The McClain Printing Company (MPC) is a printing company specializing in books of

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

history and lore. The company was incorporated in 1958 in

Parsons, West Virginia Parsons is the county seat and largest city in Tucker County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 1,322 at the 2020 census. The mayor of Parsons is Dorothy Judy and the city administrator is Jason Myers. The city is also governed by ...

as an outgrowth of the local weekly newspaper, the ''

Parsons Advocate The ''Parsons Advocate'' is a newspaper serving Parsons and surrounding Tucker County in the U.S. state of West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census ...

''.

History

In 1943, Ken and Faith Reynolds McClain had bought the ''Parsons Advocate'' which had been founded in 1896. Mr. McClain was approached around 1957 by

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

professors who feared that early local West Virginia histories would be lost if they were not reprinted. In 1958, the newspaper undertook the reprinting of

Alexander Scott Withers Alexander Scott Withers (12 October 1792, near Warrenton, Virginia – 23 January 1865, near Parkersburg, West Virginia) was a Virginia slave owner, lawyer, planter, magistrate, teacher and delegate to the First Wheeling Convention (1861) esta ...

’ classic history, ''Chronicles of Border Warfare'', as its first venture in book publishing. When McClain retired in the early 1970s, his son-in-law and daughter, George and Mariwyn Smith, moved to Parsons. George took over the printing company and Mariwyn the newspaper. When George Smith retired in 1997, son Kenneth E. Smith became the third generation to operate the company. In its first 35 years of existence, the MPC produced comprehensive county histories of over 35 West Virginia counties, as well as thousands of other titles. These included the works of West Virginia poet laureate

Louise McNeill Louise McNeill (9 January 1911 – 18 June 1993), also known as , was an American poet, essayist, and historian of Appalachia. She began teaching in a one roomed schoolhouse in West Virginia and would eventually move on to teach at other univ ...

, folklorists such as

Ruth Ann Musick Ruth Ann Musick (September 17, 1897 – July 2, 1974) was an American writer and folklorist specializing in West Virginia. She was the sister of artist Archie Musick and niece of writer John R. Musick. Biography Youth and education Born in Kirk ...

and

James Gay Jones James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, bestselling volumes such as

Howard B. Lee Howard Burton Lee (October 27, 1879 – May 24, 1985), of Mercer County, served as the Republican Attorney General of West Virginia from 1925 to 1933. His efforts to eliminate government corruption during that time helped to end the West Vir ...

’s ''Bloodletting in Appalachia'' and Roy B. Clarkson’s ''Tumult on the Mountains'', and reprints of classic local histories by W.C. Dodrill, Wills DeHass,

Hu Maxwell Hu Maxwell (September 22, 1860, Saint George, Virginia (now West Virginia) — August 20, 1927, Evanston, Illinois) was a local historian, novelist, editor, poet, and author of several histories of West Virginia counties. Biography Maxwell was ...

, and others. Commercial printing was added as a service several years ago. Today, the MPC pursues offset printing, a book binding service, a typesetting service, and magazine and book publishing and printing. Much of their printing services consist of commercial printing such as pamphlets, catalogs, pocket folders, magazines, post cards, brochures, flyers, etc. Although MPC does occasionally still finance historical books or reprints, it is now predominantly a private book publisher. It does not take profits from any of its author's book sales as “vanity presses” do. MPC products may be found on offer throughout the United States. Annual sales for the MPC are in the range of $1 million to $2.5 million.

External links

McClain Printing Company website
Book publishing companies of the United States Tucker County, West Virginia Printing companies of the United States Publishing companies established in 1958 1958 establishments in West Virginia {{US-publish-company-stub