A Letter from the Editor

For the past thirteen years, it has been my honor to serve as the editor of Restoration. The journal began at the University of Tennessee under the editorship of Jack Armistead in 1977. After moving with Jack to James Madison and then Tennessee Tech, Restoration relocated to the University of Arizona in 2001 for an all-too brief period with J. Douglas Canfield as editor. I came on as Associate editor in 2002 when Doug found out that he was ill; within a year, Doug was gone and the journal returned to the University of Tennessee in 2003. My colleague John Zomchick joined me as co-editor until the fall of 2012, making it possible for Restoration to continue to publish without interruption.

Though I regard myself as something of an accidental editor, this experience has been deeply rewarding and fulfilling. In the last decade, we have become a Project MUSE journal, launched a redesign, added book reviews, expanded the number of articles per issue, and published two notable special issues, Brian Corman’s 2010 special issue on King Arthur and Corinne Harol’s 1688: Literature, Politics, and the Long Restoration. I am incredibly proud of all we have been able to accomplish, and I owe more debts of gratitude than I can count to the readers, board members, editorial assistants, and support staff who have made it all possible. The financial assistance of the Hodges Better English Fund at UT has been indispensible and has supported some wonderful editorial assistants, including Misty Krueger, Teresa Saxton, Neil Norman, Daniel Wallace, and Anne Breyer. Our support staff, especially Judith Welch and Kayla Allen, has consistently gone above and beyond the call of duty to keep us running. It is because of their fine work that I often refer to the journal in the corporate “we”; it has been a community venture.

The good fortune of Restoration continues as Laura Rosenthal takes over as editor and the journal moves to the University of Maryland in the fall of 2016. Laura has been an excellent board member, and she brings with her a wealth of editorial experience and scholarly expertise. It’s an exciting time; Restoration studies is vital and bursting with excellent new scholarship. The period recently had to make the case for its existence to the MLA, a case that was resoundingly successful, in part because of the conversations that the journal has hosted over the last 39 years. My thanks goes out to all our authors, subscribers, board members, and readers for participating in that conversation and for supporting the journal. The future of the Restoration looks bright indeed.

With thanks,

Misty G. Anderson
Editor, Restoration: Studies in English Literary Culture, 1660-1700