Big House on the Prairie: 75 Years of the University of Nebraska Press

Big House on the Prairie: 75 Years of the University of Nebraska Press

by University of Nebraska Press
Big House on the Prairie: 75 Years of the University of Nebraska Press

Big House on the Prairie: 75 Years of the University of Nebraska Press

by University of Nebraska Press

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Overview

In 2016 the University of Nebraska Press celebrates its 75th anniversary. Proudly rooted in the Great Plains, the Press has established itself as the largest and most diversified publisher located between Chicago and California. The achievements of a vast network of devoted authors, editors, board members, series editors, and staff, the Press has published more than 4,000 books and more than 30 journals of influential and enduring value.

What started as a one-person operation at a land grant institution on the sparsely populated plains of Nebraska has tenaciously grown into a press that has earned an international reputation for publishing notable works in Native studies, history, anthropology, American studies, sports, cultural criticism, fiction, fiction in translation, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Winning numerous awards through the years, most notably several Nobel Prizes, the Press has contributed richly to the state, the region, and far beyond. The Press’s partnership with the Jewish Publication Society has placed an emphasis on books in Jewish studies and Bible studies, while the acquisition of Potomac Books has expanded the Press’s subject matter to include national and world affairs and more widespread coverage of military history. 

In honor of its 75th anniversary, the Press has produced the publication Big House on the Prairie, which features a narrative of press highlights, profiles of key historical employees, and lists of its 75 most significant books, 30 journals, and 75 most noteworthy book covers. Please join us in celebrating 75 years of publishing excellence.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780803288126
Publisher: Nebraska
Publication date: 04/01/2016
Pages: 96
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.30(d)

Read an Excerpt

Big House on the Prairie

75 Years of the University of Nebraska Press


By Staff of the University of Neb Press

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS

Copyright © 2016 Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8032-9596-4



CHAPTER 1

Building the Big House, 1941–2016


Fortuitous timing has long been a hallmark of publishing; knowing what to publish and when and how are central to the success of a publishing house. In November 1941, the University of Nebraska, under Chancellor Chauncey S. Boucher's guidance, hired a young, relatively unknown assistant editor from Fordham University Press to create a press in the heartland. Emily Schossberger arrived on the plains with little idea of what awaited her, limited knowledge of the expectations Boucher and the university had for her, and no concept that in a few short weeks Japan would attack Pearl Harbor and rent asunder all normality as her adopted country then knew it. Fortuitous timing and a fortuitous appointment as it would turn out.

Four years after its own inception, the Association of American University Presses boasted thirty-one members in 1941. After a slow buildup in the Northeast, between the two world wars, eighteen presses formed at universities across the country as these institutions began to see the benefits afforded by publishing works of scholarly interest. By the time Schossberger sat down at her desk in Lincoln, six midwestern universities had started publishing programs: University of Chicago, University of Illinois, University of Wisconsin, University of Minnesota, Iowa State University, and University of Michigan.

Despite the coming of war, the University of Nebraska Press quickly moved into gear and began searching for books worthy of publication. By the end of 1941, the press published E. B. Schmidt's An Appraisal of the Nebraska Tax System. It did not become a best seller and did not pass through a peer review system, but even the most successful and large businesses must start somewhere, and it is that book that holds pride of place in Nebraska's proud legacy as the first. Schossberger published James C. Olson's biography of J. Sterling Morton in 1942, and it is this book that merits consideration as the first recognized book of Nebraska's list. Morton — a Nebraska newspaper editor and President Grover Cleveland's secretary of agriculture — made a perfect topic, of an ilk that would be followed by many other successful and acclaimed biographies of Great Plains luminaries over the course of the next seventy-five years.

As with most university presses starting out, the production of new titles crawled along. Hampered by a lack of financial support from its parent institution, the press relied on income from sales to publish new books. A tiny staff and small revenues meant that in Schossberger's seventeen years as editor in chief only ninety-seven books made it to publication. Even so, by the time Schossberger resigned her post in 1958, the University of Nebraska Press had grown from a sod shanty to a modest but solidly built starter home.

Schossberger saw the potential for the fledgling press. She and her staff focused on regional titles predominantly, but by 1950 the press already counted authors of such standing as Louise Pound, Karl Shapiro, and George Norris. Shortly after the end of World War II, the press and the English Department came together for a time to co-publish Prairie Schooner, the esteemed literary quarterly. In 1956 Schossberger convinced Virginia Faulkner to join her team as assistant editor. Faulkner had returned to Lincoln and was teaching English at the University of Nebraska and working as an editor for Prairie Schooner after having established a literary career and reputation in radio and film on the coasts. This providential hire was Schossberger's last major contribution to the solid foundation she built. Within two years Schossberger resigned to take a position at the University of Chicago Press, Bruce Nicoll began his nearly twenty-year tenure as the first official director of the University of Nebraska Press, and Faulkner became the editor in chief.

