Greenwood Publishing Group
Encyclopedia
Greenwood Publishing Group (GPG) is an educational publisher (middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...

 through university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

 level) and is part of ABC-CLIO
ABC-CLIO
ABC-CLIO is a publisher of reference works for the study of history and social studies in academic, secondary school, and public library settings.-History:...

. It publishes reference works under its Greenwood Press imprint, and scholarly, professional, and general interest books under Praeger Publishers. Also part of GPG is Libraries Unlimited, which publishes professional works for librarians and teachers.

History

The company was founded as Greenwood Press, Inc. in 1967 by Harold Mason, a librarian and antiquarian bookseller, and Harold Schwartz who had a background in trade publishing. The company initially focused on reprinting out-of-print works, particularly titles listed in the American Library Association’s first edition of Books for College Libraries (1967), under the Greenwood Press imprint, and out-of-print periodicals published as American Radical Periodicals under the Greenwood Reprint imprint. In 1969 the company was sold to Williamhouse-Regency, a company then on the American Stock Exchange
American Stock Exchange
NYSE Amex Equities, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange is an American stock exchange situated in New York. AMEX was a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known as the New York Curb Exchange. On January 17, 2008, NYSE Euronext announced it would acquire the...

, which led to further expanding its reprint activities as well as starting a microform publishing imprint, Greenwood Microforms.

By 1970 a small scholarly monograph program was established and Robert Hagelstein, formerly with the Johnson Reprint Corporation, a division of Academic Press
Academic Press
Academic Press is an academic book publisher. Originally independent, it was acquired by Harcourt, Brace & World in 1969. Reed Elsevier bought Harcourt in 2000, and Academic Press is now an imprint of Elsevier....

, was hired as Vice President. In 1973, Mason and Schwartz left the company, and Hagelstein was named President, a position he would hold until his retirement at the end of 1999. During those twenty-seven years, the press wound down its reprint activities diverting its focus to new scholarly, reference, and professional books. This large-scale redirection of the company resulted in the publication of more than 10,000 titles during those years.

On August 25, 1976 the company was sold to the Congressional Information Service, Inc (CIS) and in 1979 became part of the Dutch publishing giant, Elsevier
Elsevier
Elsevier is a publishing company which publishes medical and scientific literature. It is a part of the Reed Elsevier group. Based in Amsterdam, the company has operations in the United Kingdom, USA and elsewhere....

, following Elsevier’s purchase of CIS. That same year the press initiated its Quorum Books imprint, which published professional titles in business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

 and law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

.

On January 1, 1986 GPG expanded yet again when it purchased Praeger Publishers, founded by Frederick A. Praeger in 1949, from CBS, Inc., and in 1989 when it acquired Bergin & Garvey and Auburn House.

At the beginning of 1990 the company’s name was changed from Greenwood Press, Inc. to Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. When Elsevier merged with Reed International in 1993, GPG became part of Reed Elsevier
Reed Elsevier
Reed Elsevier is a publisher and information provider operating in the science, medical, legal, risk and business sectors. It is listed on several of the world's major stock exchanges. It is a FTSE 100 and FT500 Global company...

, and by the mid-1990’s the operational part of GPG joined with Heinemann USA, which had been part of Reed.

When Hagelstein retired at the end of 1999, Wayne Smith was named President. Under Smith, GPG made a number of additional acquisitions including the Ablex and Oryx imprints and Libraries Unlimited, and expanded GPG’s on line
On Line
On_Line is a 2002 drama directed by Jed Weintrob and executive produced by Richard D. Titus and Tavin Marin Titus. The film was selected to world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically, on DVD and television world-wide....

 and CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....

 products under its Greenwood Electronic Media imprint.

On July 12, 2001, Reed Elsevier completed its acquisition of Harcourt. Harcourt became a wholly owned subsidiary of Reed Elsevier and GPG became part of Harcourt Education.

On December 13, 2007 GPG became part of Houghton Mifflin Co. as a result of Houghton’s acquisition of Harcourt.

On October 1, 2008, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt granted ABC-CLIO
ABC-CLIO
ABC-CLIO is a publisher of reference works for the study of history and social studies in academic, secondary school, and public library settings.-History:...

of Santa Barbara, California a perpetual license to use the imprints and publish the titles of GPG, excluding Heinemann. The offices in Westport, Connecticut closed as a result.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK