have changes along with the business, he said. Superintendents did most of the buying in the '20s, while teachers committees do it now. There's more contact today with the teachers in the public schools." Multi-media Saunders said the University exhibit gives the instructors as well as the student teachers a chance to look at the newest material on the market, ask questions and discuss the philosophies of different book series. He said the University's exhibit first began in the '20s and was held for years in the gymnasium. "During those days, all we had were textbooks (in contrast to the multi-media materials available today) and we tried to get as many orders as we could," he said. The exhibit also was held in Love Library for years until lack of space forced a move to Selleck Quadrangle, which almost ended the exhibit. Saunders said that the salesmen voted to end the exhibit unless a centralized location was found. The next year it was in the Union where it has remained. Today's exhibit is 98 per cent sales promotion. Only a few orders are taken, he said. "We discourage order taking. We don't like anyone to feel like they are being pressured." Saunders compared the changes in philosophy of the annual exhibit to that of a farmer switching from harvesting to the planting and plowing of t he seed. It appears the farm boy from Webster County, who gained an uncommon respect among educators while plying his trade, is still needed to guide the plow. BET mi THEQUE Lincoln Back by Popular Demand BIKINI NIGHT AT THE 12TH ST. GARAGE Wednesday Night, June 27 let us pay for your bikini $20-00 for the girl wearing the prettiest Bikini 10$ DRAWS FOR BIKINI WEARERS 1 1 um i im: m;TLs interiors diversified :2 Su. i; summer nebraskan The SUMMER NEBRASKAN is published nine times during the summer-five times during the first session and four times in the second session. The SUMMER NEBRASKAN is located in Avery 110 (472-2557). Editor Ken Kirk Business Manager Mitch Mohanna Please Wear Sandals Please Bring Student I.D. PHOTOGRAPHY MODELS Female $10 per hour nude poses involved for amateur photographer Write P.O. Box 81211 Lincoln, Nebr. 68508 With faculty or student I.D., 15 discount on all Goodyear tires except promotional items. Goodyear Service Store, 1918 "0". 432-6521. For sale: 1972 Royal Jupiter 12 Electric Typewriter. In perfect condition. Call 432-2091. Theses, dissertations and papers typed andor edited for spelling, punctuation, form, etc. Reasonable rates. Call 489 3283. One Sealpoint Siamese kitten. Female. Litter trained. Gentle. Good personality. Loves People. Call Chris: Day, 435-4370; Nile, 488-8762. For Sale: One bedroom mobile home close to campus. Phone 332-41 09. Gretna, Nebraska. BBB bb Ha esi iai Ba iei eai esi b h - v ...- i fnr n I Replace thox' hot locks' with a cool and clean hair 'tylc from the . . . v v NEBRASKA UNION BARBER SHOP Lower Level Union 472-3041 I I Largest inventory of art supplies in LinqOtpl CJ13I (m I A JMl KM m a .fmJSrJrMj I I I I J LINCOLN'S NfcW Aft EVERYTHING FOR THE: STUDENT j v Artist V .4 Engineer ' .; !yj Draftiman 217 North ifth strmt I Lincoln, Nebraska 68501 Phon 432488 IP ml pay; 2 summer nebraskan tuesday, june 26, 1973