Press News: University of Georgia Press Celebrates 75 Years of Publishing

The University of Georgia Press celebrates its 75^th anniversary this year. The primary mission of the press has been to support and enhance the University of Georgia’s place as a major research institution by publishing outstanding works of scholarship and literature by scholars and writers throughout the world. The press also has a long history of publishing books about the state and region for general readers. The University of Georgia Press was founded on July 1, 1938 with the publication of Segments of Southern Thought.

“The University of Georgia Press reaches its 75^th year having established an international reputation for excellence in scholarly and regional publishing,” said P. Toby Graham, UGA’s deputy university librarian and director of the Digital Library of Georgia. “We are fortunate to have such a vibrant, creative, and distinguished press at UGA.”

Connelly Creek painting with the book,
PHILIP JURAS: THE SOUTHERN FRONTIER.
Photo credit: Jackie Baxter Roberts

In honor of the anniversary, artist Philip Juras has graciously loaned three of his landscape paintings to the press. The paintings, Connelly Creek, Little Tennessee River Valley, and Fork Mountain Trail, will be exhibited through June in the lobby of the press’s offices in UGA’s main library. The press currently distributes his book, Philip Juras: The SouthernFrontier: Landscapes Inspired by Bartram’s Travels, which was published by the Telfair Museum of Art in 2011. Juras is a native of Augusta, Ga. and received a BFA and a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Georgia. He lives in Athens, Ga.

Founded in 1938, the UGA Press is the largest book publisher in the state. It has been a member of the Association of American University Presses since 1940. With a full-time staff of 24 publishing professionals, the press currently publishes 80-85 new books a year and has more than 1,500 titles in print. It has well-established lists in Atlantic World and American history, American literature, African-American studies, southern studies and environmental studies, as well as a growing presence in the fields of food studies, geography, urban studies, international affairs and security studies.

The press is also a founding partner of the New Georgia Encyclopedia, the state’s award-winning, online only, multimedia reference work on the people, places, events, and institutions of Georgia. The NGE is a project of the Georgia Humanities Council and is published in partnership with the University of Georgia Press, the University System of Georgia / GALILEO, and the Office of the Governor.

In 2008 the press received the Governor’s Award in the Humanities “for enriching the life of the humanities through a distinguished record of publications, for serving as an important resource to libraries and other community discussion groups, and for building partnerships that contribute to enlightened communities of readers in Georgia and the nation.”