The University of Pittsburgh Press is a scholarly publishing house and a major American

university press A university press is an academic publishing house specializing in monographs and scholarly journals. Most are nonprofit organizations and an integral component of a large research university. They publish work that has been reviewed by schola ...

, part of the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

. The university and the press are located in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. The press publishes several series in the humanities and social sciences, including Illuminations—Cultural Formations of the Americas; Pitt Latin American Series; Pitt Series in Russian and East European Studies, Pittsburgh Series in Composition, Literary, and Culture; Pittsburgh/Konstanz Series in Philosophy and History of Science; Culture, Politics, and the Built Environment; Central Eurasia in Context, and

Latinx and Latin American Profiles ''Latinx'' is a neologism in American English which is used to refer to people of Latin American cultural or ethnic identity in the United States. The gender-neutral suffix replaces the ending of ''Latino'' and ''Latina'' that are typical o ...

. The press is especially known for literary publishing, particularly its Pitt Poetry Series, the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, and the

Drue Heinz Literature Prize The Drue Heinz Literature Prize is a major American literary award for short fiction in the English language. This prize of the University of Pittsburgh Press in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States was initiated in 1981 by Drue Heinz and de ...

. The press also publishes the winner of the annual Donald Hall Prize, awarded by the

Association of Writers & Writing Programs The Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) is a nonprofit literary organization that provides support, advocacy, resources, and community to nearly 50,000 writers, 500 college and university creative writing programs, and 125 writers' c ...

and the winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize. One of its perennial bestselling titles is Thomas Bell's historical novel Out of This Furnace, reissued by the press in 1976. LibraryResourceFacilityPitt

The press was established in September 1936 by

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

John Gabbert Bowman John Gabbert Bowman (May 18, 1877 – December 2, 1962) was the tenth Chancellor (1921–1945) of the University of Pittsburgh and the ninth President (1911–1914) of the University of Iowa. He is best known for initiating and complet ...

Paul Mellon Paul Mellon (June 11, 1907 – February 1, 1999) was an American philanthropist and an owner/breeder of thoroughbred racehorses. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Museum of Racing and Hall ...

committed the majority of the necessary startup funding from the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust. Other contributors were the Buhl Foundation, the

Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania (HSWP) is a cultural organization in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. History After several attempts during the early and mid-century to establish a historical society, an organization called Old Residents ...

, and the university itself. The first full-time director of the press was

Agnes Lynch Starrett Agnes or Agness may refer to: People *Agnes (name), the given name, and a list of people named Agnes or Agness * Wilfrid Marcel Agnès (1920–2008), Canadian diplomat Places * Agnes, Georgia, United States, a ghost town * Agnes, Missouri, Unite ...

, followed by Frederick A. Hetzel (1964–1994), Cynthia Miller (1995–2013), and Peter Kracht (2013–present). In recent years the press was housed on the fifth floor of the Eureka Building on Pitt's main campus in the

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...

section of Pittsburgh, but moved into a new the university's Thomas Boulevard Library Resource Facility in the Point Breeze section of Pittsburgh in July 2013. The University of Pittsburgh Press is a Charter Member of the

Association of American University Presses The Association of University Presses (AUPresses) is an association of mostly, but not exclusively, North American university presses. It is based in New York City. Until December 2017, it was known as the Association of American University Presses ...

. In 2008, the press began making out-of-print scholarly books freely available on-line at the University of Pittsburgh Press Digital Editions collection through the University Library System's

D-Scribe Digital Publishing D-Scribe Digital Publishing is an open access electronic publishing program of the University Library System (ULS) of the University of Pittsburgh. It comprises over 100 thematic collections that together contain over 100,000 digital objects. Th ...

program. By 2010, the University of Pittsburgh Press Digital Editions included more than 750 titles, and more than 350 previously out-of-print titles have been reissued in paperback format as Prologue Editions. The press is also collaborating with the University Library System on a new online scholarly journals program. Most of the journals are open access and published in electronic format only, while a few titles are also available in print editions through the Espresso Book Machine in the University Book Center. In 2010, the press received major funding from the Andrew W.

Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pit ...

to develop a history of science list and expand its existing philosophy of science list, working in collaboration with the university's History and Philosophy of Science Department and World History Center. This new program will lead to a 50% increase in the number of new titles published by the press each year.

References

* * *University of Pittsburgh Press website (2006)
About the University of Pittsburgh Press
Retrieved January 10, 2006.

External links

University of Pittsburgh Press Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:University Of Pittsburgh Press Pittsburgh, University of, Press University of Pittsburgh Publishing companies established in 1936 Book publishing companies based in Pennsylvania Poetry publishers 1936 establishments in Pennsylvania