Selection Criteria
The material included in Independent Publishing in America has been selected in close collaboration with academic subject experts, collections specialists at participating libraries and archives, and under the guidance of the Editorial Board.
The selection reflects two key periods of growth and diversification in the history of American publishing: moments when new technologies, audiences and ideas reshaped how books and print culture circulated throughout society.
Early American Publishing:
Collections from the American Antiquarian Society represent the formative years of the American publishing industry, when the infrastructure of bookselling, printing and distribution was first established. The material illustrates how publishers and booksellers shaped the nation’s cultural identity through networks of production and exchange. Document types include auction and booksellers’ catalogues, library catalogues, canvassing books used by book sales agents and the business and financial records of early publishing houses such as those found in the Mathew Carey Papers.
Independent Presses and Publishing Communities:
The second body of material focuses on the proliferation of independent presses and specialist publishers that emerged from the 1960s onwards. Drawn from archives and libraries across the United States, these collections highlight how small presses and bookstores provided platforms for authors and readerships historically marginalized from mainstream publishing. Responding to the cultural and political shifts of the era, including the civil rights, feminist, LGBTQ+ and Indigenous rights movements, these organizations fostered new literary communities and transformed the landscape of American publishing.
Together, these two periods illustrate the evolution of independent publishing in America: from the establishment of a national book trade to the diversification and inclusion of new voices and perspectives within print culture in the modern era.
A Note on Exclusions
Where exclusions have been made, this is largely due to:
- Collections falling outside the defined remit of this resource
- Existing open-access content
- Copyright and permission considerations
- Data protection concerns
To learn more about the source archives and the collections selected from them please visit the Collections Guide.
The material included in Independent Publishing in America has been selected in close collaboration with academic subject experts, collections specialists at participating libraries and archives, and under the guidance of the Editorial Board.
The selection reflects two key periods of growth and diversification in the history of American publishing: moments when new technologies, audiences and ideas reshaped how books and print culture circulated throughout society.
Early American Publishing:
Collections from the American Antiquarian Society represent the formative years of the American publishing industry, when the infrastructure of bookselling, printing and distribution was first established. The material illustrates how publishers and booksellers shaped the nation’s cultural identity through networks of production and exchange. Document types include auction and booksellers’ catalogues, library catalogues, canvassing books used by book sales agents and the business and financial records of early publishing houses such as those found in the Mathew Carey Papers.
Independent Presses and Publishing Communities:
The second body of material focuses on the proliferation of independent presses and specialist publishers that emerged from the 1960s onwards. Drawn from archives and libraries across the United States, these collections highlight how small presses and bookstores provided platforms for authors and readerships historically marginalized from mainstream publishing. Responding to the cultural and political shifts of the era, including the civil rights, feminist, LGBTQ+ and Indigenous rights movements, these organizations fostered new literary communities and transformed the landscape of American publishing.
Together, these two periods illustrate the evolution of independent publishing in America: from the establishment of a national book trade to the diversification and inclusion of new voices and perspectives within print culture in the modern era.
A Note on Exclusions
Where exclusions have been made, this is largely due to:
- Collections falling outside the defined remit of this resource
- Existing open-access content
- Copyright and permission considerations
- Data protection concerns
To learn more about the source archives and the collections selected from them please visit the Collections Guide.