Middle West Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal about the American Midwest

Volume 8, Number 1 (Fall 2021)

Contents

Introduction
Jon K. Lauck

Articles
“Let Us Not Look Regretfully on the Past”: Clara Bewick Colby and Midwestern Women’s Early Coeducation at the University of Wisconsin
Kristin Mapel Bloomberg

The Midwest: Cradle of Vocational Education
Steve Grineski

Invisible Childhoods: Dependent African American Children in the Urban Midwest
John D. Ramsbottom

A “splendid flying field” in Indianapolis: Aviation and Speedway Spectacles in the Great War Era
Brian M. Ingrassia

Symposium on Russel B. Nye’s Midwestern Progressive Politics
Nye’s Midwestern Progressive Politics After Sixty Years
Walter Nugent

A Good Reason to Read an Old Book: A Critical Appreciation of Midwestern Progressive Politics
Robert D. Johnston

Russel Nye and the Unending Struggle to Keep Government Representative
Nancy C. Unger

The Missing Conservatives? Reflections on Nye’s Midwestern Progressive Politics
Thomas Tacoma

Progressive Insurgency in the Heartland
Christopher W. Shaw

Midwestern Progressives Were Radicals
Sara Egge

Book Reviews
Amber R. Clifford-Napoleone, Queering Kansas City Jazz: Gender, Performance, and the History of a Scene
Robin C. Henry

Richard Edwards, Jacob K. Friefeld, and Rebecca S. Wingo, Homesteading the Plains: Toward a New History
Cynthia C. Prescott

Berkeley Franz and Daniel Skinner, eds., Not Far from Me: Stories of Opioids and Ohio
Patricia McCourt

Jennifer R. Harbour, Organizing Freedom: Black Emancipation Activism in the Civil War Midwest
Jazma Sutton

Martha Louise Hipp, Sovereign Schools: How Shoshones and Arapahos Created a High School on the Wind River Reservation
Cynthia Landrum

Tadeusz Lewandowski, Ojibwe, Activist, Priest: The Life of Father Philip Bergin Gordon, Tibishkogijik
Brandon Dean

Timothy J. Lombardo, Blue-Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo’s Philadelphia and Populist Politics
Ian Toller-Clark

Bobbie Malone, Striding Lines: The Unique Story Quilts of Rumi O’Brien
Lynne Swanson

Adam R. Ochonicky, The American Midwest in Film and Literature: Nostalgia, Violence, and Regionalism
Christopher D. Stone

Andrea Friederici Ross, Edith: The Rogue Rockefeller McCormick
C.A. Norling

Media Reviews
Audiovisual Solitude: Only Lovers Left Alive, dir. Jim Jarmusch, 2013
Dong Yang

Midwest Malaise in About Schmidt, dir. Alexander Payne, 2002
Douglas C. MacLeod, Jr.

Conversation
An Interview with Larry Woiwode 

Statement of Publishing Ethics

The Middle West Review accepts submissions on a rolling basis. We encourage readers to contribute original content that deepens the public’s understanding of the American Midwest in an accessible and thoughtful manner. Some examples of submission types include:

Articles and Essays
Scholarly articles or essays should run roughly 8,000-12,000 words and articulate a central thesis about an important aspect of the Midwest. These works should build upon original research or new interpretations of existing sources and advance a unique argument pertaining to the American Midwest and, when appropriate, rely on proper citations and a footnote apparatus. Authors are advised to review earlier issues of Middle West Review to better understand the type of articles published by the journal.

Photo Essays
These projects should incorporate original photographs of or about the Midwest. We ask contributors to also include a description of each photograph and a brief written explanation (100 to 200 words) of their significance as a body of work.

Book Reviews: Middle West Review is eager to review new books related to the Midwest and to publish review essays which discuss groupings of recent books about the Midwest. Book review inquiries should be directed to Jennifer Stinson: jstinson@svsu.edu

Other types of submissions will be also considered. All contributions will undergo a process of peer review spearheaded by the Middle West Review editors and executive board.

Submissions will either be accepted for publication outright, returned with a request to “revise and resubmit,” or rejected outright. All submissions will benefit from the comments and revisions of the Middle West Review editors and its editorial reviewers.

