Southern Illinois University Press was founded by President Delyte Morris in the mid-1950s, and its first book—Charles E. Colby's A Pilot Study of Southern Illinois—was published on October 20, 1956. Publishing primarily in the humanities and social sciences, in a wide range of subject areas: art and architecture, classical studies, history (world and American), literary criticism, philosophy, religion, rhetoric and composition, speech communication, and theatre.
The Press has become especially well known[citation needed] for its publications in First Amendment Studies, Restoration and Eighteenth Century Theatre, and Rhetoric and Composition, and for two multi-volume scholarly works: The Early, Middle, and Later Works of John Dewey, and The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. In addition, the Press has developed and maintained lists that celebrate and document the history and culture of southern Illinois, the state and the Midwest region.[citation needed]
In recent years, Southern Illinois University Press has focused its list on a smaller number of areas of publication: American history (Civil War and Lincoln), aviation, botany, film studies, legal history, poetry, regional studies, rhetoric and composition, and theatre.
