The Midwestern History Association is dedicated to rebuilding the field of Midwestern history, which has suffered from decades of neglect and inattention. The MHA advocates for greater attention to Midwestern history among professional historians, seeks to rebuild the infrastructure necessary for the study of the American Midwest, promotes greater academic discourse relating to Midwestern history, supports the work of the Middle West Review and other journals which promote the study of the Midwest, and offers prizes to scholars who excel in the study of the Midwest.

The origins of the Midwestern History Association can be traced to a meeting in the town of Hudson, Wisconsin in the fall of 2013.  In conjunction with a meeting of the Northern Great Plains History Conference, which featured a panel discussion on the need to revive Midwestern history, Jon Lauck called for an informal meeting of anyone interested in discussing the topic of reviving Midwestern history at greater length.  At the resulting meeting in Buckster’s Bar in the convention hotel, a surprisingly large number of historians gathered who endorsed the proposition that Midwestern history had been neglected and was overdue for a revival.  At the end of the discussion, roughly thirty-five historians voted to form the Midwestern History Working Group, which was designed to promote a discussion of the wisdom of formally creating a new Midwestern history organization.  Over the following year, panels, discussions, and listening sessions were held at several meetings of professional historians.  In the fall of 2014 at the Northern Great Plains History Conference in Sioux Falls, South Dakota during another meeting of the Midwestern History Working Group, the assembled historians voted to create the Midwestern History Association, elected MHA’s officers, and adopted by-laws.

Photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash