Thomas Stewart Denison

Thomas Stewart Denison (February 20, 1848 – April 8, 1911) was an American playwright, novelist, publisher, and educator. In 1876 he founded the publishing company T. S. Denison & Company in Chicago. During his lifetime this company became one of the largest American publishers of theatrical works such as plays, vaudeville sketches, minstrel show materials, and poetry intended for public performance. Most of the material published by the company were not intended for professional use but were targeted towards amateur performance such as community theatre, school theatre groups, or church groups. After his death the company continued to operate in Chicago until 1943 when it moved to Minneapolis. The company's focus shifted away from theatre to education materials in the 20th century after Denison's death.

Life and career

The son of Alexander McCoy Denison and Esther Stewart Denison, Thomas Stewart Denison was born in Sand Hill, Marshall County, West Virginia (at the time still part of Virginia) on February 20, 1848. He began his career as an educator, and in the 1870s he was principal of first Turner Schools and then Marengo Schools in Illinois. He resided in Chicago for most of his life; Near the end of his life Denison stopped writing plays and instead worked on several pseudo-science books on linguistics.

Having never married, Denison died in Hot Springs, Arkansas on April 8, 1911. He was still operating TSDC at the time of his death. Eben Norris inherited the firm in Denison's will. Norris continued to operate TSDC until his death in 1943. The company was then acquired by Lawrence M. Brings who relocated TSDC to Minneapolis and reoriented the publishing house towards educational materials.

Partial list of works written by Denison Non-Fiction How Not to Write a Play (1904) Mexican in Aryan Phonology (1907) The Primitive Aryans of America (1908) A Mexican-Aryan Comparative Vocabulary (1909) Morphology of the Mexican Verb (1910) Mexican-Aryan Sibilants (1912) Mexican Linguistics: Including Nauatl Or Mexican in Aryan Phonology; The Primitive Aryans of America; A Mexican-Aryan Comparative Vocabulary; Morphology and the Mexican Verb; and The Mexican-Aryan Sibilants; with an Appendix on Comparative Syntax (1913)

Novels Iron Crown: A Tale of the Great Republic (1885) My Invisible Partner (1898) Man Behind: A Novel (1899)

Plays A Family Strike (1877) Initiating a Granger (1877) The Irish Linen Peddler (1877) Seth Greenback (1877) The Sparkling Cup (1877) Wanted: A Correspondant (1877) Borrowing Trouble (1878) Louva, the Pauper (1878) Hans von Smash (1878) Two Ghosts in White (1878) Odds With the Enemy (1879) Is the Editor In? (1879) An Only Daughter (1879) Hard Cider: A Temperance Sketch (1880) Pets of Society (1880) Under the Laurels (1881) The Danger Signal (1883) Wide Enough for Two (1883) Only Cold Tea (1895) Patsy O'Wang (1895) The Great Doughnut Corporation (1903) The Kansas Immigrants, Or The Great Exodus (1907)