Press History

The Press traces its origins to 1915, when Edmond Meany's Governors of Washington, Territorial and State was issued. The first book to bear the University of Washington Press imprint, an edition of The Poems of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey edited by Frederick M. Padelford, appeared in 1920. Since that time the Press has published approximately 3,500 books, of which about 1,400 are currently in print. Today we publish about sixty new titles each year.

From the beginning the Press has reflected the University's major academic strengths. Building on those strengths, combined with a vigorous creativity in developing regional resources, the University of Washington Press has achieved recognition as the leading publisher of scholarly books and distinguished works of regional nonfiction in the Pacific Northwest.

Washington books have won many prizes for scholarship and literary excellence, as well as for graphic design. Recent awards include: The Complete Jacob Lawrence: Over the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence and Paintings, Drawings, and Murals (1935-1999), A Catalogue Raisonné, 2000 George Wittenborn Memorial Award; Phoenix Eyes: and Other Stories, the American Book Award, Before Columbus Association; Western Amerykanski: Polish Poster Art and the Western, American Association of University Presses Book, Jacket and Journal Show; Long Day's Journey: The Steamboat and Stagecoach Era in the Northern West; Manchus and Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 2002 Joseph Levenson Book Prize for Modern China and Porcelain Stories: From China to Europe, Outstanding Academic Book Awards by CHOICE Magazine; Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest, 100 Best Garden Books; Along the Edge of Annihilation: The Collapse and Recovery of Life in the Holocaust Diary, the Second Annual Koret Jewish Book Award in Philosophy and Thought; Making Salmon: An Environmental History of the Northwest Fisheries Crisis, 100 Best Sci-Tech Books for General Readers; The Dawn of Conservation Diplomacy: U.S. - Canadian Wildlife Protection Treaties in the Progressive Era, Stuart L. Bernath Book Prize from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations; Whispered Silences: Japanese Americans and World War II, The Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America, Outstanding Book of the Year; and numerous Washington State Book Awards.

Fields of Publication
Our titles cover a wide variety of academic fields, with especially distinguished lists in Asian studies, Middle Eastern studies, environmental history, anthropology, Western history, natural history, marine studies, architectural history, and art. We are recognized as the foremost publisher in the world on the art and culture of the Northwest Coast Indians and Alaskan Eskimos, and as the leader in the publication of materials dealing with the Asian American experience. Such series as "A History of East Central Europe," Studies in Modernity and National Identity," "American Ethnic and Cultural Studies," "Asian Law Series," "Korean Studies of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies," "Studies on Ethnic Groups in China," and the Pacific Northwest Poetry Series, have brought distinction to the Press and the University.

In response to a National Endowment for the Humanities challenge grant, private gifts have enabled the Press to inaugurate several new series: Samuel and Althea Stroum Books, the McLellan Books in the Humanities, Jacob Lawrence Series on American Art and Artists, Joan Patterson Kerr Publication Series and Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books. Another matching gift established the Jackson School Series in International Studies. A second National Endowment for the Humanities challenge grant and matching private gifts made it possible to establish the Donald R. Ellegood International Publications Series, and the Scott and Laurie Oki Books in Asian American Studies Series. Private gifts established the Editor's Endowment.

Our publishing operation has important implications beyond the actual books it produces. We have helped the University to support the programs of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities, and other divisions for which we either publish or distribute publications. Volumes based on the Jessie and John Danz Lecture Series in science and philosophy, the Samuel and Althea Stroum Lectures in Jewish Studies,
the Emil and Kathleen Sick Lecture-Book Series in Western History and Biography and the Earl and Edna Stice Memorial Lecture Series make a valuable contribution toward reinforcing the ties of the University to its benefactors and have helped to attract outstanding speakers who have benefited both the campus and the community.

We have been proud to publish books by several Nobel laureates, as well as many other internationally known figures in the humanities, arts, and sciences. We are proud, too, of the many young scholars, poets, and artists whose first book has appeared under our imprint.

Structure
Although the Press is an integral division of the University, it operates with considerable autonomy. Like most other book publishers, it has no printing facilities. Composition, printing, and binding are purchased under contract. The Press is not involved with production of the University's magazines, newspapers, bulletins, or catalogues. As a nonprofit cultural organization, its sole function is to find, develop, select, and publish scholarship of high quality and enduring value.

The imprint of the University of Washington Press is under the control of a faculty committee appointed by the dean of the Graduate School. The approval of the University Press Committee is required before any book may be published. The Press's editors work closely with the faculty committee to select those books that will carry the University of Washington imprint. About one-third of the books published by the Press originate within the University of Washington. Of the manuscripts and proposals that are submitted annually from all over the world, less than 5 percent are accepted for publication.

With a dedicated and highly professional staff of forty, the Press provides a complete range of publishing services-copy editing, design, production supervision, advertising, publicity, marketing, warehousing, and order processing. Since 1997 the Press has been under the direction of Pat Soden. In addition, the Press management team includes Naomi B. Pascal, associate director and editor-in-chief; Dorothy Anthony, associate director and chief financial officer, Mary Anderson, assistant director for sales and marketing, Marilyn Trueblood, managing editor, Michael Duckworth, acquisition editor; John Stevenson, production manager; Audrey Meyer, art director; and Nina McGuinness, development director.

We at the Press are constantly aware of the magic that books can evoke and the far-reaching influence they can exert. We are proud of our books, and we care deeply about the quality of our publications, their physical appearance, and their effective distribution.

Beyond the University
The University of Washington Press maintains close ties with other university publishers. As a member of the Association of American University Presses since 1947, the Press has hosted national and regional meetings, and its staff has participated actively in Association programs. The Director currently serves on the Board of Directors, and the Director Emeritus served as President of the Association in 1981-82.

In recent years, the Press has established copublishing and distribution relationships with a growing list of art museums and other institutions throughout the world. This activity enables us to give worldwide distribution to many valuable publications that would otherwise have only limited circulation.

Mindful of the shrinking world, the University of Washington Press has long placed special emphasis on our role in the two-way exchange of knowledge and information internationally. The books that bear our imprint are among the University's most significant ambassadors to the outside world. They are distributed through overseas marketing consortia and copublishing arrangements, and many have been translated into more than ten languages. In addition, we have made available in this country scholarly works originating abroad, especially in the Far East. We were in the vanguard of publishers who established reciprocal ties with the People's Republic of China and Russia. We hope to expand these activities as circumstances permit.

We eagerly anticipate the challenges of the next decades. As new technology makes possible almost limitless access to information and data, our traditional role as "gatekeepers" of quality in the publication of scholarship is sure to assume even greater importance. At the same time, we are committed to developing new ways of serving our university, our region, and the world beyond.