editor's page, The

Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Summer 2002

There are several interesting things about this issue. It is the first for which the authors of all our articles either supplied illustrations, or pointed to illustrations that the editor could easily borrow. The several fascinating pictures herein therefore reflect the ideas of this group of authors, and not any change of the Journal's editorial policy. Future issues may be as richly illustrated or not; it will always depend on the material submitted. But be assured that the editor is delighted with these illustrations, and trusts that they please and instruct our readers too.

Policy is involved in a new and most welcome addition to our Journal: Kim Bauer's extraordinarily thorough annual bibliography "Lincolniana." Formerly a valued annual feature in the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, "Lincolniana" now migrates and settles here, where we hope it will reappear annually hereafter.

Three of our four articles represent individuals and groups at their frequent best, enhancing the safety, convenience, and appreciation of their natural and man-made environment. But one shows us at our worst: Tina Stewart Brakebill does not argue that the United States was wrong to enter the Great War of 1914-1918, but she is absolutely convinced that the internal war waged against all German culture amounted to a national crime.

And of course she is right. These days historians are often strident and excessive in their moralizing, but the tendency of the nation toward a sort of fascism in 1918 is probably too little noted even in these days of garment-wringing in print. Most instructive, perhaps, is Ms. Brakebill's striking contrast between the celebration of German culture in 1913 with the purging of it five years later. She gives us much to think about.

Finally, I take this opportunity to give thanks and appreciation to all our authors, reviewers, referrees, consultants, and wellwishers over the last four years, along with the past and present staff of the Society and the good people of the William Street Press in Decatur. This is the sixteenth and final issue of the Journal edited by me. A valued fellow historian, Professor Kay J. Carr of Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, now takes up the duty, while her colleague at SIUC, Professor Michael Batinski, continues as our Book Review Editor. I thank them both for past services, and wish them well in the future.