The Wisconsin Magazine of History: A Case Study in Scholarly and Popular Approaches to American State Historical Society Publishing, 1917–2000

This article examines the history of American historical societies by focusing on the Wisconsin Magazine of History (WMH), published by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin (now known as the Wisconsin Historical Society). The first half of the paper relates the history of American state historical societies and their publishing ventures until the founding of the WMH in 1917. The first American state historical societies were private organizations of elite men, and their publications were meant to notify similar organizations of their proceedings. The advent of public state historical organizations opened membership to a much broader segment of society, but the professionalization of the study of history in the late nineteenth century brought about a more rigorous approach to the writing of history. Throughout the twentieth century, the SHSW and similar organizations have sought to balance an appeal to a broad public and a scholarly approach to history in publications such as the WMH. By examining issues of the WMH from 1917 to 2000, as the author has done in the second half of the paper, one can see how the publication, with audiences clearly in mind, tilted toward one side of this balance or the other in its design and content.