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TRANSACTIONS & MEMOIRS & PROCEEDINGS

Mary Pat McPherson, Executive Officer
Mary C. McDonald, Editor
Susan M. Babbitt, Associate Editor

The Publications Department of the American Philosophical Society continues to maintain the reputation for scholarly excellence that began with Benjamin Franklin and the publication of the first Transactions in 1771. This first series recorded Society activities, elections, deaths, etc., and reported on scholarly research in various disciplines in the humanities and sciences. Early publications included the findings of David Rittenhouse and the Transit of Venus. Today the Transactions is a highly respected series of monographs, five of which are currently published each year. Titles printed in 2009 include:

• Descended from Darwin: Insights into the History of Evolutionary Studies, 1900–1970, edited by Joe Cain and Michael Ruse
• The Most Important Clock in America: The David Rittenhouse Astronomical Musical Clock at Drexel University, by Ronald R. Hoppes
• Choosing Selection: The Revival of Natural selection in Anglo-American Evolutionary Biology, 1930–1970, by Stephen G. Brush (WINNER OF THE 2009 J. F. LEWIS AWARD)
• Magnetic Fever: Global Imperialism and Empiricism in the Nineteenth Century, by Christopher Carter
• Playing with Fire: Histories of the Lightning Rod, edited by Peter Heering, Oliver Hochadel, and David J. Rhees

A second series of books was started in 1937 with the first volume of the Memoirs, books of various lengths in many scholarly disciplines. This year we are very proud to publish the third volume of Dr. Whitfield Bell’s Patriot-Improvers. The first two books in the series (published in 1997 and 1999) offer insights into the early members of the Society. The third volume continues that tradition. Our thanks to APS Manuscripts Librarian Charles Greifenstein, who worked with Dr. Bell on the manuscript and who finalized work on the volume after Dr. Bell’s death early in 2009.

The Society also publishes a quarterly journal, the Proceedings. 
The first volume of the Proceedings published in 1838.  Articles in the journal include papers read at the Society's biannual meetings, independent essays sent to the APS by outside scholars, and biographical memoirs of Society members. Recent issues are available online on the APS website.

Our most-recent publications venture is our print-on-demand series, the Lightning Rod Press. The series started in 2008. This year, we are publishing Darwin’s Disciple: George John Romanes, a Life in Letters, by Joel S. Schwartz.

The APS Yearbook includes a listing of resident and international members, the President's Annual Message, the Report of the Executive Officer, and reports from the departments of the American Philosophical Society. It is available to the members of the American Philosophical Society on the Members Only website.

Previous volumes of our Transactions and Proceedings are available to scholars through JSTOR, an online library archive (www.jstor.org). We are a part of the Arts and Sciences Complement IV group. Volumes are archived with a three- to four-year window; currently titles through 2005 are available on the JSTOR site. Also, several of our more-popular Transactions and Memoirs titles that were out of print are available for on-demand printing. Requests can be made to our fulfillment service, Diane Publishing (orders [at] dianepublishing [dot] net).

Manuscripts may be sent to the Publications Department for review and discussion by the Committee on Publications. The Committee meets three times a year, in February, June, and October. All manuscripts are reviewed by at least two qualified scholars. See the APS stylesheet for further information.

Publications Department
American Philosophical Society
104 South Fifth Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106

Ordering information

Please e-mail:
fulfillment [at] amphilsoc [dot] org
or
orders [at] dianepublishing [dot] net