Information, Medium & Society: Eighteenth International Conference on Publishing Studies

Abstract

What is the nature of histories focused on American and Canadian institutions of higher education? Specifically, what is the nature of institutional histories purporting to cover an institution’s foundation, evolution, and achievements? This overarching question considers those histories that endeavor to present an institution’s raison d’être in whatever form the history takes. Various publishers and publishing schemes have contributed to this little examined publishing phenomenon; consequently, there needs to be a useful typology and accompanying definitional taxonomy for institutional histories of higher educational institutions. Institutional histories are a major approach that institutions account for, and project their past to their constituents and posterity. Often these works are books celebrating challenges and achievements; but this form of institutional memory has a mixed reputation among professional historians. Their historiographical veracity is open to question, as well as to the types of publishers engaged in their publishing and dissemination. This study offers insight into this ecology of publication while framing the diverse nature of institutional histories. A sample of college and university histories are surveyed and a typology of genres is discussed to better ascertain the value and the nature of histories of higher educational institutions, especially to the study of the academic history of higher education in Canada and the United States. The establishment of a critical typology of genres is a necessary requisite to capturing the essence of institutional histories and publication.