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The Historiography Of Black Workers In The Urban Midwest: Toward A Regional Synthesis, Joe William Trotter, Jr.

Studies in Midwestern History

Focusing on Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Milwaukee, this article explores the transformation of research on black workers in the urban Midwest from the foundational years of the early 20th century through recent times. While much work remains to be done, a century of innovative research on different time periods, topics, and themes provides an excellent opportunity to craft a regional Midwestern synthesis of black labor and working class history.

This article is based upon Professor Trotter's keynote address, "Toward a Regional Synthesis of the Black Working Class: The Urban Midwest from the American Revolution to the Postindustrial Age," …

Midwestern Writers Need Midwestern Historians, Bonnie Jo Campbell

Studies in Midwestern History

These remarks were given on a plenary panel titled "Writing on the Midwest," held at the Fourth Annual Midwestern History Conference in Grand Rapids on June 6, 2018. Bonnie Jo Campbell received her MFA in creative writing from Western Michigan University. Her 2009 book, American Salvage, published by Wayne State University Press, was a finalist in fiction for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The Continuing Relevance Of C. Wright Mills: His Approach To Research And What We Can Learn From It, John E. Miller

Studies in Midwestern History

C. Wright Mills (1916-1962), remembered primarily for his 1956 book, The Power Elite, and for his 1960 essay “Letter to the New Left,” which helped launch the rising New Left in the America of the 1960s, was a major American sociologist, but he also had much to teach historians. Although he focused his research on national and global subjects, students and scholars of regionalism can also learn much from his wide-ranging, critical approach. Like all good sociologists, Mills always assumed that historical context was an essential element of any adequate analysis of society, economics, and politics. Born in Texas, …

Mari Sandoz And Her 1956 Fifty-Year Predictions, John R. Wunder

Studies in Midwestern History

Wintertime 1956 in New York City for Mari Sandoz was a time of reassessment. She had been thinking about a commitment she made, and it was time to meet it. She had agreed to compose predictions about American life for the next fifty years (from 1957 to 2007) that along with at least 57 others would be placed in a time capsule and stored in the cornerstone of the building that housed KETV in downtown Omaha.

Sandoz typed up her predictions on her typewriter in her relatively new apartment and entitled the five double-spaced pages "December, 2006 A.D." and sent …

Great Lakes Or Middle West: The 1936-37 Great Lakes Exposition And Regional Identity, Kenneth J. Bindas

Studies in Midwestern History

During the 1930s regional identities were especially pronounced as the ravages of the economic collapse encouraged the reevaluation of national, regional, and local identities, often linked with FDR’s appeal for unity and as a way to better understand and distribute the largesse of federal aid money that began filtering down to the people. There was considerable discussion about remaking the country along regional lines, creating what Edward Barrows called the “United Regions of America.” Given the complexity of modern society, “the reorganization” of the country was “inevitable” as a result of “natural, orderly social growth.” (See Edward M. Barrows, “United …

Trump And The Midwest: The 2016 Presidential Election And The Avenues Of Midwestern Historiography, Jon K. Lauck

Studies in Midwestern History

Perhaps the biggest story of the surprising 2016 presidential election was Donald Trump’s victories in the Midwest. Trump won Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, and Ohio, all of which Barack Obama had won in both 2008 and 2012. Wisconsin had not voted for the Republican candidate for president since the Reagan 49-state landslide of 1984 and Michigan had not since 1988. Iowa had supported Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton twice, and narrowly supported Al Gore in 2000 and George Bush in 2004 before voting for Obama twice. Ohio served as a classic bellwether and had voted to support the winner of the presidential …

The Origins And Progress Of The Midwestern History Association, 2013-2016, Jon K. Lauck

