Harold Mason, a librarian and antiquarian bookseller, and Harold Schwartz, a trade publishing veteran, founded Greenwood Press in 1967 with a mission to rescue forgotten texts from the dustbin of history. The company began in Greenwood, New York, a small town that would become the unlikely birthplace of a publishing empire. Their initial strategy was simple yet revolutionary: reprint out-of-print works, specifically those listed in the American Library Association's first edition of Books for College Libraries. This decision to focus on the obscure and the unavailable set Greenwood apart from the major commercial publishers of the era. By 1969, the company was sold to Williamhouse-Regency, a paper and stationery manufacturer, which allowed them to expand their reprint activities and launch Greenwood Microforms, a division dedicated to microform publishing. The early years were defined by a commitment to preserving academic history, ensuring that valuable resources remained accessible to scholars and students alike.
The Shift From Reprints To Original Scholarship
By 1970, the company established a small scholarly monograph project, marking a pivotal shift from merely reprinting old works to creating new knowledge. Robert Hagelstein, formerly with the Johnson Reprint Corporation division of Academic Press, was hired as vice-president, bringing with him a vision for the future of academic publishing. 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. The transformation was not just a change in product but a fundamental reimagining of the company's role in the academic community. Under Hagelstein's leadership, Greenwood became a trusted source for original research and analysis, earning the respect of scholars and institutions across the globe.The Corporate Mergers That Reshaped Identity
On the 25th of August 1976, the company was sold to the Congressional Information Service (CIS), a move that would eventually lead to its integration into the Dutch publishing giant Elsevier. That same year, the Greenwood subsidiary initiated its Quorum Books imprint, which published professional titles in business and law. On the 1st of January 1986, Greenwood Press, Inc. expanded further when it purchased Praeger Publishers, founded in 1950 as Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., from CBS, Inc. The acquisition of Praeger marked a significant expansion into scholarly and general-interest books, broadening the company's reach and influence. In 1989, Greenwood acquired Bergin & Garvey and Auburn House, further diversifying its portfolio. At the beginning of 1990, the company's name was changed from Greenwood Press, Inc., to Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG). When Elsevier merged with Reed International in 1993, GPG became part of Reed Elsevier, and by the mid-1990s the operational part of GPG joined with Heinemann USA, which had been part of Reed. These corporate maneuvers were not merely business decisions but strategic moves that shaped the identity and direction of the company for decades to come.