Goodspeed Publishing

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Goodspeed Publishing was established by Westin Arthur Goodspeed in the late 19th century and was based in Nashville, Tennessee,^[1] St Louis, Missouri ^[2] and Chicago, Illinois.^[3] By the early 1880s Goodspeed had success with a series of state and regional histories in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other northern states, and went on to repeat that success in other areas of the U.S.^[4]

The publications were primarily divided into sections for each county they studied, and included descriptions of each area's geography, history, government, and religious institutions. Each edition included biographies of prominent citizens. Local industries, businesses, and agriculture were also described, providing a glimpse of late 19th century life in places often ignored by other histories. Goodspeed's attempt to include of Native American history in many of these volumes was unusual at that time.^[4]

While Goodspeed publications have frequently been cited by American historians and genealogists because they contain economic data and personal biographies of both well-known figures and those who played less famous but significant roles in their communities and states,^[5][6] readers should note that the editor's Preface typically makes this statement: "The publishers disclaim responsibility for the substance of the matter contained in the Biographical Appendix, as the material was wholly furnished by the subject of the sketches."