CHICAGO, IL – Columbia College Chicago, the nation’s largest private arts and media college, and The Center for American Places (CAP), publisher of works that “enhance the public’s understanding of, appreciation for, and affection for the places of America and the rest of the world - whether urban, suburban, rural, or wild,” have signed an agreement of acquisition, announced Columbia President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D. The acquisition will take effect on December 31, 2007.
CAP will be a wholly-owned imprint of the college and will be known as The Center for American Places at Columbia College Chicago. Business and marketing operations will shift to Chicago offices on the Columbia campus, while design functions will remain in Santa Fe, New Mexico and editorial functions in Staunton, Virginia.
CAP was founded in 1990 by George F. Thompson, a former editor at the Johns Hopkins University Press. Since that time, the Center has brought to publication more than 320 works across dozens of disciplines including geography, history, land scape and urban studies, photography, and creative non-fiction. The Center has won or shared more than 100 editorial prizes, including best-book honors in 31 academic fields.
A relationship first formed with Columbia College in 2001 when Thompson worked with Bob Thall, chair of the school’s photography department, and forged an agreement to co-publish fine-art photography books. The first volume in the co-publishing arrangement was Melissa Ann Pinney’s critically acclaimed Regarding Emma: Photographs of American Women and Girls (2003). As the publishing relationship progressed, the two organizations came to recognize a common philosophy and mission, as well as mutually beneficial business objectives, according to Columbia Provost Steven Kapelke.
“The Center’s motto is ‘Books live. Books endure. Books make a difference. Books are gifts to civilization.’ – and that is a sentiment that resonates deeply with Columbia’s values and our emphasis on the importance of a solid liberal arts education,” says Kapelke. “At Columbia we work across disciplines and encourage our faculty and students to explore collaborative and innovative approaches to the arts and media. The vision and commitment of George Thompson and the publishing history of the Center has emphasized connections between art and science, photography and literature, architecture and the natural environment. This is a great match.”
“For 17 years, the Center for American Places has been committed to developing and bringing to publication books of lasting value whose authors reflect the culture of our times,” says CAP founder George Thompson. “In becoming the Press of Columbia College Chicago we wish to enhance the visibility and impact of both the Center’s books and Columbia’s educational mission. Just as books make an important contribution to civilization, so too do our students and teachers, scholars and artists.
“Chicago has always been very good to our books,” Thompson added. “We already feel a warm embrace in Chicago, one of North America’s great cities, and we look forward to being a very good neighbor in the years to come.”
Among the Center’s award winning titles are: The City in a Garden: A Photographic History of Chicago’s Parks by Julia Sniderman Bachrach, Route 66: Iconography of an American Highway by Arthur Krim, New Orleans: The Making of an Urban Landscape by Peirce F. Lewis, and Biography of a Tenement House in New York City: An Architectural History of 97 Orchard Street by Andrew S. Dolkart.
Upcoming titles, scheduled for release in 2008 under The Center for American Places at Columbia College Chicago imprint, include: Forests Forever: Their Ecology, Restoration, and Protection by John J. Berger; the Center's first novel, The Great River by Chicagoan Charles Dee Sharp; the Center's first memoir, Southern Comforts: Rooted in a Florida Place by Sudye Cauthen; Urban Wilderness: Exploring a Metropolitan Watershed by Eddee Daniel, Civil Rights Memorials and the Geography of Memory by Owen Dwyer and Derek H. Alderman; From Yard to Garden: The Domestication of America's Home Grounds by Christopher Grampp; and Cleveland: The Flats, The Mill, and the Hills by Andrew Borowiec, among others.
The University of Chicago Press will continue to serve as the principal distributor for both backlisted and future titles published by The Center for American Places at Columbia College Chicago. More information on the Center's publications and history can be found at www.americanplaces.org.
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