Studies in Midwestern History

In the modern electronic din of emails and texts and tweets and instant messages it can be difficult to keep track of the long-term trajectory of day-to-day work and ongoing projects. With this difficulty in mind, and for the sake of giving some permanence to the memories of the past few years, I submit this chronicle about recent efforts to revive the field of Midwestern history via the creation of the Midwestern History Association. I hope this review and the commentary and recommendations included therein prove useful to the leaders in the field and the emerging scholars who are seeking …

'Just Call Me Bill': William Taft Brings Spectacle Politics To The Midwest, Jeffrey Bourdon

Studies in Midwestern History

Historians long rated William Howard Taft’s campaigning ability during the 1908 presidential contest as below average and in need of Theodore Roosevelt’s resuscitation. Recently, they have given Taft more credit for his electioneering appearances. Taft’s ability to teach out to voters was vital to his candidacy because he ran at a time in American political history when the ability to deliver charismatic speeches and shake hands was put at a premium by larger-than-life candidates such as Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, and Eugene Debs.

Taft toured several regions during the campaign, including the Midwest, the South, the Mid-Atlantic, and New England. …

A History Of The Missouri Conference On History, 1959-2016, James N. Giglio

Studies in Midwestern History

The Missouri Conference on History (MCOH) emerged in 1959 and has continued without missing a year, despite undergoing organizational changes over time. Many individuals have contributed to make it one of the most successful state conferences ever. This is a story worth telling, especially at time when many people are reconsidering the history of the Midwest and how to support the infrastructure necessary to promote the study of that history.

Escaping Cupcake Land, Mark Vinz

Studies in Midwestern History

Even though America is made up of many distinct regions, the homogenization of our culture is causing us to lose any meaningful sense of place, which includes history and literature (which have been inseparably linked in the past). A case in point is the part of Kansas City known as “The Plaza” and the surrounding suburbs on the Kansas side of the state line, as chronicled by Richard Rhodes in his book Inland Ground: An Evocation of the American Middle West (revised edition, 1991). Rhodes and others remind us that Wallace Stegner’s dictum “I may not know who I am …

From Sandhurst To Rural Iowa: The Education Of A Prairie Historian, Mark Friedberger

Studies in Midwestern History

This essay describes how someone from the UK, and with a poor academic background, became interested in the history of the Middle West. In the 1980s when the federal government was flush for funds, it was possible to do historical research on soft money. The author survived for fifteen years writing and researching rural topics with grants from agencies like the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Institutes of Health. Eventually after publishing the results of these explorations, he secured an academic teaching job.

The Funeral Of Beloved Hoosier Poet, James Whitcomb Riley, John E. Miller

Studies in Midwestern History

The funeral of popular Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley in July 1916 was more than a statewide event (before him, only Abraham Lincoln and a general who had fought in the Spanish-American War had been accorded the honor of having their body lie in state in the rotunda of the state capitol). It was a national commemoration, generating thousands of newspaper articles, editorials, and expressions of grief and appreciation. Eulogized as a secular saint for his cheerfulness, high-mindedness, insight, and generosity, he was beloved for the poems that he had written extolling the simple virtues and the hardy characters of …

Materially Strengthened: The Minnesota Historical Society And Providing Field Services, David M. Grabiske, David J. Nichols Iii

Studies in Midwestern History

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin created a uniquely Midwestern public history profession in 1896. Minnesota Historical Society, much as other Midwestern state historical s ocieties would, has used Field Services since 1916 to better serve the public by distributing the capacity to save and share history. Flowing from the Northwest Ordinance, creating local repositories for history and publishing local history furthered education and identity for Midwesterners in general, and Minnesotans specifically. Minnesota tenaciously pursued a county historical society for every county, first on project funding and later had the first full time funding for the work. Since 1981 all …

"If The Situation Seemed Insurmountable, I Always Wanted To Be There": Virginia Coffey, A Midwest Human Relations Pioneer, Phillip J. Obermiller, Thomas E. Wagner

Studies in Midwestern History

The devastating 1943 rioting in Detroit led to the formation of municipal human relations committees across the country, and among the oldest of these was the Cincinnati Mayor’s Friendly Relations Committee. Five years after its founding, executive director Marshall Bragdon ensured that the MFRC would continue to be a force for racial equality by hiring Virginia Coffey to be assistant director.

