Mission and History

Rutgers University Press is dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge to scholars, students, and the general reading public. The Press reflects and extends the University’s core mission of research, instruction, and service. We enhance the work of our authors through exceptional publications that shape critical issues, spark debate, and enrich teaching throughout the world for a wide range of readers.

Brief History

Rutgers University Press, a nonprofit academic publishing house operating in Piscataway under the auspices of Rutgers University, was founded on March26, 1936. Over the last 75 years, the Press has grown in size and the scope of its publishing program. Among the original areas of specialization were Civil War history and European history. The Press’ current areas of specialization include sociology, anthropology, health policy, history of medicine, human rights, urban studies, criminology, Jewish studies, American studies, film and media studies, the environment, and books about New Jersey and the mid-Atlantic region.

Chronology

Charter March 16, 1936

March 27, 1936

Board of Trustees Meeting where it is decided that Rutgers University Press will be founded. Earl Reed Silvers, Rutgers University head of the Department of Alumni and Public Relations is appointed first Director.

1943 – Earl Schenck Miers is appointed Director

1938 – First book is published on September 2, James Madison:Philosopher of the Constitution by Edward McNall Burns

1941 – Rutgers University Press, in conjunction with Princeton University Press and the Advisory Committee of the New Jersey Writers Project of the WPA, organized the first New Jersey Writers Conference

1949 – Harold N. Munger, Jr. Is appointed Director

1953 – Roger W. Shugg is appointed Director

1954 – Press publishes approximately 25 books per year

1955 – William Sloane is appointed Director

1957 – The Press’ book jackets for Byzantium and Celebrated American Caves were honored by the New York Employing Printers’ Association

May 6, 1961

The Press received an honorary plaque from the Booksellers Association of Philadelphia for “publishing fine books of exceptional interest to all those in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey area.”

1961 – Director elected member-at-large to the Executive Committee of the Association of American University Presses and appointed a member of the International Cooperation Committee.

1962 – Director leads a campaign to bring Rutgers University Press book to foreign libraries and encourages other university presses to join the cause.

1963 – Rutgers University Press has some small renovations done on its building on 30 College Avenue and gets the first sale vehicle.

June 12-16, 1966

The Association of American University Presses held their annual convention on the Rutgers campus to honor the bicentennial of the university and to honor the 30th anniversary of Rutgers University Press.

1967 – National Book Award for William Troy: Selected Essays.

1971You Can Talk Well is excerpted in Reader’s Digest.

1974 – Helen Stewart is appointed Acting Director

1976 – Herbert F. Mann is appointed Director

1981 – Herbert Rowan is appointed Acting Director

1982 – Kenneth Arnold is appointed Director

1985 – Press publishes approximately 40 books per year

1990 – Press publishes approximately 60 books per year

1994 – Stephen Maikowski is appointed Acting Director

July 6, 1995

Marlie Wasserman is appointed director

1997 – Rutgers University Press launches its first website

2000 – Director serves as President of the Association of American University Presses

2001Twin Towers appears on the New York Times Bestseller List

2003 – Rutgers University Press publishes first e-book

2004 – Rivergate Books Imprint is launched, devoted to publishing new books on New Jersey and surrounding states

2005 – Rutgers University Press begins to take full advantage of print-on-demand technology to keep books in print for many years

2008 – 150,000 copies of Quicksand and Passing sold

2008Millennial Makeover is named one of the New York Times favorite books of the year

2010 – Press publishes between 90-100 books per year

2012 – Rutgers University Press moves to the new Gateway building located strategically at the transportation hub where the Rutgers campus meets downtown New Brunswick

May 1, 2016

Micah Kleit is appointed director

2018 – Press announces agreement for production, promotion and distribution of Bucknell University Press books

 

Selection of Titles from the Past 75 Years

1938James Madison : Philosopher of the Constitution, by Edwards McNall Burns

1953Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln

1953This is New Jersey: From High Point to Cape May, by John T. Cunningham

1954Dante’s Inferno, edited by John Ciardi

1957 – History of the Byzantine State, By George Ostrogorky

1970 – The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, by Rene Grousset

1970 – World History of the Jewish People, multiple volumes

1982Ancient Maya Civilization, by Norman Hammond

1986Quicksand and Passing, by Nella Larson

1987Black Athena: Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization, Volume I: The Fabrication of Ancient Greece, 1785-1985, by Martin Bernal

1987William Wordworth and the age of English Romanticism, by Jonathan Wordsworth, Michael C. Jaye, and Robert Woof

1987American Mainline Religion: Its Changing Shape and Future, by Wade Clark Roof

1988Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925, by John Higham

1991Feminism: An Anthropology, edited by Robyn Warhol-Down and Diane Price Herndl

1992The Churching of America 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy, by Roger Finke and Rodney Stark

1993 –  Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School, By Barrie Thorne

1993Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich, by Alison Owings

1996Jersey Diners, by Peter Genovese

1998How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says About Race in America, by Karen Brodkin

1999 –  Twin Towers, by Angus K. Gillespi

2001 –  Hard Road to Freedom: The Story of African America, by James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton

2004The Encyclopedia of New Jersey, edited by Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen

2008Millennial Makeover: Myspace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics, by Morley Winogrand and Michael D. Hais

2009500 years of Chicana Women’s History/500 Anos de la Mujer Chicana, by Elizabeth S. Martinez

2009Mapping New Jersey: An Evolving Landscape, edited by Maxine N. Lurie and Peter O. Wacker, cartography by Michael Siegel

2015Writing America:Literary Landmarks from Walden Pond to Wounded Knee (A Reader’s Companion), by Shelley Fisher Fishkin