In the twenty-first century, with the wide availability of information, the fracturing and specialization of subject matter, and, even, the loss of faith in a shared body of knowledge, the UHQ aspires as we have done since 1928 to bring you evidentiary, peer-reviewed history that spans across all regions and pertains to all groups and communities that make Utah home. To continue to make that happen, we are pleased to announce the creation of the Miriam B. Murphy / Thomas G. Alexander Editorial Fellow. In partnership with the History Department at the University of Utah and the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University, this academic-year award is offered to a deserving candidate enrolled in the University of Utah’s history graduate program. This year the Miriam B. Murphy Editorial Fellow is Alexandria Waltz, and we are currently
Finally, before I introduce this issue’s articles, I invite each of you to take part in our 2018 annual statewide theme and conference, Transportation and Movement. In recognition of the upcoming commemoration of America’s first transcontinental railroad in May 1869, the Utah State Historical Society aims to highlight this singular national historical event and the centrality of transportation and movement in Utah and western history. Archaeology and Preservation Month in May, with its associated partnership events held across Utah, will center on this theme, as will a host of other events and exhibitions sponsored or supported by the Society. The year culminates with the 66th annual Utah History Conference to be held at the Cultural Celebration Center on September 27–28. There, scholars, academics, public historians, local historians, educators, film documentarians, book dealers, and people interested in history will explore the latest scholarship, writing, and sources on this theme and other aspects of Utah history. I thank all of you for your participation at past conferences and, more broadly, for your love of and interest in what we do at the Society. By attending the conference and lectures, reading the UHQ, and perusing online
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We are deeply grateful to the History Department at the University of Utah and to the Redd Center at Brigham Young University for their financial assistance and partnership to make the Fellow award possible. Fundraising in the years to come will be needed, and if the pursuit and publishing of exceptional history interests you, I would be delighted to speak to you about financial contributions to this annual editorial appointment. The Fellow award is but one area of close collaboration between the journal and the state’s institutions of higher learning.
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Over the last ninety years, the journal has published articles that have variously looked at Utah history as an entity in itself and others that have placed it within a regional context. Both approaches can lead to fine works of history. But we are committed to the idea that to deeply understand Utah, readers must interact with a host of overlapping subjects and geographical contexts, often offered in combination with history’s allied fields (geography, archeology, cultural studies, and others). With this in mind, the editorial team, with approval of the Advisory Board of Editors, revised our editorial statement to affirm our commitment to a regional, interdisciplinary approach to Utah history. This statement will be published in the inside front cover of each issue.
accepting applications for the Thomas G. Alexander Editorial Fellow to work alongside UHQ staff during the 2018–2019 academic year. For more on the fellowship and its namesakes, see pages 69-71.
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The Utah Historical Quarterly has historically seen itself as a state journal that explores Utah history in the regional context of the American West. For all of the focus on Utah history, the UHQ sought to address frameworks and subjects beyond the state’s geopolitical boundaries to those across the Great Basin, Colorado Plateau, and greater Intermountain West.
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