Virginia Coffey would go on to make important contributions to human relations internationally through her consulting work in England and nationally as a board member of the National Association of Intergroup Relations Officials. Coffey was appointed the executive director …

Writing With A Chip On Your Shoulder: Some Notes On Regionalism, Mark Vinz

Studies in Midwestern History

Unfortunately, many Midwestern writers are used to being labeled “regional” in a pejorative sense. In the past, many have indeed left the Midwest because the region offered far fewer possibilities than the coasts (e.g., Hemingway, Cather, Lewis, and Fitzgerald). Thanks to such things as the development of literary small presses and MFA and history programs, this has begun to change—witness such important writers as Ted Kooser and Louise Erdrich who have stayed in the Midwest and written about the richness of material they find right here at “home.” More than ever, we—writers and readers alike—need to realize the positive (and …

Omaha's Missouri Valley History Conference, 1958-2009: An Intellectual History, Oliver B. Pollak, Harl A. Dalstrom

Studies in Midwestern History

The history conference, the profession’s agora, is an overlooked phenomenon in the sociology of knowledge and epistemology. Following the Royal Historical Society, New England antiquarian societies, and the American Historical Association, hundreds of state and county historical societies sprouted up across the nation throughout the nineteenth century. By the end of the twentieth century, annual history conferences were both regional (including the Southern, Northern Great Plains, and Western) and thematic (including conferences on religion, colonial America, and railroads). This phenomena includes the Missouri Valley History Conference (MVHC). This article examines the MVHC, which is still ongoing, from its launch in …

A Catholic History Of The Heartland: The Rise And Fall Of Mid-America: A Historical Review, Theodore J. Karamanski

Studies in Midwestern History

This article traces the evolution of a historical journal sponsored by Loyola University Chicago from 1918 to 2002 that in part focused on the Catholic history of the Midwest region. In 1918 in response to the centennial of Illinois statehood the Illinois Catholic Historical Review was founded. Its purpose to ensure that the role of Catholics in the formation and growth of Illinois was properly acknowledged. It came at a time when the Catholic Church was widely identified with foreign-born immigrants. In 1929 the journal changed its name to Mid-America: An Historical Review. Inspired by the work of Herbert Eugene …

A History Of The Mid-America Conference On History, James N. Giglio

Studies in Midwestern History

After conferring with colleagues, I created the Mid-America Conference on History (MACH) in 1977. At the time I was an associate professor of history at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. The MACH sought to mirror other regional ventures such as the Northern Great Plains History Conference, which was established in 1966. The motivation was similar for I had also experienced the high costs of attending national meetings of the Organization of American Historians or the American Historical Association held in cities such as New York, Philadelphia, or Washington, D.C. More importantly, the opportunity to present at national meetings …

The Rise And Fall Of A Midwestern Studies Journal: The Old Northwest, 1975-1992, David M. Fahey

Studies in Midwestern History

The Old Northwest was a scholarly journal published at Miami University (Ohio) from 1975 to 1992. Its focus was on the states that had been part of the Old Northwest Territory, or those bounded by the Great Lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi rivers: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. In the inaugural issue the editors pointed to the Northwest Territory Celebration Commission of 1937, and argued that the Old Northwest had a distinctive cultural identity comparable to that of New England and of the Old South. The journal was founded with the support of Phillip R. …

Historical Sketch Of The Northern Great Plains History Conference, 1966-2015, William E. Lass

