The undergraduate editorial board of the Michigan State Journal of History (MSJoH) is pleased to announce the release of Volume 12!
This volume continues the tradition of featuring outstanding undergraduate scholarship at the university. As one of the few undergraduate-operated journals in the country, the journal strives to reflect the intellectual climate fostered by the Department of History. It is our privilege to publish works of such high intellectual caliber.
Letter from the Editors
It is with gratitude and excitement that we announce the publication of the twelfth volume of Michigan State University’s history journal, The Undergraduate Historian! We would like to acknowledge the previous editors, Trey Davis and Anna LePage, for their work in revitalizing the journal after a period of inactivity. We are proud to be part of a legacy of supporting undergraduate historical research at MSU and hope it may continue long after we leave.
We would like to express our deep gratitude for the guidance of our faculty mentor, Professor Ethan Segal, who offered excellent advice and trusted our decisions on the processes of submission calls, accepting papers, offering revisions, formatting, and sending the journal to print. We could not have asked for a more diligent or supportive advisor.
We are thankful to the professors who distributed our call for submissions to their classes and to everyone who submitted their papers for review. Thank you to Kara Hwang, Ryan Bean, John Eichholz, Riya Jacob, Lillian Towery-Collins, Zachary Gioppo, Joyce Peterlin, Calvin McKenna, Delaney Grant, and Nicole Butkovich for their contributions to the journal and for putting in
the work to revise their papers in such a limited span of time. An additional thank you to Kara Hwang is warranted for her assistance with the journal’s formatting.
Thank you to Julie Taylor with the MSU Libraries’ Publishing Services for her work in printing the journal. We love the library! And we also gratefully acknowledge the History Department, led by Chairperson Michael Stamm, which provided the funds to have the journal printed and has supported our club’s activities over many years.
We are excited for Grace Hyde to join Katherine Dyal as coeditor for the journal in the 2026–2027 academic year. Student support and action are vital to the perpetuation of undergraduate publishing projects, and we hope for the continued passion, drive, and support of future editors and contributors for many more volumes in the future.
Lastly, thank you to the reader, for investing your time in this copy of The Undergraduate Historian. We hope you enjoy the papers collected here and their reflection of the passion and dedication of Michigan State’s history students.
Sincerely,
Katherine Dyal and Cass Bennett
Editors
Interested scholars are able to revisit the intellectual research of former students in the newly archived Volumes 1-11. Showcased within them is the research of aspiring historians that covers a diverse selection of topics, spanning various cultural areas and eras of the historical world.