The organization's mission at the time of its founding, according to Gerald J. Mangone, Temple University's then-provost, was to "broaden the outlet for the best volumes of an increasinbly productive faculty," by enabling those academics "to publish significant research that will increase knowledge in the humanities, social and natural sciences."[4]
Maurice English was appointed as the first director of the organization. An honors graduate ofHarvard University who had been awarded aFulbright creative writing fellowship in recognition of the publication of his book,Midnight in the Century, English was a recipient of the Ferguson Prize for Poetry in 1965, bureau chief forVoice of America, and a senior editor for theUniversity of Chicago Press prior to his hiring by Temple. According to English, "The goal of a university press is primarily to maintain and express the standards of its university in the realms of scholarship and research."[5]
By the 1980s and 1990s, Temple University Press had become a globally respected scholarly press. Directed by David Bartlett during this era,[6][7] the organization's mission had been broadened to not only publish the work of scholars at Temple University, "but to aid in the dissemination of work by scholars across the nation and around the world."[8] Still considered a mid-sized university press in the United States in 1989, it published "twice as many" books that year as it did in 1988, for a total of roughly sixty publications released and approximately two million dollars in sales. Its best-selling book that decade wasStill Philadelphia: A Photographic History, 1890-1940 by Fredric M. Miller, Morris J. Vogel, and Allen F. Davis. Between its 1983 release and early January 1989, it had sold roughly twelve thousand copies.[9] In 1984, it was awarded the Philadelphia Book Clinic Certificate of Award.[10]
Publication successes during the 1990s included Nancy Whittier'sFeminist Generations: The Persistence of the Radical Women's Movement, which was awarded the Outstanding Academic Title for 1995 byChoice.[11][12]
In 2000, the press published the autobiography of longtime Philadelphia television news anchorman,Larry Kane. Released in September of that year,Larry Kane's Philadelphia presented Kane's recollections of major breaking news events such as the riots at the1968 Democratic National Convention and the1985 MOVE bombing, as well as his candid descriptions of his fellow reporters, local, national and world leaders, and entertainment personalities, including Philadelphia mayorFrank Rizzo,Pope John Paul II,The Beatles,Charles Barkley, performers in the annualMummers Parade, andFrank Sinatra.[13][14] The forward for Kane's book was written by veteran American journalistDan Rather.[15]
In January 2005, the press published its first children's book,P Is for Philadelphia, an "alphabetic tour of the city and the region, illustrated by the area's public school children."[16] Released in time to be used by teachers for Read Across America Day, which was sponsored by theNational Education Association, the book was written by Susan Korman.[17]
In 2014, Mary Rose Muccie was named executive director of Temple University Press and Temple University's library officer for scholarly communications.[18]
Aaron Javsicas was named editor-in-chief of the press in 2016.[19] An acquisitions editor at Temple University Press who spent his formative years at the Greenwood Friends School before honing his editorial and management skills as an intern at thePress Enterprise in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, as a production assistant at a New Orleans weekly newspaper and as an acquisitions editor in the scholarly and textbook divisions ofPalgrave MacMillan andW. W. Norton & Company, Javsicas oversees the production of academic and historical books.[20]
Aurand, Harold W.From the Molly Maguires to the United Mine Workers: The Social Ecology of an Industrial Union, 1869-1897. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, 1971.[21][22]
McGrath. Earl J.Should Students Share the Power? Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, August 19, 1970.[23]
Miller, Fredric M., Allen F. Davis, and Morris Vogel.Still Philadelphia: A Photographic History, 1890-1940 (winner of the Philadelphia Book Clinic Certificate of Award, 1984). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, March 1983.[24][25]
Theoharis, Athan G. and John Stuart Cox.The Boss: J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, 1988 (out of print).[26][27]
Francione, Gary L.Animals, Property, and the Law. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, May 1995.[28][29]
Whittier, Nancy.Feminist Generations: The Persistence of the Radical Women's Movement (winner of the Outstanding Academic Title, inChoice, 1995). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, June 1995.[30][31]
Ecenbarger, William.Pennsylvania Stories Well Told. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, March 2017.[36][37]
Yee, Shirley J.An Immigrant Neighborhood: Interethnic and Interracial Encounters in New York before 1930." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, December 2011.[38]
Bennett, Larry, John D. Fairfield, and Patricia Mooney-Melvin, editors.Bringing the Civic Back In: Zane L. Miller and American Urban History. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, September 2022.[39][40]
Gale, Dennis E.The Misunderstood History of Gentrification: People, Planning, Preservation, and Urban Renewal, 1915-2020. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, February 2021.[41]
^"U. of Chicago Man to Direct Temple Press,"Philadelphia Daily News, January 29, 1969.
^Boasberg, Leonard W. "J. Edgar Hoover's devious deeds." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 5, 1989, p. 35 (subscription required).
^Whelan, Frank. "New state atlas makes its debut." Allentown, Pennsylvania:The Morning Call, December 10, 1989, p. 33 (subscription required).
^"Temple University Press," in "Undergraduate Bulletin Updated for 1997-1998," Temple University.
^"Feminist Generations: The Persistence of the Radical Women's Movement." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press, retrieved online December 3, 2022.
^Nelson, Nels. "Student Power Hailed by Scholar, 67." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:Philadelphia Daily News, August 5, 1970, p. 12 (subscription required).
^Boasberg, "Temple U. Press is pleased with current offerings,"The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 5, 1989.
^"Still Philadelphia: A Photographic History, 1890-1940," Temple University Press.
^Boasberg, "Temple U. Press is pleased with current offerings,"The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 5, 1989.
^"Temple University Press," in "Undergraduate Bulletin Updated for 1997-1998," Temple University.
^"Feminist Generations: The Persistence of the Radical Women's Movement," Temple University Press.
^Kane, Larry. "Terror takes over news with mirth" (part one of a two-part series of excerpts from Kane's book). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:Philadelphia Daily News, November 9, 2000, pp. 64-65 (subscription required).
^Kane, Larry. "The story behind the 'Kane mutiny'" (part two of a two-part series of excerpts from Kane's book). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:Philadelphia Daily News, November 10, 2000, p. 99 (subscription required).
^Cohen, David. "How Bert Bell kept the NFL alive." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 20, 2009, p. H13 (subscription required).
