A new issue of the journal New York History was published in September 2019 under a new collaboration between the New York State Museum and Cornell University Press. The issue marks a return to print, after being a digital-only publication since 2012, and nearly ceasing publication when the New York State Historical Association (NYSHA) went defunct in 2017.
The New York State Historical Association began publishing the journal geared toward a popular and academic audience in 1919. It was first published as The Quarterly Journal of the New York State Historical Association, and since 1932 as New York History.
The journal was highly praised under the editorship of Wendell Tripp, from 1964 until his retirement in 1999. It then struggled through editorial board changes, missing some issues, and moving to a subscription only pdf format published three times per year. Financially supported by NYSHA, but produced and edited by SUNY Oneonta from 2012 until recently, the journal had been scaled back over the years to book reviews and academic articles.
The latest iteration retains the scholarly journal approach, presenting articles regarding New York State history as well as reviews of books, exhibitions, and media projects with a New York focus. Co-editors of the journal include New York State Museum Chief Curator of History Dr. Jennifer Lemak, New York State Historian Devin Lander, New York State Museum Senior Historian Aaron Noble, and Senior Lecturer in the History Department at University of Maryland Dr. Robert Chiles. The journal is managed and published by Cornell University Press.
The Editorial Board actively solicits articles, essays, reports from the field and case studies to be featured in the journal. Submission guidelines are available on the State Museum website. The new journal leadership is planning to publish twice a year. They hope to attract scholars, public historians, museum professionals, local government historians, and those seeking an in-depth look at the Empire State’s history.
The Summer 2019 issue features articles by historians across the state including:
“The Sing Sing Revolt: The Incarceration Crisis and Criminal Justice Liberalism in the 1980s” by Lee Bernstein, professor of history at SUNY New Paltz
“The Power of Women: Matilda Joslyn Gage and the New York Women’s Vote of 1880” by Sue Boland, local historian for the Matilda Joslyn gage Center for Social Justice Dialogue
“Suffrage’s Second Act: Women in the NYS Legislature, 1919-1930” by Laurie Kozakiewicz, lecturer in history at the University at Albany
“The Lost Poems of Jacob Steendam” by D.L. Noorlander, assistant professor of history at SUNY Oneonta
“A Model Tenement in “The City of Homes”: George Eastman and the Challenge of Housing Reform in Rochester, New York” by Nancy J. Rosenbloom, professor of history at Canisius College
“Consumption in the Adirondacks: Print Culture and the Curative Climate” by Mark Sturges, assistant professor of English at St. Lawrence University
Recurring feature articles in the journal include:
Artifact NY – a feature about an object or document important to New York State history.
Teach NY – a feature intended for history teachers at either the middle or high school level or university professors. Content includes lessons plans, utilizing primary source materials in a classroom setting, or using multimedia or new technology to teach history.
Community NY – a feature that highlights state history at the local, community and project-based levels.
Individual and institution print subscriptions to New York History are available as well as individual electronic subscriptions. Subscriptions can be ordered online.
Great news, and high time.
NYSHA didn’t go “defunct” — the organization changed its name. There’s a difference. The Library & Museum collections are still very much about New York State and local history.
Hi Joe,
The organization is no more. That’s defunct. I appreciate that the Fenimore Museum still has the organization’s collections. Feel free to let us know when you have news or events relevant to the history community, we’d be glad to promote them.
Thanks for reading,
John Warren
Founder & Editor
The organization is still very much in operation, it’s just doing business under now with a different name. Please know that as you continue to use “defunct”, I continue to get a decent number of concerned & confused researchers on the phone or in email wondering where the collections have gone. They consistently reference your word in particular. The public needs to know that NYSHA is now formally doing business as Fenimore Art Museum, because it implies something very different, and it would help the history community and genealogists trying to reach our services. Changing a business name is not the same as one organization going defunct and another taking over, which is what you’re implying happened.
Its great that New York State has decided to get more involved in telling it’s own history through an academic lens like New York History, and I appreciate you letting me share the experience I have working as the librarian for a very special museum & library.
Joe Festa
Special Collections Librarian
Fenimore Art Museum & The Farmers’ Museum
Hi Joe,
It’s good to hear that people are inquiring about the NYHSA collections at the Fenimore Art Museum & The Farmers’ Museum.
I’ve often reported (perhaps more than anyone?) that NYSHA is now formally doing business as Fenimore Art Museum.
But unfortunately, the New York State Historical Association is no more. Or in the dictionary definition of defunct: “no longer existing or functioning.” So we’ll have to disagree, but we’re happy to provide a place for your perspective.
Feel free to send along your organization’s news and events, and we’ll be happy to let people know more about what you are up to.
John Warren
Founder & Editor
Yes, we disagree, because the story you tell about our organization isn’t totally accurate. NYSHA still exists and is functioning as Fenimore Art Museum. As far as recent history is concerned, they’ve always been the same institution. So when you say NYSHA is defunct, I’ll gladly show up to break down semantics & correct the record.
Joe Festa
Special Collections Librarian
Fenimore Art Museum & The Farmers’ Museum