Marian Calabro is an author and publisher of history books and the founder and president of CorporateHistory.net, which produces corporate histories for clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to family-owned businesses and nonprofit organizations.
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Calabro began her career at Dell Publishing and the film company Learning Corporation of America. Her earliest books, written for young adults, include Operation Grizzly Bear (about wildlife biologists Frank Craighead and John J. Craighead; on the International Reading Association’s Young Adults Choices list, 1991), Great Courtroom Lawyers: Fighting the Cases that Made History, and Zap! A Brief History of Television. Having disliked history herself while in school, she sought to bring a narrative and dramatic approach to these subjects. The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party, Calabro’s chronicle of the westward-bound Donner Party pioneers who resorted to cannibalism in winter of 1846-1847, broke through to adult audiences. Booklist described it as “a combination of well-researched factual detail, a gripping narrative, strong characterizations, and a thoughtful analysis of the historical record.” Perilous Journey earned the California Library Association’s Beatty Award and the Virginia Library Association’s Jefferson Cup (honor book), was named to New York Public Library’s Top 100 Books for Reading and Sharing in 1999, and was cited as a American Library Association Notable Children's Book in 2000. Perilous Journey is her most widely read book, held in more than 1,400 libraries.[1] In 2010, she was a featured author in the Historical Literacy Conference at the University of Delaware.[2]
Calabro’s earliest corporate histories chronicled an insurance company and a major utility company, but she soon came to consider the traditional format of business histories somewhat ponderous. In 2004 she established a publishing firm, CorporateHistory.net, which produces printed and multimedia histories based on documentary research and oral history interviews. Calabro believes this sort of research and writing performs an important historical function:
Often, the American dream is told through the stories of these businesses. … Every company has crises, and naturally no company wants to trumpet its mistakes, but a good corporate history owns up to the crises and represents them as turning points and lessons learned.” [3]
Given this approach, Calabro’s books often offer business and managerial information that is widely applicable. Her book on the Melwood Horticultural Training Center not only relates the 40-year history of a private agency serving adults with developmental disabilities, but includes reflections on running a nonprofit organization by her co-author, Melwood’s President Emeritus Earl Copus. Flying High Again outlines the key issues faced by the Plattsburgh Airbase Redevelopment Corporation (PARC) during the remarkably rapid and successful redevelopment of the Plattsburgh Air Force Base. Gilbert Duken, chairman of the Board of Directors, noted that he and other members of PARC “agreed that other communities facing similar circumstances might benefit from a written account of PARC’s experiences.” [4] Both the Melwood and PARC books won Apex Awards of Excellence for custom publishing.
For a book celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, IL, the focus was on the individuals and groups who form the backbone of the hospital. "People are really at the heart of any organization," says Calabro. "We like to be able to tell their stories with lots of visuals that link the past to the present." Among the sources for this chronicle were newspaper clippings, board minutes, letters, historic artifacts, and architectural drawings. [5]
After writing a book for Pep Boys, Calabro appeared on The History Channel’s Modern Marvels series in “The Auto Store” (aired 10/5/2005), which included the story of Pep Boys and other auto-parts companies. Among the clients of CorporateHistory.net are Advance Auto Parts, A. W. Hastings & Co., Clinton County ARC, Dominion Resources, and M.C. Dean, Inc. Calabro is currently involved in developing books for The Clorox Company, Sandvik, and others. “Your history literally shows why your organization is built to last,” she notes. “No million-dollar consultant can give you what your own history gives - a competitive difference in a crowded field, authentic pride, a soul.” [6]
Calabro is a graduate of Rutgers University, where she was in the first class of women admitted to Rutgers College and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society. A native of Kearny, New Jersey, she currently lives and works in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. She has been quoted on business subjects by USA Today, the Washington Post, and other media.