The following American chess editors were discussed in Volume II of American Chess Magazine in 1898-1899:
VI. Hermann Helms. August 1898, page 83.
This brief biography of Helms, who was born in 1870 and crowned Dean of American Chess in 1943, was written very early in his editorial career which had commenced in 1893 as editor of the chess department of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. His journalistic activities continued until the 1950s when his column in the Eagle ended in 1955 and his editorship of the American Chess Bulletin ceased in 1956, although he continued to publish that periodical until he died in 1963.
Emil Kemeny. October 1898, page 166.
Kemeny was born in Budapest where he also ended his days, but during his years in America, he became one of the most respected chess editors. Following on from the Philadelphia Ledger (Public Ledger) mentioned in this notice, Kemeny conducted the chess departments in the Chicago Tribune, New York Sun and North American. He also edited and published the short-lived American Chess Weekly (1902-1903), which produced a special series on the Monte Carlo Tournament of 1903.
James D. Séguin. April 1899, page 437.
By far the longest of this series of notices on American chess editors, and the only one to include a game, featured James DeBenneville Séguin from New Orleans. Séguin edited the chess column of the New Orleans Times-Democrat (jointly with Morphy's friend Charles Maurian for the first few years), but I can find no other journalistic activities. He amassed one of the finest chess libraries, taking advantage of many magazine exchanges while editing his newspaper column.
A particularly useful feature of Jeremy Gaige's Chess Personalia is the list of sources for each entry. However, Gaige does not list the American Chess Magazine biographies for Hazeltine, Hervey and Reichhelm, but does record the ACM sources for the last five editors in this series on American chess editors.
© Michael Clapham 2020
© Michael Clapham 2020
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