Leveraging the college’s image, vision, and continued ambition to contribute to the creative and cultural world, Columbia has signed an agreement of acquisition with the Center for American Places (CAP), an imprint known for its fine-art photography books.

The acquisition of CAP provides Columbia with the resource to publish books under its name. Renamed The Center for American Places at Columbia College Chicago, CAP is owned and operated by the college.

Provost Steve Kapelke considers this is a win-win situation for all, noting that the partnership will provide the college with another opportunity to “increase its impact on the creative and intellectual world” on a national level.

The publishing company has worked with Columbia since 2001, when George F. Thompson, founder and director of CAP, worked with Bob Thall, chair of photography, to forge an agreement to co-publish fine-art photography books. The first of these was Melissa Ann Pinney’s Regarding Emma: Photographs of American Women and Girls, published in 2003. Recent titles with connections to the college include Thall’s At City’s Edge: Photographs of the Chicago Lakefront (2005), Brad Temkin’s Private Places (2005), Scott Fortino’s Institutional (2005), and William Frederking’s At Home (2006).

Since its inception, CAP has published more than 320 books in subject areas including history, photography, geography, and creative nonfiction, winning more than 100 editorial honors along the way. Its first novel, The Great River by Chicagoan Charles Dee Sharp, is scheduled for release in 2008.