WMQPage 8
By Kirsten Fischer December 02, 2015

On (finally) seeing what’s right in front of you when it’s not what you expected

WMQ author Kirsten Fischer reflects on the process that brought her to write her forthcoming essay in the July 2016 issue of the Quarterly.   Kirsten Fischer Ever searched for the glasses that are sitting on your nose?  If that can happen when we’re looking for something we expect to find, it can be even harder to spot the… Read More

WMQ 6 min read
Read More
By Jeffrey Ostler November 11, 2015

Evolving the discussion of what Columbus began

In today’s post, WMQ author Jeffrey Ostler reflects on what inspired his research and what questions he is still asking. I’m sure that most historians occasionally reflect on the paths that lead us to write the things we do. When I trace the path that led to the publication of “To Extirpate the Indians: An Indigenous Consciousness of Genocide in… Read More

WMQ 8 min read
Read More
By Jeffers Lennox September 17, 2015

"Finished" articles and life after publication

WMQ author Jeffers Lennox reflects on the life of his article “A Time and a Place” (July) post-publication. I was thrilled to learn that “A Time and a Place” had been accepted for publication by the WMQ, and, like most things I write, I haven’t read it since it went to press. I probably never will. It’s odd, but perhaps… Read More

WMQ 8 min read
Read More
By oieahc September 03, 2015

CALL FOR PROPOSALS--WMQ and JER

The William and Mary Quarterly and the Journal of the Early Republic invite proposals for a special joint issue, “Writing To and From the Revolution.” “Writing To and From the Revolution” aims to approach the American Revolution as a series of unresolved historiographical and methodological questions, asking what it means that colonialists with an interest in the eighteenth century… Read More

WMQ 4 min read
Read More
By Daragh Grant August 28, 2015

SOVEREIGNTY, JURISDICTION, AND THE POLITICS OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCE IN EARLY AMERICA

Author Daragh Grant offers these additional reflections on "The Treaty of Hartford (1638): Reconsidering Jurisdiction in Southern New England" from the July issue of the WMQ. Read More

WMQ 11 min read
Read More
By Sarah Gordon August 26, 2015

Unexpected finds

Author Sarah Gordon reflects what drove her to reconceive her book project—and brought her to write her piece in the July 2015 edition of the WMQ.  Read More

WMQ 8 min read
Read More
By Karin Wulf August 04, 2015

Learning to Love the Stable Link

I’m all too aware that syllabus-writing season is upon us.  In July we all wonder why the summer is racing by so quickly, and by mid-August many of us may be wondering whether there was a summer at all.   But as we turn our keyboards to syllabi, I want to take a moment to remind us all why the… Read More

WMQ 5 min read
Read More
By Josh Piker July 08, 2015

Summertime Blues

by Josh Piker I’m frequently asked what it takes to publish in the William and Mary Quarterly, a subject that I’m happy to talk about, of course.  I’m especially happy to do so with graduate students and junior scholars.  But I find that I discuss strategies for having an article accepted in the Quarterly with the sense that I’m… Read More

WMQ 12 min read
Read More
By Josh Piker May 27, 2015

Interpreting the Interpretation of “Sources and Interpretations”

By Josh Piker— So, I was reading Joyce Chaplin’s “The Other Revolution” in the most recent issue of Early American Studies when I got to Table 1 (p. 297), which breaks down WMQ “Articles by Subfield” for the volume years 1973, 1983, and 1993.  At the bottom of the table, there’s the following caveat: “Note: These numbers do not… Read More

WMQ 9 min read
Read More
By Zachary Dorner May 21, 2015

Further questions around How Trade Works

Today, WMQ author Zachary Dorner reflects upon some of the additional questions the process of writing his article raised for him. Zack writes: My article in the recent issue of the WMQ is an effort to chip away at a question that, I find, is as simple to ask as it is complex to answer: How does trade work? Such… Read More

WMQ 7 min read
Read More
By Nick Radburn May 13, 2015

From Port to Plantation

In today’s post, WMQ author Nick Radburn writes about the process he used to trace the journeys of several enslaved Africans in the Americas using the papers of slave traders. Nick writes: I ended my recent WMQ piece on slave trader John Tailyour with the stories of Simon, John and Taylor, three of the 17,295 Africans who Tailyour sold into Jamaican… Read More

WMQ 9 min read
Read More
By Joseph Hall May 11, 2015

Why getting on a plane is sometimes best

WMQ author Joseph Hall shares this post with us about the research that went into his article for the April 2015 edition. In many respects, I am sorry to be done with Gerónimo de la Cruz. I have never had so much fun piecing together a story. What started with puzzling over a curious document about a Spanish expedition in… Read More

WMQ 6 min read
Read More

Recent Posts

February 4, 2026

“An Interesting Answer to The Interesting Narrative”

June 29, 2025

Peer Review for the Born-Digital?

April 1, 2025

BJ Lillis

Subscribe to the Blog

[ninja_form id='48']