{"id":69862,"date":"2014-09-22T17:05:49","date_gmt":"2014-09-22T21:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=69862"},"modified":"2015-07-31T13:43:44","modified_gmt":"2015-07-31T17:43:44","slug":"six-hundred-books-and-counting-university-of-rochester-press-celebrates-25-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/six-hundred-books-and-counting-university-of-rochester-press-celebrates-25-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Six hundred books and counting: Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Press celebrates 25 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rush Rhees Library is displaying Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Press publications through Sept. 30.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A little more than 25 years ago, the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½\u2019s then provost was thinking that the University would benefit from the establishment of a scholarly press. He was open to inventive ideas that would let his new enterprise hit the ground running.<\/p>\n

At the same time and across the ocean, two British scholars whose scholarly press was seeing expanding U.S. sales were pondering how to establish a better foothold in this country for their own operations.<\/p>\n

A medievalist scholar at the University knew both parties. He made the initial connection, and today the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Press is celebrating the 25th anniversary of a successful partnership with Boydell & Brewer, Ltd., based in Suffolk, England.<\/p>\n

In this innovative collaboration, the University makes the editorial selection of new books to be published, while Boydell & Brewer provides production, marketing, and worldwide distribution. The distinctive \u201cRochester model\u201d has been noted in discussion among colleague presses in the Association of American University Presses (AAUP).<\/p>\n

In 25 years, the Press (www.urpress.com<\/a>) has published more than 600 books across an array of fields. The Press has maintained a focus on selected areas of scholarship, including musicology, African studies, medical history, and European and American history. More recently, it has added series in ethnomusicology, gender and race, and medieval political thought. A special imprint, Meliora Press, publishes books on University-related topics.<\/p>\n

In addition to its more academic titles, the Press has published well-reviewed biographies and memoirs of important cultural figures such as famed composer, conductor, and music educator Gunther Schuller and conductor Julius Rudel. Other titles have become classroom staples in their fields.<\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately, when the time was right for us to be thinking about starting a scholarly press, Professor Thomas Hahn brought Boydell & Brewer to us, and they ended up as our longstanding partners,\u201d said Provost Emeritus Brian Thompson, the Press\u2019s founder. \u201cI am very glad to see that the URochester Press has not just survived the test of time after 25 years, but has really prospered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe realized that our only hope of making a real impact in such a large market was to have a genuine connection with an American university,\u201d said Richard Barber, founding director of Boydell & Brewer Ltd. \u201cBy offering our skills to create a press, we could in return establish ourselves with a proper identity and base in the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

University Provost Peter Lennie said, \u201cFor a quarter of a century, the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Press has made significant contributions to the scholarly literature in such fields as music, African studies, and medical history, and it continues to flourish today even within a vastly changing landscape for academic publishing. It is a pleasure to mark this milestone with the Press.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Press draws authors\u2019 submissions from around the world. Three of its series editors are faculty at the University: musicologist Ralph Locke, for the Eastman Studies in Music series; historian Ted Brown, for Rochester Studies in Medical History; and musicologist Ellen Koskoff, for Eastman\/Rochester Studies in Ethnomusicology. Locke is also a member of the Press\u2019s Editorial Board, in addition to Stephanie Brown-Clark, associate professor, Department of Medical Humanities and Bioethics, School of Medicine and Dentistry; Peter Clifford, managing director, Boydell & Brewer Group, Ltd.; Robert Kraus, retired University associate vice president; Joan Rubin, Dexter Perkins Professor in History, College of Arts and Sciences; Sue Smith, managing director, Boydell & Brewer Inc.; and Thompson.<\/p>\n

The Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Press is housed (along with Boydell & Brewer\u2019s U.S. office) on the University\u2019s Mt. Hope Campus; its building, between the Witmer House and the Patrick Barry House, originally was the business office for the Ellwanger and Barry Nursery.<\/p>\n

Events celebrating the Press\u2019s 25th anniversary include:<\/p>\n