Fulton Oursler Memorial Collection

[Charles] Fulton Oursler, author and playwright, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on January 22, 1893. Oursler received little formal education, having left the Baltimore public school system before completing the eighth grade. He held various jobs before joining the staff of the Baltimore American as a reporter in 1910. He was associated with the paper until 1918 when he supported himself by writing short stories. He moved to New York City in 1920 and held the position of managing editor of New York Music Trades. In 1923, Oursler began his long and varied association with the Bernarr Macfadden publications firm. His most notable position with Macfadden publications was as editor-in-chief of Liberty Magazine from 1931 to 1942. In 1944 he became senior editor of Reader's Digest. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had contributed articles at Oursler's request to Liberty and wrote three while holding the office of President of the United States.

Oursler had a wide range of activities. He was interested in radio broadcasting during its pioneer days. In 1935 he began the radio program, "The Greatest Story Ever Told", which resulted from a trip to Palestine. At the same time he was working on a book of the same title which was published in 1949 and immediately became a bestseller. He also published under the pseudonym, Anthony Abbot, while writing for his Thatcher Colt detective stories, a character which combined the attributes of Gardner's Perry Mason and S.S. Van Dine's Philo Vance. He died in New York City on May 24, 1952.

Fulton Oursler was married twice: (1) in Baltimore, Md., in 1911 to Rose Karger whom he divorced, and (2) in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, in 1925 to Grace Perkins of New York City. He had two children by his first marriage and two children by his second marriage. Grace Perkins Oursler was the daughter of New York publisher James Lamont Perkins and an author in her own right. Materials related to her can be found in Series III of this collection.