UT Press

The UT Press was actually established in 1898, but during its first 42 years, it published annual reports, commencement speeches, and other official documents of UT. In 1940 it was reorganized as a scholarly publisher under the Publications Council, with the charge to stimulate “scientific and scholarly research in all fields.” It published its first book, Tennessee: A Political Study by William H. Combs and William E. Cole, in 1940.

With the retirement of Dean F. C. Lowery, the university established in 1957 a UT Press and publications office with full-time editors, artists, and printers employed to work on university publications and continue the scholarly publishing. Mr. Louis C. Iglehart was named managing editor, and, later, director.

The University of Tennessee Press specializes in American studies, concentrating on history, archaeology, vernacular architecture, material culture, religion, folklore, literature, African American studies, Native American studies, and works in all disciplines concerned with Appalachia and the Southeast. The press publishes books that generally fall into three broad and often overlapping categories: works written by scholars primarily for the use of other scholars; works that interpret scholarly investigations for students and the general reader; and literary fiction. The press has a special mandate to publish regional works—those concerned with the culture, history, or other aspects of Tennessee, Southern Appalachia, and the South in general. Its most popular book has been Great Smoky Mountain Wildflowers. It published the National Book Award-winning Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, written by UT Professor Richard Beale Davis.

Citation Information

The following information is provided for citations.

  • Title UT Press
  • Author
  • Keywords UT Press
  • Website Name Volopedia
  • Publisher University of Tennessee Libraries
  • URL
  • Access Date July 12, 2025
  • Original Published Date
  • Date of Last Update October 16, 2018