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Journal aims to stoke interest in Midwest history

FILE - In this file photo from March 7, 2014, historians and members of the Midwest History Working Group from left to right, John Miller, Mike Allen, Jon Lauck, Kurt Leichtle and Catherine Cocks attend a meeting in Omaha, Neb., Friday, March 7, 2014. One of the ideas they came up with was to publish an online journal on a shoestring budget. But the University of Nebraska Press expressed interest in publishing a printed journal, and the group jumped at the chance. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
FILE - In this file photo from March 7, 2014, historians and members of the Midwest History Working Group from left to right, John Miller, Mike Allen, Jon Lauck, Kurt Leichtle and Catherine Cocks attend a meeting in Omaha, Neb., Friday, March 7, 2014. One of the ideas they came up with was to publish an online journal on a shoestring budget. But the University of Nebraska Press expressed interest in publishing a printed journal, and the group jumped at the chance. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) FILE - In this file photo from March 7, 2014, historians and members of the Midwest History Working Group from left to right, John Miller, Mike Allen, Jon Lauck, Kurt Leichtle and Catherine Cocks attend a meeting in Omaha, Neb., Friday, March 7, 2014. One of the ideas they came up with was to publish an online journal on a shoestring budget. But the University of Nebraska Press expressed interest in publishing a printed journal, and the group jumped at the chance. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

By Associated Press 1 min read

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – When a group of historians gathered last spring in Omaha to discuss the revival of teaching Middle America’s history, among their plans had been to start an online Midwest history journal.

Instead, this week they saw the University of Nebraska Press send out the inaugural print editions of the Middle West Review, an academic journal devoted to the history of the Midwest and Plains.

The 180-page issue features eight peer-reviewed articles, 18 book reviews and an interview with a 94-year-old former University of Wisconsin-Madison history professor it deemed “the last prairie historian.”

University of Iowa graduate student Paul Mokrzycki, the journal’s editor-in-chief, says it will help preserve the region’s history and provide a place for historians to publish their work, helping them get college tenure, grant funding and book deals.