Editor's Page

Editor’s Page The fall 2011 issue represents a transition at The Michigan Historical Review. The essays began under the guidance of David Macleod, editor for the past thirteen years, and finished under my watch as the new editor. Fortunately assistant editor Mary Ward Graham and associate editor Frank Boles have helped to steady the course and carry the ship forward. I was personally pleased to see that two of the four articles herein represent my era of research in the mid-nineteenth century. We also welcome a new book review editor with this issue. Lane Demas is assistant professor of history at Central Michigan University with a specialty in twentieth-century sports and African American history. The Review remains committed to bringing readers the best historical research, narrative, and analysis on Michigan and the Great Lakes region. This edition covers two centuries of the region’s history from the settlers and land speculators who purchased land in the 1830s and then grew their farmsteads into the 1870s, to a later generation who adopted new technology and values at the turn of the twentieth century, to a distinct ethnic group of agricultural laborers traveling into the area. Throughout this one volume, we witness some of the central themes and changes in the state of Michigan: the abundance of agricultural resources and opportunities, the importance of the automotive industry, and the development of a diverse population and economy. The first article by Robert E. Mitchell suggests that early settlers did not always make the best choices when reading surveyors’ reports and that modern mapping technology can help historians to explore not only environmental history but also the history of the people who lived in those areas. The early land purchasers that Mitchell traces expanded their farms and businesses, whether in Midland County or in Kalamazoo County, where the story of similar settlers is picked up by John T. Houdek and Charles F. Heller, Jr. Their article demonstrates that the families who amassed land sufficient to be identified as large farms often invested in urban businesses. We see a snapshot of Michigan’s transition from the early nineteenth-century agricultural economy to the development of a consumer and industrial economy in Robert Buerglener’s case study of one driver in Alpena. The methodology of this piece is as different from the other two essays’ as is its topic, shifting from the statistical analysis of farm development to the content analysis of men’s choices (and for the early twentieth-century automobile driver, that choice was routinely gendered male) in the x The Michigan Historical Review modernizing consumer society. The theme of choices is highlighted in Eduardo Moralez’s piece on ethnic Mexicans settling in the Great Lakes region after having traveled here as migrant workers in the post-World War II era. Whereas the Alpena driver in Buerglener’s essay made choices based on his social position and consumerism, the workers whose lives are examined in Moralez’s essay focused on family as a strengthening influence in a difficult economy. Moralez’s use of oral history breathes life into the individuals’ stories and the movement of those families. Future issues will continue to present the breadth and depth of midwestern experience, thought, and diversity. They will also continue to showcase the variety of historical sources and techniques that authors employ. I welcome letters to the editor and hope to hear from readers as we make changes in format, if not in substance. The small changes in this issue include moving the editor’s page forward to act as an introduction to the articles and adding a contributors’ page. I will strive to continue in the tradition of the two editors before me as I have great respect for Dave and the late Carol Green-Ramirez. I look forward to reading new submissions on Michigan or Great Lakes topics. Readers can look forward to two special issues. The spring 2012 Review will focus on the War of 1812 and was again arranged by Dave Macleod. I will soon put out a call for papers for a special spring 2015 issue to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the end of the Civil War. ...