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Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

Discover the leading scholarly publication and journal of record in Kentucky history.

In addition to research articles (and occasionally historiographic essays), each issue of The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society features an extensive book review section, typically on a wide array of U.S. history topics.

Published since 1903, the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society is available in print and electronically on Project MUSE. Archived issues (from 1903 to the present, with a five-year moving wall) are available on JSTOR.

Full Run Table of Contents (PDF) | Index vols 68-110 (1970-2012) (PDF)

The Register Derby

"America's Native Spirit": Prohibition and the Consolidation of the Kentucky Bourbon Industry wins the 2024 Register Derby. Congratulations to author Bailey Browning!

Browning

 

The Register Derby

For three weeks in April, articles from KHS’s award-winning scholarly publication, The Register, go head-to-head. Follow us on Facebook and/or X for links to pick your favorites. New polls released on 4/15, 4/22, and 4/29. Select the winner on Derby Day, April 4th. 
 
General Twitter Post Derby 2024

Access the articles for FREE on ProjectMUSE.

"In Consequence of Such Escape": Jailbreaks, Criminality, and Unfreedom on the Eve of Civil War by Daniele Celano

In the Beginning: Kentucky and the Failure of the First Anti-Evolution Legislation by Emily Muhich

“We help our clients get and keep basic needs”: The Appalachian Research and Defense Fund and Legal Services in Eastern Kentucky by Jessica Wilkerson 

How Emancipation Redefined White Loyalty in Civil War Kentucky by Lucas R. Somers

"The Historical Society has removed to Massachusetts": Edward Jarvis and the First Kentucky Historical Society by Derek Kane O'Leary

"Television belongs to everyone": The Life, Vision, and Legacy of Kentuckian Julian Goodman by Anthony Harkins

How to Jim Crow a Coalfield: Land, Politics, and Race in Appalachian Kentucky Before World War I by Matthew O’Neal

"America's Native Spirit": Prohibition and the Consolidation of the Kentucky Bourbon Industry by Bailey Browning

"He Has Ever Been Considered, a Good and True Hearted Citizen": Neighborhood and Community in the Wadlington Case by Kevin McPartland

Editorial Advisory Board

2020-2023
Dr. Karida Brown – UCLA
Dr. Anya Jabour – University of Montana
Dr. Joseph Pearson – Union College
Dr. Fay Yarbrough – Rice University

2018-2021
Dr. Jonathan Chu – University of Massachusetts-Boston
Dr. Joy M. Giguere – Pennsylvania State University-York
Dr. Timothy Minchin – La Trobe University (Australia)
Dr. Jessica Wilkerson – West Virginia University

2016-2019
Dr. Chad Montrie – University of Massachusetts-Lowell
Dr. Katherine C. Mooney – Florida State University
Dr. Aaron D. Purcell – Virginia Tech
Dr. Honor Sachs – University of Colorado Boulder

Featured Interviews with Register Contributions

Listen to podcast interviews from the WEKU radio program Eastern Standard, hosted by Tom Martin. Subscribe to download the podcast on iTunes.

  • Chad Montrie, professor of history at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell and former Register board member, discusses activism in the coalfields of eastern Kentucky.
  • Dr. Jonathan Coleman, director of the Faulkner-Morgan Archives, discusses the life of Lige Clarke, an LGBTQ activist in eastern Kentucky featured in a special issue of the Register on Appalachia post-1970.
  • Dr. John Davis, assistant professor, KCTCS Hopkinsville, discusses the history of pandemics, what they have in common, and what we learn as we navigate the coronavirus outbreak.
  • Dr. Anya Jabour, Regents Professor of History at the University of Montana shares the remarkable story of Kentucky-born activist Sophonisba Breckinridge.
  • Dr. Andrew Patrick, assistant professor of history at Centre College, details the work by enslaved Kentuckians in the hemp industry.
  • Dr. Amy Murrell Taylor, professor of history at the University of Kentucky, discusses material culture and partisan loyalty in Civil War Kentucky.
  • Dr. Carole Emberton, associate professor of history at the University at Buffalo on documenting and reconstructing day-to-day lives of the enslaved.
  • Dr. Stephanie Lang interviewed Kathryn Newfont about expanding the Appalachian Kentucky narrative with the aid of historical perspective.
  • Gary O’Dell on horse racing in 18th and 19th century Kentucky.
  • Dr. Anne Marshall and Dr. Joy Giguere on the removal or relocation of Confederate statues.
  • Dr. Jessica Wilkerson, author of “To Live Here You Have to Fight,” discusses the determination of women in Appalachia.
  • Dr. Caroline Peyton (part 1) and (part 2) author of “Kentucky’s Atomic Graveyard: Maxey Flats & Environmental Inequity in Rural America,” (Vol. 115, No. 2 | Spring 2017). The article won two national history awards.
  • Courtney Kisat discusses her award-winning Register article on birth control access in eastern Kentucky. Her article, “Completely Sold on Birth Control”: Rural Extension Work of the Kentucky Birth Control League, 1933–1942 (Vol. 116, Nos. 3&4 | Summer/Autumn 2018) won two national history awards.
  • Zada Komara, Lecturer in the Lewis Honors College at UK, and Kentucky Appalachian Studies colleague interviewed by Dr. Stephanie Lang on coal camps and material culture in Appalachia.
  • Thomas Weyent, Assistant professor at Black Hills State University, shares on Cold War Christmas in Appalachia.
  • Richard Bailey, Chair/Associate Professor at Canisius College and KHS Research Fellow speaks on his research on Wendell Berry.
  • Aaron Purcell, Director, Special Collections Virginia Tech and KHS Research Fellow talks about Cumberland Falls.

Watch interviews with KHS Research Fellows playlist. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive notifications of future interviews.

 

Contents of Current Issue

CONTENTS

Volume 122, No 1 (Winter 2024)

ARTICLES

"low down Rebels": Gendered Rebellion and Gendered Violence in Kentucky's Long Civil War by Anne Brinton

Laughed Out of the Union: Northern Humor and Kentucky, 1860–1877 by Daniel J. Burge

The Kentucky Arsenal Girls: Examining a Civil War Payroll in the "Old Wars Collection" by James Bartek

Kentucky Historical Society Civil War History Day Roundtable by Cameron Boutin, Charlene Fletcher, and Christopher Phillips

BOOK REVIEWS

Print Subscription

Print edition subscriptions are $40 per year for individuals and $60 per year for institutions, plus 6% sales tax. If you are a tax-exempt organization, please include documentation. To subscribe, call 502-564-1792, or email KHSPublications@ky.gov. KHS members receive an electronic subscription as a member benefit. Access the member portal here

Back Issues

Recent back issues are available in print for purchase. Regular issues are $12, double issues are $15, plus 6% sales tax. Call 502-564-1792.

Article Submissions

Although dedicated to Kentucky history, the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society strives to be historiographically relevant to scholars everywhere. We, therefore, seek article submissions that effectively engage in significant scholarly debates. We subject submitted manuscripts to a rigorous review and editing process before we publish them. We welcome submissions on all aspects and time periods of Kentucky history.

Prospective authors should watch for our posted Calls for Papers on H-Kentucky and elsewhere.

To inquire or to submit a manuscript, email Dr. Stephanie Lang, Editor.

Submission Guide

Style Guide