100 GPO Years 1861-1961: A History of United States Public Printing (ePub eBook)

President Buchanan signed the GPO act on June 23, 1860. In 1861 after the purchase of printing equipment and construction of the original Government Printing Office building, GPO began its printing career. The shift of focus from a freewheeling regime to one of correct operation as a Government enterprise required some adjustments. There would be no change in the method of producing Government printing, but the accent would be placed on control, an element lacking in the former public printing system. Its birth took place in the aftermath of congressional investigations; it came of age in the war which began 5 weeks later, and the 1861 GPO thus became the genesis of the present-day GPO. The following chapters discuss the period from the beginning of American printing in New England in 1639 to the formation of the Union in 1789; from the manner of supplying the printing needs of the small Nation to the rapidly growing country of 1861; and then to the 100 years of the Government Printing Office from 1861 to 1961.

Foreword v

Acknowledgments vi

Introduction ix

Prolog xi

Chapter I. Colonial Publick Printing: 1639-1789  1

II. Free Enterprise Public Printing: 1789-1861 7

Government Printing Need  9

Congressional Proceedings   10

Public Printing in New Capital  13

Government Printers 16

Congressional Investigations—1818 and 1840 17

1841 Printing Study 10

Contract System Restored in 1846  11

Events Leadingto Establishment of GPO—1851-60  11

1858 Investigation  14

1860 Investigation   16

III. 100 GPO Years: 1861-1961 35

GPO in Swampoodle  36

Proceedings and Debates of Congress  48

New Printing Act 74

GPO in Peace and War 131

Postwar Operations 144

IV. This Is the GPO 155

Heads of Public Printing: 1851-1961 155

100 Years of Growth of Government and GPO 156

Organizational Structure 157

History of Building Expansion 161

Role in Government 163 

Anyone interested in the history of printing, the growth of the Federal Government or the Government Publishing Office would enjoy this historical perspective oriented publication.