University of New Mexico Press - The Early Years

The Early Years

On June 1, 1929, the Board of Regents of the University of New Mexico unanimously approved the establishment of the University of New Mexico Press (UNMP). At the time, the university enrolled about one thousand students. The inaugural publications produced by the Press were pamphlets; the first hardcover, bound full-length book, _New Mexico History and Civics_, by Lansing Bloom and Thomas Donnelly came in September 1933. It does not appear that when the Press was founded the Regents had plans other than for the Press to serve the university community by printing and distributing pamphlets, reports, and journals. At that time, the university printing plant and publishing arm were one entity, and for its first three years, UNMP was little more than a printing facility for the university.

On July 15, 1930, Stanford-educated Paul A.F. Walter, Jr., son of Santa Fe newspaperman Paul A. F. Walter, Sr., became the first director of UNMP. Leaving his post as editor of the Roswell Morning Dispatch, Walter moved to Santa Fe, where he was also assistant director of the Museum of New Mexico and the School of American Research. The School of American Research and UNM jointly paid his salary for his cooperative job assignment. In August 1930, at the annual meeting of the boards of the Museum of New Mexico and the School of American Research, Walter was authorized to move his father’s printing plant for the periodical El Palacio to UNM campus. On August 13, 1930, the machinery that would function as the first UNMP printing plant was moved.:In 1930, four publications were issued; in 1931, the number increased to ten, and in 1932, seven. These booklets were part of the “Bulletins Series,” and featured studies by archaeology, education, geology, and engineering faculty at UNM, among others. The booklets sold for $.25 per copy, and UNMP housed stock and filled orders, though no marketing was done for these publications. Because early publications were printed by the UNMP plant, the copyright page often listed “University of New Mexico Press” as the publisher. For example, the first book from UNMP printing facilities was Givers of Life by Emma Esterbrook, though the first book considered a UNMP book (advertised, cataloged, and distributed) is New Mexico History and Civics.

In its early years, the Press published the New Mexico Quarterly, a literary publication, and the New Mexico Historical Review. It continued to publish Walter’s El Palacio.