Studies in Midwestern History

The Northern Great Plains History Conference, which recently held its 50th conference, was conceived by D. Jerome Tweton of the University of North Dakota’s Department of History. After attending the Missouri Valley History Conference in Omaha, Tweton thought the concept of a regional history conference should be duplicated on the Northern Great Plains. But, his attendance at the American Historical Association’s 1965 meeting in New York City caused him to act. The conference was crowded, costly, and only attended by two North Dakota historians. While flying back to Grand Forks, Tweton decided to give historians of the North Central region …

‘[It] Made Me Want To Rush Out And Take An Antiseptic Bath’: Frances Cochran And The Dilemmas Of Social Work In Progressive Era Cincinnati, Douglas Slaybaugh

Studies in Midwestern History

Social work in the Progressive Era was influenced by two contradictory visions of the profession. One called for an empathetic connection between the social worker and the poor that could transform both. The other focused on the dangers the poor posed to middle-class values and sought to use new knowledge in the social and natural sciences to control and protect society from the poor. The case of Frances Cochran, a young Cincinnati social worker from 1912-1916, first at the House of Refuge and then the Juvenile Protective Association, exemplifies the tensions between the two visions of the profession and shows …

Where The Midwest Ends And The Great Plains Begin, Brad Tennant

Studies in Midwestern History

There are a number of historical perspectives and events that justify the Great Plains as the end of the Midwest and the beginning of the American West. The most noticeable differences begin at approximately the 100th meridian as changes with climatic conditions, vegetation, and animal life become more readily apparent. In addition, historical events, such as the last major United States-Indian confrontation at Wounded Knee and the non-Indian settlement of the Northern Great Plains in the late nineteenth century, coincided with the proclaimed end of the frontier experience in United States history.

Wisconsin’S Disaggregated Development And The Study Of The Midwest, Lawrence H. Larsen, Barbara Cottrell Larsen

Studies in Midwestern History

Understanding Wisconsin’s decentralized and greatly localized early development offers important clues for historians of later eras who are attempting to come to terms with the history of the Midwest as a region. The Fox River Valley is but one example of the divisions – economic and otherwise – that make the Midwestern states a patchwork of regions centered on places that might have little bearing to other locations within even their own state. This is both a challenge and an opportunity for historians of the Midwest, typically accustomed to state-based histories, to consider both the global and the intensely local …

Our Midwests, Mark Vinz

Studies in Midwestern History

When I was teaching American Studies and Literature courses in “The Midwest,” I’d always began with a survey, asking students to indicate where they thought the Midwest was located on the map, what its main characteristics were, what its people were like, etc. I was always amazed at how little my students knew about the questions, or about the differences between such things as urban and rural. Their home area was indeed what Eric Sevareid once called “a blank on the nation’s mind.” It’s indeed time for all of us to escape the stereotypes and know more about the places …

The Perils And Promise Of Midwestern Studies, Frederick E. Witzig

Studies in Midwestern History

As I reflect on the eight-year history of Midwest Studies (renamed the Midwest Initiative, then Midwest Matters; here I will use the term MSI, for Midwest Studies Initiative) at Monmouth College in west-central Illinois, two relevant news pieces from the community of small, private, liberal arts colleges circulate around me. The first, that of Iowa Wesleyan College throwing overboard faculty, staff, and academic programs in an effort to stay afloat, is actually more than a year old, but it was refreshed on our campus by a recent IWC visitor who explained its painful repercussions. The second, the startling announcement of …

Centrifugal And Centripetal Forces Shaping The American Midwest, John E. Miller

Studies in Midwestern History

Efforts to identify the essential identity or the defining features of the Midwest are interesting and valuable, but they are ultimately doomed to failure because the Midwest is many different things. It is necessarily complex, conflicted, and contradictory, in much the same way that America as a whole was depicted by historian Michael Kammen in The Contrapuntal Civilization. Citing examples from his 2014 book, Small-Town Dreams: Stories of Midwestern Boys Who Shaped America, John Miller describes the powerful impulses that led young men to leave their midwestern farms and hometowns to pursue their destinies in distant places, while …