Records of J. Weston Walch, Publisher

John Weston Walch (1901-1998) was born in Brunswick, Maine, on November 27, 1901. In 1926, Walch moved to Portland, Me. to teach English and coach debate at Portland High School. In search of supplemental income and often queried by other debate coaches for use of his research and handbook material, Walch founded the Debater’s Information Bureau in the front room of his apartment on Horton Place. In his first year of operations, the fledgling publisher grossed almost $600 selling debate handbooks. By 1933, Walch had accumulated a handful of employees and a roster of regular customers, necessitating a move to a larger space and the purchase of more sophisticated printing equipment. Soon, Walch began publishing a periodical on high-school speech activities alongside his debate guides, and the company rebranded as Platform News Publishing.

In 1938, Walch purchased a business in Bangor, Me., which published English teaching material. With this addition, the company expanded beyond debate and speech publications, changing its name accordingly to J. Weston Walch, Publisher. In the decades that followed, Walch continued to publish debate handbooks, as well as an increasingly diverse array of subject area curricula. Walch’s wife Ruth and children Peter and Carolyn were all involved in the business, and staff numbers increased steadily as business thrived.

By the 1970s, debate teams had become less prevalent. Walch reluctantly dropped the company’s line of debate materials and refocused on their in-demand subject area publications. During this period, the company expanded its operations across several buildings on Valley, Gilman, and Congress Streets in Portland. The company remained in this location until the early 2000s when various building and zoning regulations impeded further development and the business relocated to Portland’s Riverton neighborhood.

While the Walch family sold the business in 2015, it remained a family-owned enterprise for nearly 90 years. Under new ownership, the company continues to publish educational materials in the Portland area.