With the university finally offering significant financial support, Nicoll quickly moved the press from publishing ten new books in 1959 to sixty-two just seven years later. Nicoll did not come from a publishing or academic background. A journalist by training, he believed that a university press should publish books that people of all backgrounds and interests would read, not simply monographs for and by scholars. The starter home no longer had enough room within its four solid walls. With Nicholl directing his team of artisans and craftspeople, additions were made and the starter home took the shape of a more stately prairie foursquare.

The most significant addition housed Bison Books. When Nicoll and Faulkner drew up plans to publish quality paperbacks, they broke new ground for university presses. Up to this point, paperbacks held little value for university presses. New scholarship demanded cloth originals, not cheap, mass-produced paperbacks. More than thirty years earlier, Penguin Books revolutionized publishing through its production of cheap paperbacks sold widely. The idea caught on rapidly in the quick-to-imitate book publishing world, but university presses largely resisted the tide. Nicoll saw an opportunity to expand the business model of the press and formed Bison Books in 1960, publishing the first Bisons (as they soon became fondly known) in 1961.

Bisons cost between $1.00 and $1.50 each, and readers could find them in drugstores, gas stations, truck stops, and other non-traditional retail points. As Frederick M. Link wrote in 1973, when he was acting executive director of the press, the Bisons reflected the press's view that "its mission is not simply the publication of narrowly conceived academic scholarship, but also a wide variety of books intended for everyone who likes to read and enjoys the pursuit of new ideas." Fifty-five years after Nicoll and Faulkner created the Bison Books imprint, many others — including customers, the media, authors, and scholars — hold it up as an example of forward thinking and as a model for the many other general-interest imprints now belonging to university presses throughout the country.

Not only did Nicoll and Faulkner conceive of something new for a university press, they also chose the earliest Bison Books extremely well. Seeking out cloth books that were out of print or for which rights could be easily and inexpensively purchased, as well as new works that Nicoll and Faulkner believed should be accessible to as wide an audience as possible, the pair soon published classic books such as Mari Sandoz's Crazy Horse and Old Jules, George Armstrong Custer's My Life on thePlains, and Wright Morris's The Home Place. Willis "Bill" Regier, director of the press from 1987 to 1996, recalled that Nicoll's innovation extended beyond even the idea for Bison Books and the titles he soon published. Nicoll, Regier said, also introduced new methods of marketing and selling Bisons, even going so far as to have a drugstore salesman include them in his offerings alongside aspirin and cold medicines.

In 1961 the press's all-time best-selling title made its first appearance on Nebraska's list as a Bison Book: John G. Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks, which has become synonymous with UNP. It is a staple in classes on Native American history. It enjoys a special place on the shelves of spiritualists, scholars, students, book sellers, and serendipitous seekers of books. Black Elk Speaks symbolizes all for which UNP stands.

While Neihardt's book had been available for many years, it had never been a best seller despite UNP's marketing efforts, and the slow sales continued. Everything changed for Black Elk Speaks the moment Dick Cavett interviewed Neihardt on his television show in April 1971. Almost overnight sales surged, and UNP had its first true best seller on the list. After then losing the paperback rights to Pocketbooks, Dave Gilbert was able to secure the cloth rights in 1979, and Bill Regier won back the paperback rights in 1988. Since then, Black Elk Speaks has surpassed all other UNP books in sales, and in 2016 it will reach the one million copies sold mark. Years later, Cavett interviewed Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Cavett recalled Brown telling him, "If you could only preserve one book about the American Indian, it would have to be Black Elk Speaks."

Nicoll's regime oversaw continued growth, mostly on the back of the flourishing Bison imprint. The paperbacks dominated the press's output, but they encompassed so wide a variety of subjects and styles that UNP maintained its standing within the AAUP community and solidified its spot as a preeminent publisher of scholarly works in spite of its unusual strategy.

In 1966 the University of Nebraska Press celebrated twenty-five years of this good standing. Looking back at that time, the press could proudly point to great success and rapid growth. In just a quarter century the little sod shanty had developed into a grand edifice. But as with most anniversary celebrations, twenty-five years was not only an opportunity for the press to look back but to look forward as well. During the celebration year, UNP published the first book of what became many from Nebraska author Roger Welsch; he is still publishing with the press fifty years later. Over the next few years, UNP added many distinguished authors such as Hartley Burr Alexander and Willa Cather to its list. New series took flight, including a trio launched by Virginia Faulkner — Regents Renaissance Drama, Regents Restoration Drama, and Regents Critics — well outside of the press's traditional genres but which became successful and esteemed and continue to be used in classrooms across the country to this day.

Not content with regional dominance, the press used the late sixties to establish an international presence as well. Shoring up distribution in Europe and beyond added luster to the house and confirmed the intent of Nicoll, his staff, and the university to ensure the future success of the press.

Nicoll retired in 1973 and Fred Link succeeded him in an interim position. Link's first duty was to present a report to the Board of Regents setting out the importance of the press to the university. Link took his responsibility seriously because the press stood at a crossroads where choices had to be made in order to maintain its place in its parent institution and beyond.

