GPO Releases Updated Book on Its History

Yesterday, the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) released a freshly updated version of its official history, Keeping America Informed — The U.S. Government Publishing Office: A Legacy of Service to the Nation. Originally published in 2011 to mark GPO's 150th anniversary, the new edition has been prepared to coincide with the agency’s 155th anniversary under its new name — the Government Publishing Office.

The new edition adds a variety of new information, such as:

• The close relationship GPO had with President Lincoln.
• The agency’s experience with the segregation imposed on the federal workforce during the Woodrow Wilson administration.
• A long-forgotten proposal to build a government paper mill.
• GPO’s production of the transcripts of Presidential tape recordings during the Watergate crisis.

A new section details GPO’s appearance in movies and on TV over the years. New photographs have been added, and the book brings the agency’s history up to date to 2016.

IPG received an advanced copy of this extraordinary book on Tuesday (personally delivered by GPO Chief of Staff Andy Sherman) and had a chance to peruse its photo-filled pages.

Of special interest in the book are the details of President Lincoln's close connection with GPO. The book details how his 1861 message to Congress was assembled by the President from various scraps of paper on which he had written notes. GPO set the draft in type and sent a proof to Lincoln, who used scissors and paste to further rearrange it.

There is an interesting account of Lincoln's Oct. 24, 1863, visit to GPO, during which he expressed great interest in the plate-casting process and closely studied the 40 printing presses in the pressroom.

In another little-known anecdote, the book details how, during the Civil War, GPO's printers formed an infantry company, and when Washington was threatened they marched to defensive positions, where they remained until General Grant's forces arrived to help repulse the attack. Then they returned to their presses.

“The agency is indebted to the work of our historian, Mr. George Barnum, who edited the new book, and to its designer, Mr. Dean Gardei,” says GPO Director Davita Vance-Cooks. “No history of the GPO would be complete without telling the story of the men and women who have worked here and who continue to serve the GPO’s critically important mission of keeping America informed. It’s to them that this book is truly dedicated.”

Copies of Keeping America Informed are being distributed to Federal depository libraries nationwide and may be ordered online from GPO’s bookstore for $38.