Northwestern University Press Receives $73,000 Grant

EVANSTON, Ill -- Northwestern University Press received a three-year, $73,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to digitize important but out-of-print titles. The grant also will help underscore the importance of open access research studies in the humanities, giving a new generation of readers unprecedented access to this work. 

The grant is one of the first of the new Humanities Open Book program, jointly sponsored by Mellon and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Northwestern University Press will use the funding to create free e-book versions of 64 outstanding humanities titles in African studies, literary criticism, and philosophy. 

The Humanities Open Book program provides Northwestern University Press a unique opportunity for collaboration with the University Libraries, as the e-books will be available on the Libraries’ repository platform and can be purchased through the usual digital and print channels.

“We are delighted for this opportunity to deepen our collaborative relationship with the Northwestern University Libraries,” said Jane Bunker, director of Northwestern University Press. “We are fortunate to be able to work closely with our library colleagues in order to best serve the needs of faculty and students in this new research environment. Thoughtful experimentation with open access is a priority for us.” 

“This is an ideal project to extend our collaboration on campus and nationally,” said

Sarah Pritchard, dean of Northwestern University Libraries.  “The Press has such a strong backlist in the humanities, and the Libraries have an increasingly robust digital repository infrastructure, so we are pleased to be able to bring both together.” 

Northwestern University Press is dedicated to publishing works of enduring scholarly and cultural value, extending the University’s mission to a community of readers throughout the world.