Dear SHEAR friends,

I’m writing to let you know about some changes at the JER. When David Waldstreicher and I formed our partnership as co-editors, David’s plan was to get things off to a good start and help me and the rest of our editorial team with his considerable experience as a journal editor.  David’s planned stint will be coming to an end on November 1 and he will be stepping down as Co-Editor.  David put his book on Phillis Wheatly on hold when SHEAR and the journal really needed him, and over the past three years I’ve benefitted enormously from seeing his process and editorial integrity up close.  Working with David, our editorial team has been able to maintain the high standards of excellent scholarship that we inherited from our predecessors.  David has been a leader in articulating a vision for the journal that ensures that it reflects the true diversity of the field while paying closer attention to the conversation between past and present historiographies.  Two examples especially stand out, which David saw through to publication: the recent forum “Africa in the Early Republic and the Early Republic in Africa” and the essay by Harvey R. Neptune, “Throwin’ Scholarly Shade: Eric Williams in the New Histories of Capitalism and Slavery,” which is one of the most downloaded pieces the JER has ever published.  Together, in their expansiveness of vision and geographical conception, as well as their engagement with conversation across scholarly generations, these two pieces exemplify what David has been all about as Co-Editor. I take great pleasure in having this opportunity to express my tremendous gratitude to David for generously volunteering his time and for his devotion to helping and mentoring the scholars who entrusted their work to the JER.

David’s departure provides us with the opportunity to welcome a new co-editor, and with great delight and excitement it’s my pleasure to announce that, with his appointment by President Greenberg and the SHEAR Advisory Council, Johann Neem will be joining the JER editorial team as co-editor with me beginning on January 1, 2021.  Johann is well known to many of us as a devoted and conscientious SHEAR citizen and member of the JER editorial board.  He is both a prolific scholar and a thoughtful public intellectual whose publications include Creating a Nation of Joiners: Democracy and Civil Society in Early National Massachusetts, Democracy’s Schools: The Rise of Public Education in America, and, as co-editor with Joanne B. Freeman, Jeffersonians in Power: The Rhetoric of Opposition Meets the Realities of Governing as well as What’s the Point of College: Seeking Purpose in an Age of Reform.  Johann reads widely, deeply, and thoughtfully and has for years provided those submitting to the JER some of the most valuable readers reports our authors have received.  The journal and its authors will benefit enormously from Johann’s erudition, kindness, and boundless intellectual curiosity and generosity, and it is a true pleasure to welcome him to our editorial team.

Andrew Shankman

Co-Editor, Journal of the Early Republic