H. W. Wilson, founder of one of the first commercially successful bibliographic and indexing enterprises, contributed to the spread of bibliographic citation as a research practice, promoted the genre of reference publishing, and helped standardize library collections, especially in North American public and school libraries. Based first in Minneapolis, then in White Plains, New York, and later in New York City, by the time Wilson died the H. W. Wilson Company published more than twenty major indexing and reference services, including the Cumulative Book Index and the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. Wilson's business success resulted from a combination of factors: close attention to quality, efficient production methods, a unique pricing system, collaboration with his chief customers and his chief competitor, and the long-term dedication of talented key employees—many of them women. By 1998, one hundred years after its founding, the H...