Modern American History

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News and insights from the journal Modern American History, devoted to all aspects of American history since the 1890s.

Photo of Nottingham Association members erecting signs advertising the area’s civilian patrol. Source: Nottingham Park News, March 1977. Reproduced with permission of the Center for Brooklyn History.
Ng Tung Yook Certificate of Birth. Ng Tung You Case File 18431/5-11, Arrival Investigation Case Files, Records of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Record Group 85, National Archives and Records Administration—Pacific Region (San Francisco).
Peoples Bicentennial Commission marchers near Boston’s Faneuil Hall, Dec. 16, 1973. Source: Spencer Grant/Getty Images.
Posters for the 1973 city celebration capture something of Washington as local planners envisioned it. Source: Collection of Tony Sarmiento.
President Gerald Ford Boards the Michigan Wagon at the Bicentennial Wagon Train Pilgrimage Encampment, July 4, 1976. Source: Wikimedia Commons, courtesy of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Cover of "Dangerous Migration: Mexican Labor and the Fight for Immigrant Rights," which shows armed soldiers and young men seated in front of them.
Sergeant-Major Jacob Vouza in United States Marine Corps Uniform. Guadalcanal, March 1943. Source: National archives (127-GW-911-52167-B).
Dredged Kankakee River, Wilson, Charles B.; Clark, H. Walton (chapter authors); Bowers, George M. (Commissioner) "The Mussel Fauna of the Kankakee Basin (Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 758)". Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries For the Fiscal Year 1911 and Special Papers, U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Fisheries, 1913, p. 2.
The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, U.S. Route 51 between Mounds, Illinois, and Cairo, Illinois. River stage at Cairo, 52.8 feet. Source: Steve Nicklas, NOS, NGS, “The Floods of 1927 in the Mississippi Basin,” Frankenfeld, H.C., 1927 Monthly Weather Review Supplement No. 29, March 25, 1927.
Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC, May 8, 2018
Arizona Canal at Scottsdale Waterfront, 2016. Photo by author.
Benedict and other West End ponds circa 1894. Source: USGS topographic maps, Providence 1894 (Survey Year 1887), 1894, Historical Topographic Map Collection (HTMC), 1894, https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/maps/topoview/viewer (accessed Aug. 20, 2025)
Essays may deal with any period or topic in the history of the post-1890 United States. The author of the winning essay will receive a cash prize of $500.00, and the essay itself will be published in Modern American History (MAH). Past winners, Syrus Solo Jin’s “‘Are You My Kimchi Mother?’ Race, Women, and the U.S. Military’s Study Abroad Training Program in the Early Cold War,” John Miles Branch’s “Union Exemption: Nonprofit Work and the Boundaries of the Commercial Economy, 1951–1976,” and Julia Brown-Bernstein’s “Bring ‘The Plant’ to Life: Imagining Community Revitalization in the Neoliberal Era,” have contributed to our understanding of modern U.S. history, and demonstrate the caliber of research this prize seeks to promote. Essays, including footnotes, should be based on original research and analysis, with a total count of between 11,000 and 14,000 words (including footnotes). Submissions should be sent to MAH@cambridge.org with “2026 Essay Prize Entry” noted in the subject line. The author’s name, graduate program/home institution, brief bio, and abstract should appear in the body of the email. An anonymized .docx version of the essay should be attached. Significance of the subject matter, significance of core claims, literary craftsmanship, and proficiency in the handling of primary and secondary sources are some of the factors that will be considered in judging the essays. The deadline for submitting an essay for consideration is June 15, 2026. The final decision will be made by the Brooke L. Blower and Sarah T. Phillips Essay Prize Committee by September 30, 2026. Shortly thereafter, the executive editors of MAH will provide the winning author with details regarding the cash prize and publishing process. They will also notify runner-up authors with an honorable mention and the opportunity to submit their revised essays to MAH for consideration of future publication.
“Dr. Bradford Knapp,” Winston Reeves studio photograph collection, 2.5.11.4.2, Southwest Collections, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX [SWC]
“Male owner with German police dog,” July 1934, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, 42307.
Men with teams working on dam project, NARA, ca. 1935. Wikimedia Commons
Japanese national police reserve officers in bayonet drill at Fort Benning. Source: Benning Herald, August 1953. Disclaimer: The appearance of U.S. Department of War (DoW) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW endorsement.
