Jeffrey Makala is Associate Director of the Library for Special Collections and University Archivist. A literary and book historian who studies the literature and culture of the 19th century United States, he has written on nineteenth-century American literature and book history in the Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, Literature & History, Printing History, and The Oxford Companion to the Book. He is the co-editor of Archive: South Carolina Poetry Since 2005 (Ninety-Six Press, 2018); and coedited the first comprehensive anthology of American literature about dogs: In Dogs We Trust: An Anthology of American Dog Literature (University of South Carolina Press, 2019); His latest book, Publishing Plates: Stereotyping and Electrotyping in Nineteenth Century US Print Culture was published by Penn State University Press in January 2023. Over the past 25 years, he has worked in libraries at the University of Illinois, Wesleyan University, and the University of South Carolina. He teaches a Furman OLLI class on the history of books and printing, speaks widely on Furman history, and regularly welcomes classes into Special Collections to engage directly with books, manuscripts, and objects of cultural heritage.

Education

• Ph.D., University of South Carolina (English)
• M.A., Trinity College (American Studies)
• M.L.I.S. University of Illinois; B.A. Colgate University