American University Presses, 1929–1979: Adaptation and Evolution

Drawing primarily on a set of reports produced at intervals between 1929 and 1979, this article examines the ideas and forces that shaped the development of American university presses as part of the system of scholarship and education over this period and beyond. It focuses in particular on questions of mission and funding to demonstrate the challenges presses have faced from their earliest days in fulfilling their mandate, and how the nature of their activities evolved within a set of imperatives and constraints determined by trends in the larger academic, publishing, and philanthropic environments.