Southern Methodist University Press.

Southern Methodist University opened for classes in 1915, but it was not until twenty years later when interest in establishing a university publishing group culminated in the creation of SMU Press in 1937. SMU English professor John McGinnis was the driving force behind the initiative, and he directed the Press for its first few years of operation. Donald Day took over as editor for a brief period after him.

Along with McGinnis, SMU President Umphrey Lee, Bishop A. Frank Smith, history professor Herbert Gambrell, English professor Henry Nash Smith, and university promoter Eugene McElvaney (later chairman of the Board of Trustees) were several of the prominent SMU administrators and faculty who helped create the first university press in Texas.

The Schoellkopf family, which had played a major role in the development of industry in Dallas since the late 1800s, provided the initial funding. The family donated $1,000 for SMU Press to begin operations in 1937, and the Press’ first book, Naturalists of the Frontier by SMU biology professor Samuel Wood Geiser, was published that same year. Not until two years later was the Press’ second book published: John C. Duval: First Texas Man of Letters by J. Frank Dobie.

The success of a publishing group at a small and still fledgling university was hardly assured, and SMU Press’ initial funding did not allow for high volume publishing. As Mary Martha Hosford Thomas commented in her book Southern Methodist University: Founding and Early Years,

The founding staff of the Press consisted of Smith, Gambrell, SMU English professor George Bond, and art professor Jerry Bywaters. Dr. Gambrell headed the Board of Publications from 1939 to 1964. Allen Maxwell served as the director of the Press from 1946 until 1982, and also worked as the editor of the Southwest Review (which had been purchased by SMU in 1924). Trudy McMurrin directed the Press from 1982 until 1986, and Keith Gregory is the current director.

Elizabeth Stover, in charge of production and promotion, worked for two decades at the Press until her retirement in 1961. Also among the longtime Press staff members was Margaret Hartley, who began working at the Press in 1947 and went on to serve a quarter century at the Press in several capacities including editor. She, like Maxwell, also worked as Southwest Review editor from 1962 to 1982.

Most of the books published by SMU Press were scholarly works, as opposed to books published for popular consumption, and the Press was therefore considered a nonprofit organization; it resembled other university-operated presses. Because the audience of its publications was rather small, proceeds from book sales were not enough to meet expenses, and for many years a major source of funding for the Press was the university athletic department. A 1951 agreement between the department and the Press provided for a donation of $100,000, to be given over a period of ten years. The money came from the athletic department’s ticket sales from campus sporting events; a 1958 report to the Faculty Senate noted that this beneficial arrangement for SMU Press was a method of funding unique in university publishing.

1964 marked an important milestone for SMU Press, as it published its 100th book that year, and ten years later boasted over 150 titles. A number of the books published under its name have won recognition and have been translated abroad. SMU political science professor Ann Van Wynen Thomas’ book Communism versus International Law was heavily distributed overseas by the United States Information Agency, especially in India, and USIA also sponsored foreign language editions of the book in Arabic, Japanese, and Portuguese. A Lion Unannounced, a collection of short stories written by Leonard Casper, was chosen as a 1972 National Council of the Arts selection.

Adria Bernardi’s novel Openwork, published by SMU Press in 2006, won honorable mention for the L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award. In addition, Mrs. Somebody Somebody by Tracy Winn (2009) received prominent reviews in the Boston Globe, Publisher’s Weekly, and People Magazine; Random House later purchased the publishing rights to Ms. Winn’s book for a paperback edition. An anthology of essays on baseball, Anatomy of Baseball (for which Yogi Berra wrote the Foreword) was featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and National Public Radio. In 2008, copies of the book were given as gifts to over 300 baseball VIPs by Major League Baseball at the All Star Game.

The Press has published works by prominent literary figures and SMU faculty members such as J. Frank Dobie, William Warren Sweet, David J. Weber, Peter Bakewell, Paul Boller, Jr., and Marshall Terry. SMU Press has also published works on the history of the university, including Architecture At SMU: 50 Years and Buildings, by James F. White; Southern Methodist University: Founding and Early Years, by Mary Martha Hosford Thomas (1974); Willis M. Tate: Views and Interviews, by Johnnie Marie Grimes (1978); and SMU Reflections, a photo essay edited by Elizabeth Perkins Prothro, Bonnie Brunk Hillerbrand, and Donna Booth Salacuse (1986).

Today, nearly eight decades old, SMU Press publishes approximately 10-12 titles per year, in several subject areas: creative nonfiction, literary fiction, medical humanities, Southwestern studies, and sports. It is currently part of the Texas A&M Press Consortium, a group of university presses in Texas including Texas Christian University Press, University of North Texas Press, and the Texas State Historical Association. SMU Press is currently housed in the DeGolyer Library building on the SMU campus.

Sources:

"Dr. S.W. Geiser’s Book Approved by National Club," Dallas Morning News, January 12, 1938.

Knickerbocker, R.C. "Southern Methodist University," Handbook of Texas Online, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/SS/kbs32.html .

Maxwell, Allen. "SMU Books Here, Abroad." Dallas Morning News, December 10, 1972, pg. 12.

"Ponies’" Gate Receipts Give SMU Press a Lift," Dallas Morning News, October 25, 1951, pg. 1.

"Southern Methodist University Press," http://www.tamu.edu/upress/SMU/smugen.html .

SMU Press. "Brief history of SMU Press." July 2009.

"SMU Press: 38 Years of Service," Dallas Morning News, November 10, 1975, pg. 12.

Terry, Marshall. "Margaret Hartley: Quarter-Century for SMU Editor," Dallas Morning News, September 17, 1972, pg. 7.

Thomas, Mary Martha Hosford. Southern Methodist University: Founding and Early Years . Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1974.

Tinkle, Lon. "For SMU Press, a Hundred Books," Dallas Morning News, May 17, 1964, pg. 8.

Establishment of a press at SMU in 1937 was a rather audacious move. There was no money in sight to pay even for secretarial services, let alone to employ a full-time staff. The thousand dollars in hand was enough to pay only for publication of one book. After Geiser’s volume was published, no further activity could be contemplated until the Schoellkopf Fund could be replenished by sales.