Key Takeaways:
- A 100th anniversary book celebrates your company’s legacy in many ways, highlighting both your history and future direction.
- Collecting materials for a centennial anniversary book is about good planning, communication, and collaboration.
- Jenkins Group can eliminate much of the work for you with our various ghostwriting and publishing services; we have a proven record of stunning 100-year commemorative books for various organizations and companies.
Reaching a century, whether as an individual or an organization, deserves recognition and accolades. Consider the shifts across four or more generations, the massive changes in how folks live, create, and work. A 100th anniversary book seems perfect for celebrating such a moment.
You’ll throw a party, of course. But there’s something different, and permanent, about having proof you can hold in your hands. A 100-year commemorative book gives literal weight to your triumph. And that’s just one reason to invest in legacy book publishing.
7 Reasons to Celebrate Your Centennial Anniversary with a Commemorative Book
A centennial anniversary book is a powerful tool to showcase your company’s history. And while it honors those who built the foundations of your organizations, it’ll also give a glimpse into where you’re headed.
Here’s why you may want to consider heritage book publishing to celebrate an anniversary as noteworthy as your 100th year:
1. It creates a lasting legacy.
This 100th anniversary book isn’t just about bragging rights. It chronicles a century of progress, including landmarks, successes, and individuals responsible for building the organization into its current state.
A tangible reminder of what shaped you and the mark you’ve left on the world, heritage book publishing endures beyond fleeting ad campaigns and one-time events.
2. It captures institutional memory.
Time slips by, and memories fade, especially after years and decades. A corporate history book safeguards those memories of vital events, principles, and wisdom for those who join later.
3. It tells a story of yesterday and today to inspire tomorrow.
Yes, a centennial anniversary book celebrates the past. But this book isn’t just about looking back. It links where you’ve come from to where you want to go. It can showcase enduring values or signal fresh ambitions, essentially guiding your organization into the coming century.
4. It honors the people who’ve supported your story.
You’ll probably expect to use your corporate centennial book to spotlight founders, leaders, and VIP clients or partners who’ve helped steer your organization through the decades.
But a 100th anniversary book also lets you show pride and gratitude in employees at all levels, especially those who’ve dedicated large parts of their lives to your company.
5. It boosts community connections.
A high-quality corporate history book improves how people see you, attracts talent, encourages donations, and strengthens celebrations.
A 100th anniversary book offers a trusted record of what you’ve achieved over a century in business. It’s a permanent reference that reporters or partners can use to get to know your company.
6. It makes a great gift and keepsake.
There’s something special about a stunningly printed centennial anniversary book. Digital books may save on funds and space, but they don’t compare with something tangible.
Share your corporate centennial book with staff, customers, supporters, former students, and honored retirees. A 100th anniversary book sparks memories and builds bonds.
7. It symbolizes your organization’s continuity.
After 100 years, your company’s founders won’t be able to join the party. And newcomers may not even know who they are. A 100th anniversary book links past and future together.
Legacy book publishing links the people who first built the organization with those who will carry it forward. Because your centennial anniversary book will be bequeathed to future generations, it should embody gratitude and vision and highlight that yours is a story still being written.
Heritage Book Publishing: How to Collect Content for Your Corporate Centennial Book
So you’ve decided to publish a 100th anniversary book, how exciting! But without a solid approach, compiling it may feel like an impossible task. Here are tips to put your 100-year commemorative book together:
1. Designate a point of contact.
Choose a member of your team to spearhead your anniversary book project and serve as a liaison between your organization and the publisher. A dedicated point of contact can help to manage the project internally and streamline communication and decision-making.
2. Start with a clear narrative framework.
How will you organize your centennial anniversary book? Will it be by leadership era, theme, value, or something else entirely? Think about the overall tale you’ll tell before hunting down photos and documents. This way, the task of gathering materials stays on track and makes sense.
3. Get leaders on board from the start.
Your company’s executives may have ideas about the 100th anniversary book’s concept or theme, so check in with them. Getting their early thoughts should steer you clear of concepts they dislike. Getting their buy-in initially can save time later on.
