Vantage Points: A New Feature in the Journal of Texas History

The Alliance for Texas History is pleased to announce a new feature in the Journal of Texas History, called “Vantage Points,” a fresh way to engage with the past. This section presents short, focused essays (1,500–4,000 words) centered on evocative images, documents, or historical sites. Each essay begins from a particular vantage point — quite literally a place, object, or source in the field—and explores what it can teach us about the Texas past.

Vantage Point essays are unlike the journal's longer research-based articles. Some essays explain how a photograph came to be, others show how a historic site or document changes what we thought we knew, or why it still matters today. Vantage Point essays are opportunities to pause, look closely, and consider how history feels when you’re standing right there — in the field, at the marker, or holding the source documents in your hands.

These pieces are written by historians, teachers, and community members from all over Texas who share what they’ve discovered in archives, landscapes, and local collections. Contributors will bring perspectives shaped by their own encounters with archives, landscapes, and local histories, as well as other aspects of our shared histories in the field.

Journal of Texas History editors Benjamin Johnson (bjohnson25@luc.edu) and Rebecca Sharpless (r.sharpless@tcu.edu) are happy to discuss ideas with potential authors. Essay submissions for Vantage Points can be sent to submissions@jtxh.org. The Journal follows the guidelines of the Chicago Manual of Style.