Eleanor Gould Packard
Eleanor Gould Packard (1917- 2005, OC 1938) was an editor and “Grammarian.” She graduated from Oberlin College in 1938 with a B.A. in English. Upon graduation Packard worked as a private tutor in Oberlin for a year before moving to New York City to work in the publishing industry. From 1940 to 1944 she was employed as an editor for the D. Appleton Century Company. Packard worked as an editor from 1944 to 1945 for Duell, Sloan & Pierce and for the Creative Age Press. In 1945 she applied for a job at The New Yorker noting two mistakes in the most recent issue of the magazine. Packard then became an editor and the “Grammarian,” for The New Yorker, a position she held for nearly fifty years. The title “Grammarian,” was invented for her because Packard was one of the last individuals to look at the magazine’s articles prior to publication and edited purely for grammatical errors, word flow and usage, logic, and punctuation. She retired in 1999. No other editor has held the “Grammarian,” title. Many believed that the magazine’s illustrious style was a result of her editing.
Sources:
Student File (Eleanor Gould Packard), Alumni & Development Records, O.C.A.