Eugene Power

Eugene Barnum Power (1905 to 1993) was an American entrepreneur and philanthropist from Michigan who founded the modern microfilm publishing business. Born in Traverse City, he earned his bachelor degree and MBA at the University of Michigan. In 1938 he founded University Microfilms International in Ann Arbor, which is widely credited with inventing micropublishing and later joined microfilm to xerography so that out-of-print books could circulate again. During the Second World War he directed the microfilming of thousands of rare books and other printed materials in British libraries, selling copies to American libraries, which gave scholars access to European collections and preserved material at risk in wartime. The company also pioneered a business model for publishing limited-interest doctoral dissertations and in 1951 became publisher of record for all United States dissertations. Xerox bought it in 1962 for 8 million dollars, and the firm is now ProQuest. Power later served as a regent of the University of Michigan and funded the Power Foundation.