Michigan State University Press is the scholarly publishing arm of historic Michigan State University (1855), the nation's pioneer land-grant university and the prototype for the institutions established under the Morrill Act of 1862. Although a formal Press was not established at MSU until the mid-20th century, scholarly publishing was an important part of the institution's mission from early on; significant and influential technical publications were regularly issued from the colleges as early as the mid 1870s. Since its founding in 1947, the mission of the Michigan State University Press has been to be a catalyst for positive intellectual, social, and technological change through the publication of research and intellectual inquiry, making significant contributions to scholarship in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences.