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
