American Baptist Publication Society

The American Baptist Publication Society was a Christian non-profit organization established by the Baptist Church in the United States that was independent from both the American Baptist Home Mission Society and the Triennial Convention.^[1] Established as the Baptist General Tract Society in Washington D.C. in 1824, the organization moved to Philadelphia in 1827. It was re-named the American Baptist Publication and Sunday School Society in 1840, and then re-named again to simply the American Baptist Publication Society in 1844. The organization serviced both the Triennial Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention after the schism of 1845, until 1897 when the Southern Baptist Convention severed ties with the organization. With the establishment of the Northern Baptist Convention in 1907, it became a part of that organization. It remained in operation until 1944 when the Northern Baptist Convention was reorganized. At this time it was merged into the American Baptist Board of Education and Publication.^[2]

At one time the American Baptist Publication Society (ABPS) was a "major religious publishing house in America".^[3] While essentially a Baptist organization, it was not a sectarian institution.^[3] The ABPS had three separate departments. The first was a publishing department responsible for publishing of Baptist literature such as books, pamphlets, journals, and tracts. The second was a missionary department that provided Christian resources for Sunday School, evangelism, and other kinds of Christian education and missionary endeavors. It also had its own missionary staff and projects active in evangelical ministry. The final department was the Bible department which was dedicated to printing and distributing Bibles.^[4]