Woodrow Wilson, President of Princeton, Research Library, 20th C. Fox, 1902-1910. Wikimedia Commons
The Supreme Court of the United States, May 2019, Wikimedia Commons
"Secretary of State Dean Rusk, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara," NARA, February 1968.
Children scavenging in an unidentified Rhode Island dump. Source: Hine, Lewis Wickes, photographer. A dump in Rhode Island. Location: Rhode Island. United States Rhode Island, November 1912. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2018677415/.
Image from “Challenge or Be Challenged”: The Personal and Political Importance of Black Women's Golf Clubs. Group photo of the Par-Links Golf Club (left-to-right, seated): Lavanda Scott, Velma Davis, Edna Dotson, Nadeen Willis, Cleo Dell Johnson, Ramona Mabel, Margaret Nell Wilson, Arjere Johnson, Ruth Beckford Chatmon, Jane McIntosh, Eola Paige, (left-to-right, standing) Doralee Petty, May Frances Reid, Juanita Wilson, and Doris Bruce. Par-Links Golf Club Scrapbook (MS 214) African American Museum and Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library, Oakland, CA.
A wallet sized “Steal This Phone Card” from the 1970s/’80s. Source: “Steal this phone card,” in AHP. Photo: camh-dob-035263_0001, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Notice of the Tushins’ first home purchase. Source: “New Residence in Massachusetts Avenue,“ Evening Star, December 7, 1935, B8.
Joe Piette, Amazon warehouse workers outside the National Labor Relations Board, October 25, 2021, New York, NY. Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
Farmworkers gather for a small rally during a 1966 march from San Juan, Texas, to the state capitol in Austin to protest their appalling working conditions. Courtesy Migrant Farm Workers Organizing Movement Collection, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Arlington, Texas.
Shortly after the Supreme Court decided to hear the Bakke case, in February 1977, Voz Fronteriza (Voice of the Border), the Chicano student newspaper at UC San Diego, ran this front-page image of an anti-Bakke protest. The banner in the background reads, “El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido” (“The People United Will Never Be Defeated”). Voz Fronteriza newspaper, Rodolfo F. Acuña Collection, California State University, Northridge University Library, Special Collections and Archives, Northridge, CA.
Front of the Brandenburg Methodist Episcopal Church, located at 215 Broadway in Brandenburg, Kentucky, United States. Wikimedia Commons
Map of Bridgetown, Barbados, Directorate of Colonial Surveys, 1955. Wikimedia Commons.
Wong Kim Ark duplicate certificate of identity. Wong Kim Ark Case File, Arrival Investigation Case Files, Records of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Record Group 85, National Archives and Records Administration—Pacific Region (San Francisco).
Cover of Modern American History 8.3: Cover image: Voz Fronteriza newspaper, Rodolfo F. Acuña Collection, California State University, Northridge University Library, Special Collections and Archives, Northridge, CA. Image in public domain.
Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC, May 8, 2018. Wikimedia Commons.
View of Altadena in the aftermath of the Eaton Fires, January 13, 2025. Grigory Hinton. Wikimedia Commons
Farmworkers gather for a small rally during a 1966 march from San Juan, Texas, to the state capitol in Austin to protest their appalling working conditions. Courtesy Migrant Farm Workers Organizing Movement Collection, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Arlington, Texas.
Photograph of Adriane Lentz-Smith
The cover of In the Shadow of Diagnosis: Psychiatric Power and Queer Life by Regina Kunzel.
Photo of Dr. Regina Kunzel
The Executive Editors of MAH, Darren Dochuk and Sarah Snyder, will be coming to the end of their editorial term in summer 2027. CUP, in collaboration with an Editorial Board search committee, is now inviting applications for their successors, to begin a term in July 2027. The deadline for applications is September 30, 2026. Working in collaboration with an active Editorial Board, editorial responsibilities will include: -Shaping the strategic direction of the journal and defining editorial policy. -Overseeing a rigorous, constructive, supportive peer review and editorial process. -Making all final decisions on acceptance, rejection, and revisions. -Actively commissioning across a range of article types and collections. Please indicate in your application: -Your experience publishing and researching in this field. -Previous editorial experience or roles in academic administration. -The breadth and scale of your academic network. -Your historiographical vision for MAH over the next five years; including: o MAH’s identity within a rapidly developing field. o Critical themes and subject matter. -Your strategy for developing Modern American History over the next five years; including: oSupporting and attracting diversity. oOrganising and maximising the contribution of the Editorial Board. oEnsuring academic quality and scholarly impact. oEngaging with developments in scholarly communication and research practice. MAH’s editorial team can expect solid support from the Press in collaboration with the editors’ home institutions. Applicants are encouraged to include information about the potential form and extent of institutional support from their universities where available. Interested applicants should send a resume/CV and a brief cover letter detailing their qualifications and interest in the position to Chris McKeen, Associate Publisher, Cambridge University Press at chris.mckeen@cambridge.org, using “Modern American History editor search” as the subject line.