Two years after Link defended the press, Dave Gilbert was named director. Gilbert arrived at UNP with a wide-ranging background in publishing and academics. At the University of Texas Press — his position prior to coming to Lincoln — he had been associate director, and prior to that his career spanned spells at Holt, Rinehart, and Winston as both a sales rep and an editor, as well as time as an English professor. Gilbert, a sound businessman, saw the potential that Nicoll had created. Bisons remained at the forefront of the press's mission, but Gilbert established far more structured and sensible pricing systems and publishing plans for these books. He increased the number of titles published annually, emphasized the western nature of the press in terms of region and subject matter, and pushed the press into the black year after year, achieving significant budget surpluses for the first time in the press's history. These changes required new approaches to staffing, as well. For the first time, UNP boasted employees in all the typical publishing departments: business, editorial, production, and marketing.

Gilbert's time as director of the publishing house on the prairie included many notable innovations. Until his time, UNP had sold the vast majority of its books at trade discounts; Gilbert initiated a short discount schedule for most of the scholarly titles on the list. This seemingly small decision had lasting impact, not least on the bottom line as it moved UNP more in step with most other university presses. A landmark of its own was the start of the Landmark Editions. Gilbert's intention for these books included small print runs for the library market and the expectation that each edition must be of enduring and important scholarship. The first five Landmark Editions fit the bill perfectly: literary criticism of William Shakespeare and Walt Whitman, classic English literature, essays from Arthur Schopenhauer, and a study of U.S. Supreme Court decisions on search and seizure. Even with the move to use short discounts, trade paperbacks still accounted for more than 60 percent of the press's sales, but titles such as Mari Sandoz's Crazy Horse sold more than ten thousand copies a year, improving the bottom line to which so much of Gilbert's time and energy went.

Profits beget financial stability with which to engage in ambitious new projects. Gilbert helped set in motions two of the most prized works in the press's history: the highly acclaimed publication of The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1983–2004), edited by University of Nebraska–Lincoln history professor Gary Moulton, and Karl Bodmer's America (1984), a joint publication with the Joslyn Art Museum. These two publications showcased UNP's prowess in western history and cemented the press as a leading publisher in every right.

The design of the Journals, in particular, drew plaudits from far and wide. Gilbert hired Richard Eckersley in 1981 as the press's first full-time designer. Eckersley and his wife, Dika, who joined the press in 1985, created a design ethic previously unseen at a university press. The esteem with which UNP is held in today is traced back to Eckersley and, at least in part, to his designs on Karl Bodmer's America and the Journals. The seamless series design of the Journals featured innovative interiors and a motif of the Missouri River that ran across the spines of all thirteen volumes. Gilbert called it Eckersley's first truly great design, but many more would follow, and Eckersley would prove Gilbert's radical decision to bring all book design in-house a triumphant one.

In the spring of 1979 Virginia Faulkner began her retirement process, going part-time. In 1980 Faulkner retired completely and died just a few months later in September. Gilbert appointed Steve Cox as editor in chief. Cox's promotion came on the back of five years' success as the press's first full-time acquisitions editor. And Cox quickly filled his own empty slot with the hiring of Bill Regier.

New hires, departures, and retirements did not distract Gilbert from his continued drive to improve the bottom line. In 1980 the University of Nebraska Press started distributing for the Buros Center for Testing. The press's success, as well as increased sales representation and overseas partnerships convinced Buros to end its distribution deal in New Jersey and head to the plains. The Buros Center agreement represented the first distribution client for UNP, adding another line of revenue and allowing the press to boast annual sales of more than $1 million for the first time.

During the eighties UNP grew into a significant and sizable publisher; a larger full-time staff, vastly more books published each year, new software and warehousing systems put in place, and the formation of a Press Advisory Board added gravitas to the edifice. On top of the new operating systems and staff, the press's output exceeded eighty new books a year and by the mid-eighties sales surpassed $2 million. At that same point, UNP celebrated twenty-five years of Bison Books.

The innovative imprint filled its first quarter century with books that have become classics. More than five hundred Bisons filled the backlist in 1985, including the fiftieth anniversary edition of Old Jules published that year. UNP numbered each Bison, but it became clear that at the rate at which books joined the Bison list it would not be long before the one thousandth title came along, at which point numbering seemed less relevant. As such, the practice ended. Those early numbered editions have since become collectors' items.


(Continues...)

Excerpted from Big House on the Prairie by Staff of the University of Neb Press. Copyright © 2016 Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. Excerpted by permission of UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Table of Contents

Contents

List of Illustrations,
Foreword,
Introduction,
Building the Big House, 1941–2016,
Emily Maria Schossberger (1905–1979),
Virginia Faulkner (1913–1980),
Bruce Nicoll (1913–1983),
Richard Eckersley (1941–2006),
Dika Lagercrantz Eckersley (1939–2015),
Willis Regier,
75 Significant Books,
UNP's Journals,
75 Noteworthy Covers,

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