Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor

We are responding to Karen Guenther’s website review that appeared in the Winter 2010 issue (volume 77, number 1, pp. 73–76). As the authors of the “Baseball in Pennsylvania” and “Pennsylvania Sports” stories on the ExplorePAhistory.com website, we were dismayed by both the tone of Karen Guenther’s review of these stories and by her assertions about “historical inaccuracy” and “erroneous and contradictory interpretation of events”; assertions with which we strongly disagree. Also troubling is her decision to accept the assignment to review a story she participated in as an internal reviewer for ExplorePAhistory.com without disclosing this information to the editors or the audience. We encourage readers of Pennsylvania History to visit these two stories and judge for themselves the accuracy and quality of the histories presented.

Sincerely,
Jeff Silverman and Charles Hardy III

Response

I did serve as an internal reviewer for the Baseball story for ExplorePAhistory.com and should have declined the opportunity to review that story. I do, however, stand by the facts of the review. The authors have indeed addressed many issues raised in the review. I look forward to encouraging my students to consult these two stories for further information, especially education majors who can effectively use them when teaching United States history and Pennsylvania history.

Sincerely,
Karen Guenther

Statement of the Editorial Staff

The Editorial Staff wish to take this opportunity to remind their readers that they and the Pennsylvania Historical Association consider it the responsibility of all reviewers to disclose any conflict of interest when invited to review books, websites, museums, and exhibits for Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies.

Sincerely,
Paul Douglas Newman, Editor
Jeffrey A. Davis, Associate Editor
Daniel P. Barr, Book Review Editor