Binford & Mort Publishing is a book
publishing company located in
Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1930, the company was previously known as Metropolitan Press and Binfords & Mort. At one time they were the largest book publisher in the
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...
. The privately owned company focuses on books from the Pacific Northwest, and has printed many important titles covering
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
's history.
History
Maurice M. Binford was born in
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
in 1878, but moved west in 1884 after his parents died.
[Corning, Howard M. (1989) ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing. pp. 28, 32.] Peter A. Binford, also from Indiana, was born on March 23, 1876, in
Crawfordsville in the west-central part of that state.
Peter and Maurice moved to
Klickitat County, Washington
Klickitat County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,735. The county seat and largest city is Goldendale. The county is named after the Klickitat tribe.
History
Klickitat Count ...
, in 1884 with their older sister Julia, who had married Frank Lee.
Julia raised the two along with five other younger siblings.[
Peter later worked in the printing industry in Klickitat County for his brother in law Lee at several newspapers.] In 1891, Maurice and his brother Peter moved to Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
and worked for Lee at Lee's company, Metropolitan Printing Company. In 1899, the brothers purchased the printing company from Lee. Maurice served as the company's secretary and treasurer in the early years.[
In 1920, Ralph Mort, their nephew, was added to the company.][ They established a publishing company in 1930 under the name of Metropolitan Press, and published Northwest books, primarily history titles.][Skinner, Jeremy]
Binford and Mort.
''The Oregon Encyclopedia
The ''Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture'' is a collaborative encyclopedia focused on the history and culture of the U.S. state of Oregon.
Description
The encyclopedia is a project of Portland State University's History Department, thOreg ...
''. Portland State University
Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decad ...
. Some of these books were re-prints of titles that were no longer protected by copyright, while others were new titles by Oregon authors.[ Early authors included Thomas Nelson Strong, Charles Henry Carey, Howard McKinley Corning, and Frederic Homer Balch among others.][ The company became the first large publisher in Oregon.][
During the Great Depression, the company acquired the rights to print the ]American Guide Series
The American Guide Series includes books and pamphlets published from 1937 to 1941 under the auspices of the Federal Writers' Project (FWP), a Depression-era program that was part of the larger Works Progress Administration in the United States. T ...
guidebooks created by the Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
's Writers Project for Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
, and Oregon, which proved very profitable.[ In 1938, the Binfords changed the named to Binfords & Mort after taking on Ralph Mort as a new partner in the business.][ Publishing house ]William Morrow and Company
William Morrow and Company is an American publishing company founded by William Morrow in 1926. The company was acquired by Scott Foresman in 1967, sold to Hearst Corporation in 1981, and sold to News Corporation (now News Corp) in 1999. ...
suggested this name change as they wanted a more original name as they took on national distribution of the Binfords' titles.[
Maurice died in 1954.][ Peter retired from the company by 1957,][ and he died on October 19, 1959.] The name of the company was then changed to Binford & Mort, and its ownership passed to Thomas P. Binford (b. 1914), who was Peter's son and Maurice's nephew. taking over for his father Maurice.[ From its founding until about 1960, the company's publications did much to promote works and authors from the Pacific Northwest.] By 1957, they were the largest book publisher in the Northwest and had more than 350 titles.[
The company's name was altered slightly in 1973, from Binfords & Mort to Binford & Mort, after Thomas Binford bought out all other interests.]
After the older Binfords left, Thomas failed to maintain the quality of the editorial process for new books.[ Thus, even though Binford & Mort averaged ten new titles a year, the quality suffered.][ By 1980, the company had moved to Salem.][Burrors, Marian. (April 27, 1980.) 'Find It, Buy It, Eat It', '']The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', p. K5. Thomas died in 1983 and Binford & Mort was purchased by the Gardeniers of Hillsboro.[
By 1996 they had relocated to Portland, and by 2000 Binford & Mort was in Hillsboro.] By that time P. L. Gardenier served as editor and they focused on works of non-fiction, while also printing books for self-publishers.[ Today the company still publishes some new titles, and continues to re-print its older titles.][ Described as "Portland's most venerable general trade publisher,"] many of the works they published are considered to be definitive books on their topics. These include '' Oregon Geographic Names'' by Lewis A. McArthur
Lewis Ankeny McArthur (April 27, 1883 – November 8, 1951), known as "Tam" McArthur, was an executive for Pacific Power and Light Company. He was also the secretary for the Oregon Geographic Board for many years and the author of ''Oregon ...
, ''A General History of Oregon'' by Charles Henry Carey, Howard McKinley Corning's ''Dictionary of Oregon History'', ''History of Oregon Literature'' by Alfred Powers, and George S. Turnbull's ''History of Oregon Newspapers''.[ As of 2009, Polly Gardenier served as the director of the three person company that had annual revenues of $200,000.
]
Selected titles
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References
Further reading
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External links
Books by Binford & Mort
{{DEFAULTSORT:Binford and Mort
Publishing companies established in 1930
Companies based in Hillsboro, Oregon
Book publishing companies based in Oregon
Privately held companies based in Oregon
1930 establishments in Oregon