Allyn and Bacon was founded in 1868 by John Allyn as an educational publishing company with a focus on the areas of education, humanities, and social sciences. John Allyn went into business initially as John Allyn, Publisher and Importer after purchasing the list of Harvard University Bookstore’s standard text books from the firm Sever and Francis. In 1888, George Andrew Bacon entered into partnership with Allyn, creating the publishing company Allyn and Bacon, with its first office located in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to the partnership, Bacon was the principal of Syracuse High School and the publisher of "The Academy," a journal of secondary education.

In 1895, The Classical Series was published by Allyn and Bacon and overtook all other competition in Latin education in the United States. The company initially specialized in high school textbooks, and expanded to include elementary school textbooks by the 1930s, and college textbooks by the 1950s. George Andrew Bacon’s sons Charles E. Bacon and Paul V. Bacon joined the firm’s partnership in 1919, and by 1923 took over as partners after the death of John Allyn in 1921 and the retirement of George Andrew Bacon in 1923. In 1930, George Andrew Bacon died and Charles E. and Paul V. Bacon became sole partners and owners of Allyn and Bacon. After the death of Paul V. Bacon in 1949, the Allyn and Bacon partnership passed to his children, Paul V. Bacon, Jr. and Nancy B. Johnson. In 1951, Richard Ettinger, who was the founder of the publishing company Prentice Hall, purchased Allyn and Bacon and incorporated it into a publicly owned company, Allyn and Bacon, Inc. In 1952, the company expanded its outreach further with the development of a College Division. Allyn and Bacon, Inc. remained an independent company until it was purchased by Esquire, Inc. in 1981. Esquire, Inc. was sold to Gulf & Western in 1983, and Allyn and Bacon became part of Simon & Schuster's education division. Pearson PLC purchased the education and reference divisions of Simon & Schuster in 1998, and in 2007, Allyn and Bacon merged with Merrill, also a Pearson company. As of 2023, Allyn and Bacon was an imprint of Pearson Education, an education publishing and technology company under Pearson PLC.

Sources:

Agreements with Charles E. Bacon and Paul V. Bacon, Box 6, Folder 4, Allyn and Bacon records, MS.2013.047, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Allyn and Bacon Archives planning documentation, Box 14, Allyn and Bacon records, MS.2013.047, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Business history, Box 1, Folder 1, Allyn and Bacon records, MS.2013.047, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

John Allyn was born in Belfast, Maine on August 6, 1843. His father, Rufus Bradford Allyn, was a lawyer and graduate of Harvard College. Allyn attended Phillips Exeter Academy, graduated in 1859, and entered Harvard College the same year. In 1862 he left Cambridge, Massachusetts to enlist in the 47th Regiment Volunteer Infantry and served in Louisiana during the Civil War. In 1866, Allyn traveled to Dresden, Germany to further his studies, and spent the next year in Switzerland. He returned to Cambridge in 1868 and went into business with Sever and Francis who ran the University Bookstore in Harvard Square. The firm of Sever and Francis succeeded the University Bookstore of John Bartlett, which had published many textbooks for Harvard professors. After the death of Francis, Allyn purchased the publications of the firm and established his own business, John Allyn, Publisher and Importer. Allyn's early successes attracted the attention of George A. Bacon, and they became partners and established Allyn and Bacon in 1888.

John Allyn married Anna W. (Page) Allyn in the early 1870s and they had five children: Rufus B. Allyn, Philip M. Allyn, Samuel Bradford Allyn, Alice Allyn, and Dorothea Allyn. John Allyn died on September 2, 1921.

Sources:

Business history, Box 1, Folder 1, Allyn and Bacon records, MS.2013.047, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

"John Allyn." The Cambridge Tribune. September 10, 1921. https://cambridge.dlconsulting.com/cgi-bin/cambridge?a=d&d=Tribune19210910-01.2.88&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------- (accessed January 18, 2023).

George Andrew Bacon was born in Webster, Massachusetts on January 17, 1847. He attended Nichols Academy in Dudley, Massachusetts and entered Brown University in 1864. Following his graduation in 1867, he was the principal of Derby Academy in Vermont, then Gardner High School in Massachusetts. Bacon went on to study Greek and Hebrew at Newton Theological Seminary and the University of Göttingen in Germany. In 1870, he accepted a position as a teacher of Mathematics and History in the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and received his Ph.D. from Hamilton College. During this time Bacon was also the publisher of "The Academy," a journal of secondary education. In 1878, Bacon became the principal of Syracuse High School, where he remained until his partnership with John Allyn and the establishment of Allyn and Bacon in 1888.

George Andrew Bacon married Susan Lyman Hillman in 1871, and they had four children: Charles Edward Bacon, Paul Valentine Bacon, Ann Bacon, and George Morgans Bacon. He died in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on January 14, 1930.

Sources:

Business history, Box 1, Folder 1, Allyn and Bacon records, MS.2013.047, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

"Dr. George A. Bacon." The New York Times. January 15, 1930. https://www.nytimes.com/1930/01/15/archives/dr-george-a-bacon-boston-publisher-dies-in-his-eightythird-year.html (accessed January 18, 2023).

"George Andrew Bacon." Prabook. https://prabook.com/web/george_andrew.bacon/1080952 (accessed April 4, 2023).