Western History and the Midwest Virtual Issue

As we thought about what to put in our first “digital extra” to give context to the Western History Association Annual Meeting in St. Paul, we decided to look at how the Western Historical Quarterly has covered the Midwest over its 47 years. We discovered a great wealth of material. However, like so many before us, we began to debate where the Midwest is or was and whether it includes the Dakotas or Oklahoma or Saskatchewan. So we stuck to Minnesota and its borderlands. We hope you enjoy these pieces that showcase the WHQ, its long interest in Minnesota as western and midwestern, and the fine historians who have written about it. We also noticed that we had few articles about labor issues in the Midwest or about white ethnic groups, both crucial to understanding the region, so we added two “classic” articles from the Journal of American History (a sister Oxford University Press journal). We’re hoping this will inspire more research and writing about the West, the Mexican North, the Midwest, the Canadian South or North America, and the broad set of passions that brings us together in St. Paul.

The WHQ Editorial Staff