Augsburg Fortress - History

History

The press was formed in 1988 when the Board of Publication/Fortress Press and Augsburg Publishing House merged as their parent denominations joined together with the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches to form the ELCA. Its two predecessor companies were:

  • Augsburg Publishing House: At the time of the 1988 ELCA merger, the company was affiliated with The American Lutheran Church. It was founded in 1891 in Minneapolis at Augsburg Seminary. At that time both the publishing house and seminary were part of the United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America (UNLC); however the seminary would leave the UNLC to form the Lutheran Free Church in 1897. The publishing house left the campus in 1894, relocating to the downtown area in 1908. By 1960 it was the publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. With the 1960 merger of Lutheran denominations that formed the "new" American Lutheran Church (ALC), Augsburg was designated that church's publishing arm. It then absorbed the publishing houses of several denominations that participated in the merger, including Wartburg Press (est. 1881) of the "old" American Lutheran Church and the Danish Lutheran Publishing House (est. 1893) in Blair, Nebraska of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church. When the Lutheran Free Church joined in 1963 its publishing house Messenger Press (est. 1922) was added.
  • Fortress Press: Fortress Press was the publishing arm of the Lutheran Church in America (LCA), headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It came into existence in 1962 with the merger of Lutheran denominations that created the LCA.

Note: Today's Augsburg Fortress continues to use "Fortress Press" as an imprint for academic titles and "Augsburg" for popular titles.

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