Stylistic Guidelines
Authors should consult the Chicago Manual of Style as they prepare to submit their manuscripts to Middle West Review. Works should use endnotes in accordance with that manual’s specifications. Please Times New Roman 12-point font. All written submissions should be double-spaced and have one-inch margins on all sides. Manuscripts should be clear, concise, and devoid of jargon. Refrain from using the first person or passive voice. Successful submissions will marshal a strong argument buttressed by adequate evidence, thoughtful analysis, and lucid prose. Furthermore, in keeping with the journal’s mission, manuscripts should use the Midwest as a category of analysis and seek to explain why their project matters for the study of this region.

Please feel free to submit your materials at any time to MWR@USD.edu. You can also send any questions about submissions and other matters to that address.

Jon K. Lauck, University of South Dakota

David Grabitske, South Dakota State Historical Society 

Hannah Redder, New York University 

Richard J. Jensen, Montana State University–Billings

Paula Nelson, University of Wisconsin at Platteville

Gregory L. Schneider, Emporia State University
 

Stephen Aron, University of California–Los Angeles

William Barillas, University of Wisconsin–La Crosse

Megan Birk, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

James F. Brooks, University of California–Santa Barbara

David F. Good, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities

Jeffrey Helgeson, Texas State University

Wallace A. Hettle, University of Northern Iowa

Rebecca J. Kinney, Bowling Green State University

Sara A. Kosiba, Kent State University

Brian Craig Miller, Mission College

Matthew Sanderson, Kansas State University

Andrew Seal, University of New Hampshire

Courtney Buchkoski, Texas Women's University

Jonathan Kasparek, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Adam Ochonicky, University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh

Call for Proposals: Sixth Annual Midwestern History Conference

Tuesday, May 12–Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Proposal Submission Deadline: Friday, January 3, 2020 (non-negotiable)

The Midwestern History Association and the Hauenstein Center at Grand Valley State University invite proposals for papers to be delivered at the Sixth Annual Midwestern History Conference, to be held May 12-13, 2020, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

This conference continues a discussion which has grown significantly over the last five years, at collaborative conferences designed to spark—and sustain—a revival of Midwestern studies in American historiography. Infused with the varieties of original research pursued by scholars from many different career paths and stages, this annual gathering strives to cultivate rigorous historical understanding of a complex, dynamic, and misunderstood region. Last year’s Midwestern History Conference attracted more than 180 participants serving on 50 panels. Plenary speakers at the Midwestern History Conference in previous years have included winners of the Pulitzer, Bancroft, and Parkman Prizes, a National Book Award Finalist, and a past president of the Labor and Working Class History Association.

We welcome papers relating to all aspects of the history of the American Midwest, in all its diversity. At this time, the Midwestern History Association is particularly interested in receiving submissions that use race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, Indigeneity, diaspora, and transnationalism as topics and categories of analysis for exploring Midwestern history.

Panel and roundtable proposals should be a maximum of 1,000 words.

Individual paper proposals are also welcome, and should be a maximum of 300 words.

All proposals must be accompanied by short vitas of the participants. All proposals must also contain contact information for every presenter included in the proposal.

Proposals should be sent to Jakob Bigard of Grand Valley State University’s Hauenstein Center at bigardja@gvsu.edu.

The Midwestern History Association, created in the fall of 2014, is dedicated to rebuilding the field of Midwestern History, which had suffered from decades of neglect and inattention. The MHA advocates for greater attention to Midwestern history among professional historians, seeks to rebuild the infrastructure necessary for the study of the American Midwest, promotes greater academic discourse relating to Midwestern history, and offers prizes to scholars who excel in the study of the Midwest.

To become a member of the Midwestern History Association, please contact MHA President Ted Frantz at efrantz@uindy.edu. Members are added to an email list that provides access to news about upcoming conferences, calls for papers, and other proposals related to Midwestern history. Standard member dues are $40; the student rate is $20. The MHA also gladly accepts donations toward the cost of annual prizes and other expenses, as well.

Inspired by Ralph Hauenstein’s life of leadership and service, and based at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Hauenstein Center is dedicated to raising a community of ethical, effective leaders for the twenty-first century. Launched with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Center’s Common Ground Initiative engages leading scholars, writers, and public officials in conversations about the cultural, political, and intellectual challenges that Americans face.

As a proud partner of the Midwestern History Association, the Hauenstein Center is committed to supporting historical scholarship on the American Midwest. Bounded by the Great Plains and Great Lakes; known for agriculture and industry; for irenic countryside and great cities; labeled the Breadbasket, the Heartland, and the Rust Belt; the history of the Midwest – its peoples and places, cultures and conflicts, aspirations and afflictions – is the history of America’s most common ground.

PROPOSALS ARE DUE NO LATER THAN JANUARY 3, 2020.