Learn about how a family owned oil company came to run one of the most important companies within book publishing. Here the story of the start of Ingram Books.

People Discussed

03:32 | Laura Ingalls Wilder – Author of the Little House series; covered in Episodes 3 & 4
03:54 | Orrin Henry Ingram – Lumber-baron patriarch (1850s-1890s)
04:24 | Orin “Hank” Ingram Sr. – Orrin’s grandson; shifted the family wealth into oil refining, barge transport, and textiles between the 1930s-60s
05:45 | E. Bronson Ingram II – Took control of the family firm at 31 (1963); bought half of the Tennessee Book Depository in 1964, seeding Ingram Book Company
11:22 | Jack Stambaugh – Former Eisenhower aide; co-owned the Tennessee Book Depository with Bronson Ingram
16:40 | Harry Hoffman – Publishing executive; CEO of Ingram Books and Walden Books
21:37 | Keel Hunt – Nashville journalist; author of The Family Business, the episode’s principal source

Bibliography

The Family Business: How Ingram Transformed the World of Books (2021) by Keel Hunt:
https://www.amazon.com/Family-Business-Ingram-Transformed-World/dp/1682753124

Interview with Jack Stanbagh, Eisenhower Presidential Library:
https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/research/oral-histories/oral-history-transcripts/stambaugh-john-372.pdf