''Minnesota History'' (formerly ''Minnesota History Bulletin'' and sometimes called ''Minnesota History Magazine'') is a quarterly

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...

published by the

Minnesota Historical Society Press The Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Educational institution, educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the Minnesota Terr ...

focusing on the

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

of the US state of

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

and the adjacent area. Published since 1915, the journal is edited by Laura Weber and written for a non-specialist audience, with free distribution to all members of the state historical society. Among US state historical journals, ''Minnesota History'' has been regarded throughout its run for the quality of its scholarship and the caliber of the authors publishing in it.

Overview and history

The journal is published quarterly by the

Minnesota Historical Society The Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Educational institution, educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the Minnesota Terr ...

(MNHS). The journal covers topics related to various facets of Minnesota history, as well as the history of adjoining areas. Articles in the journal are intended to be understandable by

lay Lay or LAY may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada * Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France * Lay, Iran, a village * Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community * Lay Dam, Alaba ...

audiences, may vary between 1,500 and 5,000 words, and undergo a double-blind

peer-review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

process before publication. In addition to articles, the journal features

book review A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review may be a primary source, an opinion piece, a summary review, or a scholarly view. B ...

biographies A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

, and information on the MNHS's collections. The journal's

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

is Laura Weber, who took over from Anne R. Kaplan in 2016. The MNHS occasionally refers to the journal as the ''Minnesota History Magazine''. The first issue of the journal was published in February 1915 under the title ''Minnesota History Bulletin'', authorized by MNHS superintendent

Solon J. Buck Solon Justus Buck (August 16, 1884 – May 25, 1962) was the Second Archivist of the United States. His academic career, never straying very far from his interest in the history of agricultural communities, started with a brief appointment to Ind ...

. The ''Bulletin'' was intended to disseminate information presented at MNHS meetings or submitted to the society in a more timely manner than the previous method of collecting papers and notes for several years at a time, then publishing them in a larger single volume. Beginning with its March 1925 issue, the journal changed its name to ''Minnesota History'', which the MNHS felt reflected the journal's shifting aims: to include more popularly accessible content and to provide materials for teachers of Minnesota history. The journal is also illustrated. Among state historical journals, ''Minnesota History'' has been well-regarded throughout its print run. The ''Bulletin'' was noted in ''

The Mississippi Valley Historical Review ''The Journal of American History'' is the quarterly official academic journal of the Organization of American Historians. It covers the field of American history and was established in 1914 as the ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'', the of ...

'' shortly after its founding for being among the best local and state historical journals in terms of the quality of its news and notes. In 1932, the publication was described by the '' Review of Reviews and World's Work'' as being an "able and important" US state historical periodical. Upon its fiftieth anniversary, a review in the '' Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society'' described the "high level of historical quality" within ''Minnesota History''. Another in the ''

Wisconsin Magazine of History The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of ...

'' described the journal as an exemplar to other state historical societies, for the caliber of its scholarship and of the scholars who contributed to the journal, suggesting that a similar journal should have been established in neighboring

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

much sooner. Solon-justice-buck

Each year, ''Minnesota History'' presents the Solon J. Buck Award for the best article published in the journal in the preceding 12 months. The award was first given in 1955 and is open to all contributors to the journal who are not MNHS staff. A second award, the Theodore C. Blegen Award, was established in 1971 and is open to all contributors to the journal who are MNHS employees. As of 2019, the value of the cash prize for both awards was $600.

Distribution and availability

Issues of ''Minnesota History'' are distributed for free to members of the MNHS. Beginning in 2009, the MNHS began publishing full issues of ''Minnesota History'' on its website, initially with a five-year delay and, beginning in 2017, concurrent with their print publications. The journal is also available through

JSTOR JSTOR ( ; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources founded in 1994. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary source ...

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in America: History and Life,

Historical Abstracts EBSCO Information Services, headquartered in Ipswich, Massachusetts, is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a private company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. EBSCO provides products and services to libraries of many types around the worl ...

, and the

Modern Language Association Database The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "str ...

Topics

The journal articles cover a range of topics of Minnesota history, including the

Sioux people The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translatio ...

and the

Dakota War of 1862 The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, the Dakota Uprising, the Sioux Outbreak of 1862, the Dakota Conflict, or Little Crow's War, was an armed conflict between the United States and several eastern bands of Dakota people, Da ...

, the historical importance of the

Saint Anthony Falls Saint Anthony Falls, or the Falls of Saint Anthony (), located at the northeastern edge of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, was the only natural major waterfall on the Mississippi River. Throughout the mid-to-late 1800s, various dams were built ...

, the history of

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

in the state, the historic ''

Near v. Minnesota ''Near v. Minnesota'', 283 U.S. 697 (1931), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court under which prior restraint on publication was found to violate freedom of the press as protected under the First Amendment. This principle was applied to ...

'' Supreme Court case, and root beer stands in the

Upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a northern subregion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed upon, the region is usually defined to include the states of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wi ...

References

External links