By: Matthew Johnson
In 2003 Gardner-Webb’s Department Chair of Social Science, Dr. Timothy Vanderburg, published his book titled “Cannon Mills and Kannapolis: Persistent Paternalism in a Textile Town” with University of Tennessee Press.
The journey to get the book finished and published was very rigorous for him. He spent seven years turning a dissertation he wrote to get his doctorate degree, into an acceptable book manuscript.
“A dissertation is geared more for a group of professors so that you can do the research and write in an expert field. But when you write a book it’s more for an audience,” said Vanderburg.
For years, he has gone to the Southern Historical Association Conferences where he visits the publisher section to see what new books have come out. While at this convention, he got to know one of the publishers for University of Tennessee Press.
When he got the idea to write his book, he went through two publishers who turned him down at two different presses. He then went to his publisher friend that he met at the convention and offered his dissertation. His friends from graduate school, who also published with the University of Tennessee Press, really liked their process best.
“My friends in graduate school, who published with the University of Tennessee Press, said they were favorable. They said they are very easy to work with,” said Vanderburg.
He was then told to turn the dissertation into a manuscript for book form.
“I took some of the basic structure of the dissertation, but a lot of it changed. I added information and I took information out,” said Vanderburg.
Once he had the manuscript set, he embarked on his long journey to get it written and published. While going through the process, he had his publisher and two outside readers working to check his progress as he wrote. He set deadlines so he would stay on top of the work that was needed.
After sending the works off for revision, he got back comments with suggested changes. He then made the decision to keep the changes or to keep it the way he wrote it. If he did not want to use the changes on his work, he had to justify the decision.
“It came back with comments; I had to address the comments. Did I think the changes were necessary? If I did, I would commit to make the changes. If I thought they changed something I thought was vital, I had to justify why I wouldn’t make these changes,” said Vanderburg.
He turned in long written pieces to the readers and got back reader reports with criticism. The changes were not always simple and there were negative comments. This was difficult because he took so much time writing them perfectly.
“I would get the reader reports back and I would be sort of crushed for a little bit. If you write a four page report, front and back, single spaced, with mostly negative comments; you take that personally,” said Vanderburg.
It was difficult to find time to work on the book and teach classes on a regular basis. So the majority of the work was saved till summer time, where he had more time, with fewer classes that were online. While working on the book, he made sure he kept it easy to read and not difficult to understand.
“I wanted my book to be where anyone with a high school education could pick it up and read it, saying ‘Ok, I get this,” said Vanderburg.
In the book, readers will find key facts about how the Cannon Mills began and grew to be one of the Nation’s largest textile companies. It discusses the Paternalism of the company on the community that grew in Kannapolis, North Carolina. It explains the life of the company as it began in 1906; went through the Great Depression, World War I and World War II; to the final days as the son of the founder, Charles Cannon, passed away.
With 280 pages of information, 14 photos and six tables, the book is an easy read and understanding journey through one of America’s greatest Textile Companies.