This Blogcast episode features Myra Billund-Phibbs’s article “Doing Trans History Despite It All,” first published in Process: A Blog for American History on July 1, 2025. In this episode, Billund-Phibbs (a PhD student at the University of Minnesota) recounts her experience interviewing trans people who lived in the 1970s Midwest. Specifically, she delves into complex questions around doing collaborative oral history in the current historical moment.

Read the blog post here: https://www.oah.org/process/doing-trans-history-despite-it-all-billund-phibbs/

Music: King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band’s Mabel’s Dream, 1923

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In this episode, Lara Vapnek (Professor of History at St. John’s University, in Queens), Tracey Deutsch (Associate Professor of History at the University of Minnesota), and Natasha Zaretsky (Professor of History at the University of Alabama at Birmingham) discuss the interesting intersections of their three articles, all recently published by the Journal of American History, which talk to each other on the histories women’s labor, energy, and food.

During this lively and generative conversation, Vapnek, Deutsch, and Zaretsky respond to questions like: How has the recent scholarly turn to care work shaped labor history and vice versa? What is the relationship between histories of care work and histories of capitalism? How does energy fit into new scholarship on labor and women’s history? How can self care manifest in simultaneously liberative/resistant and oppressive ways throughout history?

Music: King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band’s Mabel’s Dream, 1923

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This special panel debrief edition of the Journal of American History Podcast features a conversation on “New Histories of Enslavement,” held at the 2025 OAH Conference on American History in Chicago. In this episode, panel chair Andrea Mosterman (University of New Orleans) and panelists Christy Clark-Pujara (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Gloria Whiting (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Cory Young (University of Iowa), and Max Speare (Saddleback College) explore new directions in the field of U.S. slavery history. Host Kasha Appleton guides the discussion through key questions: How did the myth of a free abolitionist North became embedded in national memory? What methodologies best serve the sources used tell freedom seekers’ stories? The conversation highlights different approaches to studying enslavement in the United States while showcasing each panelist's unique contributions to this evolving field.

Music: King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band’s Mabel’s Dream, 1923

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This special panel debrief edition of the Journal of American History Podcast features a conversation on “Citizenship and Belonging,” held at the 2025 OAH Conference on American History in Chicago.

In this episode, panelists Erica Lally (Georgetown University), David Dry (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Heidi Ardizzone (Saint Louis University), and Hannah Simmons (Northwestern University) explore definitions of citizenship and belonging in U.S. history. Hosted by Kasha Appleton and Marina Mecham, this debrief examines how Black and Indigenous women's citizenship claims in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries reshape our understanding of American citizenship and rights. The discussion highlights different approaches to studying citizenship and belonging, while showcasing how each panelist's research contributes to this evolving field.

Music: King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band’s Mabel’s Dream, 1923

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This special panel debrief edition of the Journal of American History Podcast features a conversation on “Unsettling Forest Histories,” held at the 2025 OAH Conference on American History in Chicago.

In this episode, Andrew Needham (New York University), Bathsehba Demuth (Brown University), Allyson LaForge (Brown University), and Mariko Whitenack (New York University) reflect on their panel session which discussed the state of forest history and the role of Indigenous ontology in the field. In this debrief dialogue, hosted by Marina Mecham and Kasha Appleton, the panelists respond to questions such as: why is it important to study forest history? What does it mean to “unsettle” forest histories and environmental histories more broadly? How are historians doing this unsettling work now? What can Indigenous ontologies contribute to the field?

Music: King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band’s Mabel’s Dream, 1923

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This special panel debrief edition of the Journal of American History Podcast features a conversation on “Queer and Trans Histories of the Midwest,” held at the 2025 OAH Conference on American History in Chicago.

In this episode, Marc Ridgell (University of Pennsylvania), Clare Forstie (Saint Paul College), Steven Louis Brawley (LGBTQ History Project in St. Louis), René Esparza (Washington University in St. Louis), and Nic Flores (University of Illinois Urbana Champagne) unpack their panel session which broadly discussed the importance of focusing on the Midwest when studying, archiving, and writing queer history. In this debrief discussion, hosted by Marina Mecham and Kasha Appleton, the panelists respond to questions such as: what can we learn about resistance and everyday resistance strategies from queer history? Why are queer archives important and what sources can people turn to to write queer histories? How does the history of the AIDS crisis shift when centering/focusing on the Midwest? Who is this historical work for and why is it important?

This panel was solicited by the OAH Committee on the Status of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Historians and Histories and endorsed by MHA and the WHA.

Music: King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band’s Mabel’s Dream, 1923

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How do books get reviewed in the Journal of American History? What criteria do editors use when selecting books for review? How are reviewers assigned, and how can you become one yourself? What constitutes a good book review according to our editors?

In this episode of the Journal of American History Podcast, Marina Mecham speaks with Assistant Editor Amy Ransford and Editorial Assistant Kasha Appleton to provide an inside look at the journal's book review process. If you've ever considered submitting a book for review or writing a review for the Journal but aren't sure about the next steps, this episode is for you!

Still have questions after listening to our Inside the JAH series? Email us at jahcast@oah.org. We plan to create another episode dedicated to answering your additional questions.

If you're interested in becoming a reviewer for the journal, please submit a reviewer data sheet linked here: https://www.oah.org/publications/jah/reviewer-data-sheet/

Music: King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band’s Mabel’s Dream, 1923

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]

Editor's note: The person Jessica refers to as "H.M." in the episode is "M.W." in the article.

Read the article here: https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jaae267

Music: King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band's Mabel's Dream, 1923

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