Cover of Queen Mother: Black Nationalism, Reparations, and the Untold Story of Audley Moore.
This image points readers to the curated collection on MAH's website.
Gallery view, Jeffrey Gibson: the space in which to place me, Venice, Italy, 2024. Photo by Timothy Schenck. Courtesy of the Portland Art Museum.
PhD Candidate Jan Michael
Syrus Solo Jin
Snowstorm, Lowell, Massachusetts documentary photographs, 1980s, public domain.
David Falconer/ U.S. National Archives
Carmelita Hinton’s radical youth delegation in Yan’an, Shaanxi Province, undated, 196-1-466, Shaanxi Provincial Archive.
Sambolín’s print captured the entangled ecological and human threats of the superport, as well as the colonial valences of the project. Credit: Nelson Sambolín, Nelson Sambolín (Salinas, Puerto Rico, 1944), “Superpuerto, colonialismo, pillaje, veneno,” 1972, Taller Baja, serigrafia, Donación SKB, Colección Museo de Historia, Anthropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Rio Piedras.
An incarcerated worker puts the finishing touches on a sign that reads “National Forest Campground Steamboat Falls.” The work of incarcerated men allowed forests to become recreational forests, even when they stayed inside penitentiaries. “Prisoners making campground signs,” 1945–1965, Department of Corrections, McNeil Island Corrections Center Photograph Collection, 1855–2010, Digital Archives,
Installation photo, American Sunrise: Indigenous Art at Crystal Bridges, November 9, 2024-March 23, 2025. From left to right: Kelly Church, Sustaining Traditions: Basket of Resilience; Jody Naranjo, Finding Yourself; Jeri Redcorn, “Sheyahtse” Warrior; Jane Osti, A Sacred Fire; Jane Osti, The Abundance; Virgil Ortiz, Pueblo Revolt of 1680/2180,Susan Folwell, Attack of the 50 ft. Collector; Les Namingha, Geometric Interruption. Photograph by Jared Sorrells, Courtesy of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
Men from the Clallam Bay Honor Camp fighting a forest fire. “Honor Camp Fighting Forest Fire,” Agenda 6, no. 3 (Jan. 1, 1961). American Prison Newspapers, 1800s-present: Voices from the Inside via Reveal Digital, JSTOR.
An incarcerated worker puts the finishing touches on a sign that reads “National Forest Campground Steamboat Falls.” The work of incarcerated men allowed forests to become recreational forests, even when they stayed inside penitentiaries. “Prisoners making campground signs,” 1945–1965, Department of Corrections, McNeil Island Corrections Center Photograph Collection, 1855–2010, Digital Archives, https://digitalarchives.wa.gov/Record/View/E6367837C8742B57DD51AEBD89D40C73.
The anti-superport campaign urged Palauans to vote ‘Yes’ to approve the federated Micronesian constitution in 1978. Credit: Trust Territory Photo Archives, Pacific Collection, University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa Library.
Poster of the Mao Tsetung Memorial Meetings.
The illustrated headings for “The Interests of Working Women” pictured some of the most common working-class women’s occupations: stenographer, shopgirl, and seamstress. New York World, July 5, 1896, 29; June 28, 1896, 31; July 12, 1896, 29.
01 May 1975, Doc Lap Palace, Saigon - Fall of Saigon to North Vietnam - Image by © Francoise de Mulder/CORBIS
Cemetery workers and their allies march in support of the union campaign, circa 1988. This image was featured on the front fold of an ACTWU pamphlet in support of the cemetery workers’ fight. folder 7, box 118, Rodolfo F. Acuña Collection, Special Collections and Archives, California State University, Northridge, CA.