Celebrating Duke University Press's Centennial
This year, AdvantageCS client Duke University Press is celebrating its centennial. Since its formal formation in 1926 (two years after Trinity College became Duke University), Duke University's publishing arm has been committed to publishing bold, progressive thinkers who believe in the power of ideas to create positive change. In celebration of this incredible milestone, we sat down with Andrea Wood, Associate Director of Development, to discuss the Press’s rich history, noteworthy accomplishments, and outlook for the next 100 years.
Q: As Duke University Press marks its centennial, what part(s) of its origin story feel most essential to understanding who the Press is today?
Andrea: At Duke University Press, we are celebrating 100 years of publishing field-defining works.
One of the earliest lessons in the Press's history is that scholarly publishing must be willing to challenge prevailing assumptions and defend intellectual freedom, even when doing so is controversial.
In fact, this principle predates Duke University Press itself. At the turn of the 20th century, Trinity College professor John Spencer Bassett and local printer Henry Seeman launched the South Atlantic Quarterly (SAQ), a journal committed to rigorous public debate. When Bassett praised Booker T. Washington as one of the most important Southerners of the previous century, the resulting backlash became known as the Bassett Affair. Rather than retreating from controversy, Trinity College's leadership defended the principles of academic freedom and free expression. The incident helped establish Durham and the future Duke community as places where independent thought could flourish.
One of the first books under the Duke Press imprint, The Story of Durham by William Kenneth Boyd described the Bassett affair as establishing Durham as a place that “has always stood for liberty to think and for freedom of speech.” That commitment became the foundation upon which Duke University Press was built.
Q: Looking back on the last 100 years, what were some of the most pivotal turning points in the Press’s history? What are some defining milestones that you feel best represent its impact?
Andrea: Our first journals and books set a foundation upon which the Press has built over the past century. Early journals including South Atlantic Quarterly, Duke Mathematical Journal, Hispanic American Historical Review, and American Literature provided both the intellectual direction and financial stability that enabled the Press to grow. They demonstrated that journals are not simply publications; they are platforms that create scholarly communities and sustain long-term institutional impact.
In its first 60 years, Duke Press also published seminal books, including in medicine (The Complete Pediatrician and Cahoon’s Formulating X-Ray Techniques); Economics (France Faces Depopulation); and Renaissance scholarship (Machiavelli: The Chief Works).
It was in the late 1980s and early 1990s, however, that Duke Press emerged as a leader in interdisciplinarity and the areas it is still known for to this day. This period saw a renaissance in the humanities at Duke, with the university investing heavily in its humanities departments, transforming them into top tier departments through strategic hiring, including of such luminaries as Stanley Fish, Fredric Jameson, Toril Moi, Janice Radway, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Jane Tompkins. This era fostered the burgeoning of critical theory, queer theory, and cultural studies around the world, and Duke was often at the center of international academic debates. The Press took this opportunity for expansion and played an important role in the flourishing humanities at Duke as interdisciplinary scholarship became a focus of the Press’s catalog. Almost 80% of the more than 4,500 Duke University Press books in print were published in the past 25 years, many of them focusing on the humanities.
Q: Are there specific subject areas, series, or publishing programs that you think illustrate how the Press has helped shape important scholarly conversations?
Andrea: Today, Duke Press publishes over 150 books and 65 journals each year, achieving prominence and shaping conversations in several areas, including Anthropology; Black Studies; Gender, Sexuality, and Feminism; and Art and Art History, to name a few.
Q: What achievements from the last century make your team especially proud—not only internally, but also in terms of the broader scholarly and cultural influence of the Press?
Andrea: The values reflected in our earliest origins continue to guide the Press today. Our publications challenge systems of power, expand scholarly conversations, and defend the importance of humanities research in public life. Courageous scholarship matters most when it addresses the questions society is reluctant to confront.
Duke University Press is known for a rigorous peer-review process and careful attention to all aspects of book development and publication. As a result, Duke University Press books often have a wide reach and receive accolades in their areas of focus, with our books winning between 60-80 awards each year.
Our staff is exceptional. I am certain that people who work at university presses are the most unsung and under-appreciated resources in the academy. Countless books and journal issues have been made far more impactful through the work of acquisitions editors, project editors, designers, managing editors, copy editors, and marketing teams.
We are proud of our global reach. In addition to a large English-language readership, the Press also licenses many books to be published in local languages around the world. To date, Duke University Press books have been translated into 54 languages in 95 countries. Each year, we have over five million book chapter and journal downloads with access in nearly 250 countries and territories.
Q: As you look ahead to the next century, what opportunities or responsibilities do you see for Duke University Press in scholarly publishing? How do you see the needs of authors, readers, librarians, and scholarly communities evolving—and how is the Press preparing for that future?
Andrea: As we celebrate a century of publishing, we are mindful that the work of a university press is never finished. The questions facing our world – about democracy, justice, knowledge, and the future of our planet – demand fearless and generous scholarship. Our task is to ensure that such work finds its way into the world with integrity.
University presses face enormous financial pressures moving forward. The windmills we are jousting against have sharper and sharper blades. As Dick Rowson used to say, “It’s easy to turn a profit, but a real [bear] to break even.”
We as a community at the onset of AI are honored to be the institutional embodiments of provenance and the custodians of ideas. Our authors, scholars, artists, and public intellectuals invite us to continue to imagine new possibilities for a better world.
Q: For a centennial celebration, reflection often goes hand in hand with vision. What do you hope people will say about Duke University Press 25 years from now?
Andrea: One hundred years in, we remain guided by the simple conviction that rigorous scholarship and adventurous thinking belong in the public sphere, where they can inform, debate, inspire discovery and enlarge spaces of knowledge.
Q: As a long-standing partner, how has AdvantageCS supported the Press’s mission and operations?
Andrea: AdvantageCS has been a trusted partner as both our business needs and the publishing industry have evolved. Their support has helped us reimagine workflows, provide more granular reporting, streamline processes, and save time while reducing complexity. The flexibility of the platform, combined with a strong commitment to accuracy, has given Duke University Press the confidence to experiment with new products, refine existing practices, and adapt to changing business needs. That ability to evolve alongside us has been an important part of our continued success
Q: Looking ahead, what do you value most in your relationship with AdvantageCS, and how does that partnership help position the Press for its next chapter?
Andrea: What we value most is having a partner that is willing to tackle new challenges alongside us. Publishing continues to evolve, and while the industry inevitably throws curveballs, it is reassuring to know we have a team that understands both our business and the technology. AdvantageCS works with us to troubleshoot complex problems, identify practical solutions, and implement changes that help us respond with confidence. That collaborative partnership gives us the flexibility to adapt to whatever comes next while continuing to support the needs of our staff, authors, and customers.
Congratulations to everyone at Duke University Press and thank you for your countless contributions — not only to the scholarly publishing industry, but to society at large. It’s an honor to be part of your journey!