What do historians do with their research once they finish writing about it?
How do historians publish the books and articles we love to read?
This episode of our Doing History: How Historians Work series, takes us behind-the-scenes of how historians publish their writing about history.
Our guide through the world of history publications is Joshua Piker, a Professor of History at the College of William and Mary, and the Editor of the William and Mary Quarterly, the leading journal of early American history and culture.
About the Series
Doing History episodes will introduce you to historians who will tell you what they know about the past and reveal how they came to their knowledge.
Each episode will air on the last Tuesday of each month in 2016.
This series is part of a partnership between Ben Franklin’s World and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.
About the Show
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.
It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.
Episode Summary
In this 10th episode of our Doing History: How Historians Work series, we investigate how historians publish the history books and articles we love to read with Joshua Piker, a Professor of History at the College of William and Mary and the Editor of the William and Mary Quarterly, the leading journal of early American history and culture.
During our conversation, Josh reveals an overview of why historians view history as a process; Different publication opportunities for historians and how publication fits within the process of history; And a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to publish in the premier journal of early American history and culture, the William and Mary Quarterly.
What You’ll Discover
- The process of history
- Publication opportunities for historians
- What historians mean by “popular” and “scholarly” history
- The William and Mary Quarterly
- What makes the William and Mary Quarterly different from other history journals
- The work Josh performs as the editor of a history journal
- The submission-to-publication process at the Quarterly
- The 3 must-haves of WMQ essays
- Peer review: what is it and how it works
- Why the WMQ uses a double-blind peer review process
- How book publishers use peer review
- Publishing a journal article from an author’s perspective
- How historians use peer review to make their work better
- The time investment in each article
- The OI Reader and how it adds a digital component to printed articles
Links to People, Places, and Publications
- Joshua Piker
- Josh’s William and Mary webpage
- William and Mary Quarterly
- Subscribe to William and Mary Quarterly
- The OI Reader app
- Kirsten Fischer’s blog post
- Joshua Piker, The Four Deaths of Acorn Whistler: Telling Stories in Colonial America
- Joshua Piker, Okfuskee: A Creek Indian Town in Colonial America
- Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture
Complementary Episodes
- 066 Simon Newman, How Historians Find Their Research Topics
- 079 James Horn, What is a Historical Source?
- 084 Zara Anishanslin, How Historians Read Historical Sources
- 088 Michael McDonnell, The History of History Writing
- 101 John Demos, How Historians Write About History
American History Journals
- William and Mary Quarterly
- Journal of American History
- Journal of Early American History
- Early American Studies
- Journal of the Early Republic
Time Warp Question
In your opinion, what will the landscape of publication opportunities look like for historians 25 and 50 years from now? Will printed books and journals be dead? Will historians still publish history in the written word?
Questions, Comments, Suggestions
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