4. Get people from different teams together to collaborate.
Identify go-to people from key departments. Share your vision for the centennial anniversary book. Ask for insights, ideas, connections, and resources.
Getting representatives from departments across your organization will ensure your heritage book publishing efforts produce a balanced, insightful 100th anniversary book.
5. Review and organize existing and incoming materials.
Begin by gathering what’s readily available. These can be:
- marketing brochures
- press releases
- newsletters
- company magazines
- annual reports or yearbooks
These offer a solid foundation for your 100-year commemorative book.
From the start, get things sorted and build a way to quickly locate what you need. Then simply add fresh materials as you progress with your corporate centennial book.
6. Crowdsource memories.
Past and present employees are treasure troves of stories, photos, and memorabilia. Ask everyone to send in photos and share memories and anecdotes. Make sure to get written permission to use these in your 100th anniversary book.
7. Dive into photo and video archives.
Materials like archival photos, blueprints, and event footage make or break a centennial anniversary book project.
Digitize old images and videos as soon as possible, as it’s easy to lose them to fading or disorganization. Collect high-resolution versions where you can, and record accurate captions and dates for all materials.
8. Fact-check everything.
For a 100th anniversary book, you absolutely have to get the details right. So, before you decide to add something to the centennial anniversary book:
- Double-check what you hear
- Verify information like dates, names, spelling, timelines, etc.
- Scrutinize claims
Don’t scrimp on verifying the veracity of the resource people use to understand your organization for years ahead.
9. Take an inclusive approach.
Don’t just focus on the organization’s bigwigs when writing your corporate history book. If you skip over people in various departments and stages of their career, churning out a genuine, people-centric narrative gets that much harder.
That gem of a story everyone will remember after reading your 100th anniversary book? It could be from the front desk receptionist, a retired janitor, or the founder’s protege. You never know.
10. Blend history with modern branding.
Don’t simply retell old stories in this 100-year commemorative book. Use it to light up your path moving forward. Make sure to work with your leadership and marketing team so you show where the company is and where it’s going. Don’t just indulge in pure nostalgia.
11. Partner with professionals.
For your company’s 100th anniversary book, consider enlisting a professional ghostwriter. A good writer doesn’t just list what happened and when; they blend history alongside emotions, making your story truly resonate.
Bringing Your 100th Anniversary Book to Life
At Jenkins Group, we can help you make your 100-year commemorative book a reality. In fact, the 10 steps we just outlined above? We can do all of that for you!
And while we can’t claim to have celebrated our centennial anniversary yet, we can still count our expertise in independent book publishing in terms of decades of leadership and hundreds of titles.
Service Offerings for Heritage Book Publishing
Here are the services we can offer for your 100th anniversary book project:
- Ghostwriting, where, apart from writing the actual manuscript, we’ll help with the research, interviews, and outreach for materials to be included in the book.
- Critiquing, Editing, Illustrating, and Proofreading ensure a clean, polished manuscript.
- Cover Design and Page Layout ramp up the wow factor from cover to cover, including all the interior pages.
- Printing and Shipping Coordination, to ensure you’ll be able to hold your 100-year commemorative book in your hands, smell the freshly printed pages, and revel in your achievements.
- Marketing and Distribution get your book seen through publicity efforts, awards, reviews, etc.
- Audiobook and eBook Conversion and Distribution, which opens up alternative channels for sharing your story.
Legacy Book Publishing with Jenkins Group
Want to see some examples of the commemorative books (including several 100th anniversary books) we’ve previously published? Check these out:
VFW National Home’s 100th Anniversary |
EcoWater Systems’ 100th Anniversary |
Camps Leelanau and Kohahna’s 100th Anniversary |
Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant’s 125th Anniversary |
A 100th anniversary is a rare milestone, and your story deserves to be told with care. If your team is excited about creating a centennial book but isn’t sure where to begin, that’s exactly where Jenkins Group comes in. From gathering materials to writing, designing, and printing, we make the process smoother, easier, and more enjoyable.
If you’re ready to explore what your 100th anniversary book could look like, we’d love to help. Connect with us for a free consultation, and let’s start shaping your next century together.
