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History of McDougal Littell and Houghton Mifflin

McDougal Littell was founded in 1969 and initially published supplementary soft-cover textbooks for secondary English teachers. After its first soft-cover books for secondary English, we branched out into additional soft-cover books for secondary Social Studies. Through the years, we expanded our publishing areas to include Mathematics, World Languages and Science, as well as Language Arts and Social Studies.

In 1994, McDougal Littell became part of Houghton Mifflin Company, headquartered in Boston, MA. Houghton Mifflin is a leading publisher of textbooks, instructional technology, assessments and other educational materials for the elementary and secondary school and college markets.

Houghton Mifflin traces its beginnings to 1832 when John Allen and William D. Ticknor bought the Old Corner Bookstore at the corner of Washington and School streets in Boston.



Major Milestones include:

  • 1967 - Houghton Mifflin becomes a publicly-traded company
  • 1969 - The American Heritage Dictionary is introduced by Houghton Mifflin
  • 1994 - Acquisition of McDougal Littell by Houghton Mifflin
  • 1995 - Acquisition of DC Heath
  • 1996 - The Great Source Division is created by combining the supplemental products of DC Heath, Houghton Mifflin's School Division and McDougal Littell
  • 2002 - Houghton Mifflin Company was acquired by a consortium of private investment firms comprised of Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital and funds managed by The Blackstone Group.