GALE CENGAGE Learning

The story of Gale begins with a simple need. In 1954, a market researcher named Frederick Gale Ruffner Jr. was looking for a comprehensive list of American associations and couldn't find one. Seeing an opportunity, he and his wife, Mary, decided to create it themselves, giving birth to the Gale Research Company. Their first major publication, the "Encyclopedia of Associations," launched in 1956 and became a foundational reference tool in libraries. The company grew steadily, building a reputation for creating authoritative directories and reference materials that librarians and researchers relied upon. This success caught the eye of a larger player. In 1985, Ruffner sold the company to the International Thomson Organisation for $66 million. This marked a new chapter for Gale, providing the resources to expand its offerings. A significant transformation occurred in 2007 when Thomson sold its learning division, including Gale, to a private equity consortium for $7.75 billion. The newly independent company was rebranded as Cengage Learning. Under Cengage, Gale became the library reference arm, continuing its legacy of providing curated databases, digital archives, and e-books for academic, public, and school libraries worldwide.