Expanding Our Confines: State History Journals and Midwestern History

In 1905, George Cottman published the first issue of the Indiana Magazine of History (IMH), making plain his hopes for his new “venture.” In the lead essay, “Our Reasons for Being,” he noted that “Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota . . . younger states than ours with, perhaps, less history to record” could already claim quarterly magazines devoted to the history of their respective states. Cottman set out his plan to publish primary documents, newspaper extracts, articles, and advice for history teachers, all related to the history of Indiana. Despite the early twentieth-century interest in the Midwest as a region of historical study, Cottman left the history of other midwestern states to other state history journals.¹

In the 1990s, looking for a job to supplement my earnings as a teaching assistant, I joined the staff of the IMH as the editorial assistant. I was fortunate to observe and learn from the superb editing of associate editors Lorna Lutes Sylvester and Lana Ruegamer, and from editors James Madison, Richard Blackett, and Bernard Sheehan. As I logged in new articles, typed up letters rejecting or accepting articles, and mailed letters asking for revisions of articles, I gained a good sense of what was considered publishable material. The majority of accepted articles were set within the geographic boundaries of the state, although some expanded to include parts of Chicago adjoining the region, or towns along the Ohio River in Illinois, Ohio, or Kentucky. Biographical pieces, as well as memoirs and diaries, frequently took readers beyond the Hoosier State, but authors were often encouraged to add material that brought the focus back to Indiana. Was there, for example, something about a Hoosier upbringing and educational history that influenced a nationally prominent politician?

The magazine’s stated editorial policy did not focus strictly on what was Hoosier: “articles and documents on the political, economic, social, and cultural history of Indiana and the Middle West.”² But the IMH readership was largely identical to the membership of the Indiana Historical Society, which offered its members a free subscription to the journal. Reader feedback indicated that favorite articles focused on topics such as pioneer Indiana, Civil War Indiana, and the lives of famous Hoosiers.

In 2003, PhD completed, I became the associate editor of the IMH. The journal had acquired a new editor, Eric Sandweiss, a public and urban historian from the Missouri Historical Society. The journal’s revised statement of purpose was still much the same as before: “The Indiana Magazine of History documents and investigates the changing culture of Indiana and the Midwest. The editors welcome critical writing that highlights the history of the state and its surrounding region, that adds historical perspective to contemporary issues, or that deepens public understanding of historical problems.”³

In the same year I joined the journal’s fulltime staff, we sent out a reader survey and received over 1,000 responses. The next year, assistant editor Keith Erekson published an article based upon the survey. Among the findings: Our readers liked the magazine, often reading it cover to cover and almost always reading at least one article. But the majority remained convinced that the pages of the IMH were not meant for a broadly conceived midwestern history:

Readers’ comments reveal a variety of responses to the two words that anchor the magazine’s name: Indiana and history. Of those readers who volunteered an opinion on the statement that they “would be interested in reading more about Indiana’s neighboring states,” 62.8 percent disagreed while 37.2 percent agreed. “Do not do this!” one wrote. “Seems like an Indiana History publication should confine itself to Indiana.” Other readers mentioned that they “would read a different publication” or “join that state’s society if interested,” reminding editors, “It’s not their history we’re paying to read about.”⁴

Today, in 2019, with fifteen years of experience as the associate editor, I can say that the journal has remained faithful to its origins but has also begun to branch out into the revived field of midwestern history, thanks largely to the digital revolution in journal...