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Joseph W. Ferman

American writer (1906–1974)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ1190929
Source-derived summary

Joseph Wolfe Ferman (June 8, 1906 – December 29, 1974) is a Russian–born American science fiction publisher.

Biography

Ferman moved to the United States and began working on the magazine American Mercury, the primary publication of the Mercury Press, which added Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1941. He was involved with the founding of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1949, and became the magazine's publisher in 1954, after Lawrence Spivak resigned to pursue his interest in the television series Meet the Press. Ferman became the magazine's official editor in 1964 although his son Edward L. Ferman did the actual editing. Edward succeeded him as publisher in 1970, with Joseph taking the title "Chairman of the Board" of what had become a family business.

In 1957, he founded Venture Science Fiction Magazine with Robert P. Mills as its editor. When the Fermans relaunched the magazine again more than a decade later, Edward Ferman served as editor. Other notable projects included the anthologies No Limits (1964), with stories taken from the pages of the first run of Venture, and Once and Future Tales (1964) with stories from F&SF, but not part of the Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction series. Both of these anthologies may have been ghost-edited by Edward Ferman. Joseph Ferman also published such magazines as Mercury Mystery Book-Magazine, Bestseller Mystery Magazine, the nostalgia magazine P. S. and the proto-New Age magazine Inner Space.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Joseph W. Ferman” is american writer (1906–1974). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Joseph, Ferman and American, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1906, 1974, 1941, 1949—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1906-06-08. For this dossier, Joseph, Ferman and American is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american writer (1906–1974)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1190929. VIAF identifies the subject as 39148996077859752806. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1906, 1974, 1941 and 1949.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Joseph W. Ferman”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Joseph W. Ferman primary sources, Joseph W. Ferman archive and Joseph research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Joseph W. Ferman”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Joseph W. Ferman” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.