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Subject: _Historical Geography_ crisis
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005
From: Sam Otterstrom <[log in to unmask]>
Forwarded from: H-Net Network for Historical Geography
<[log in to unmask]>
To: maps-l

From: Craig Colten [[log in to unmask]]
Date sent: 9 Oct 2005

Editors of _Historical Geography_ appeal to historical geographers.

The powerful winds of Hurricane Katrina are still eddying across the
gulf south. Louisiana's economy has been devastated as much as the lower
Ninth Ward in New Orleans. As a result of our current economic malise,
the governor has placed a hiring freeze on state institutions, including
LSU, home to the annual journal, Historical Geography. By a strange and
unfortunate set of circumstances, our managing editor resigned before
the storm, and we were in the process of trying to reinstate sufficient
funds to hire a new part-time managing editor. The hiring freeze has
undermined this effort, and threatens to make _Historical Geography_
another fatality of August's ill winds.

This is most distressing because we have manuscripts in hand for the
upcoming 2006 issue and our guest editor, Susan Craddock, has worked
diligently to put together a stimulating set of papers on historical
medical geography. Without a managing editor, who does copy editing,
layout, and oversees the printing, Volume 34 may not arrive in a timely
fashion.

We appeal to historical geographers, who may have colleagues or staff
who can take on this task for a least the forthcoming issue, to please
contact us. Universities around the country have been exceptionally
generous with offers to help students and faculty exiled from New
Orleans. If your university has made offers to assist, perhaps they will
be willing to aid this secondary victim.

We already have an offer from a New England college of partial support.
If others can help us cobble together about $15,000 to $20,000, we will
be able to press ahead. If you university would be willing to host the
journal on a longer term basis we would be pleased to open discussions
along those lines as well. We have also initiated discussions with a
commercial press as a possible long-term solution to our current crisis.

LSU has provided considerable support for _Historical Geography_ since
it resumed publication in 1993. During its 12 years here, we have
published articles by some of the leading practitioners in the field as
well as providing a outlet for emerging scholars. We hope we can keep
this lively journal afloat and meet our obligations to our readers,
subscribers, and contributors.

Dydia DeLyser and Craig Colten
Co-Editors, Historical Geography

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Craig E. Colten
Department of Geography & Anthropology
Louisiana State University

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