The Midwest Art History Society is proud to announce Venue, a peer-reviewed digital journal.

The journal serves as a venue for the publication of outstanding peer-reviewed and edited content primarily relating to themes of significance to the Midwest Art History Society (MAHS) and its members. Material may take the form of scholarly essays on a chosen art historical theme or national contemporary issue that develops based on the conference’s keynote lecture and/or a group of related sessions, a foundational figure in MAHS’s history, a particular Midwestern art collection, or historiography of art historical scholarship. Although MAHS was originally founded in 1973 as a Midwest organization, its board of directors, membership, and conference participants are drawn from across the country. It is a recognized affiliated society of the College Art Association. As an organization, it highlights and supports scholars, providing this platform for publishing peer-reviewed research.

The Midwest Art History Society brings together academic, museum-based, and independent art historians in the common goal of scholarly inquiry and the exchange of ideas. As part of its mission to publish appropriate journals of a scholarly, critical or informative nature and to promote and disseminate compelling and timely art historical research, MAHS developed Venue for scholars at various levels of professional accomplishment (emerging to established; from academic, the museum world, and independent scholarship) from across the United States and abroad. “One of the Board of Directors’ standing goals has been to offer additional publication opportunities to both academic and museum professionals, and the ability to once again support scholarship in the field of art history inspires us and reinvigorates our work,” Dr. Amy Morris, President, Midwest Art History Society.

Rate of Publication

This journal aims to publish on a biennial basis, allowing time between issues for establishing a theme and soliciting appropriate content. Venue exists in the Texas Digital Library powered by Open Journal System with the generous support of Baylor University, Midwest Art History Society, and VGreen Design. It is free, online, and open access.

The inaugural volume of Venue, published on August 31, 2022, is devoted to selections from the Society’s ongoing sessions at the annual meeting of the College Art Association devoted to “Icons of the Midwest.” Each session focuses on major works of art housed in Midwestern collections, examined using a variety of methodological tools. [See Fig. 1 and https://venuemahs-ojs-baylor.tdl.org/venuemahs/issue/view/7 ]

Volume 2 includes four articles that have undergone single-blind external peer review and was published on September 1, 2024. These articles offer a detailed look into recent expansions and reinstallation of the Indigenous collections at several Midwestern museums. There are also four catalog and eight exhibition reviews in the second volume. [See Fig. 2 and https://venuemahs-ojs-baylor.tdl.org/venuemahs/issue/view/8 ]

Volume 3 is in production with a publication date of September 1, 2026. It will feature articles submitted by emerging scholars who have previously presented their work at the annual conference of MAHS. Other submissions are welcome at this time.

Publication Information

This journal exists in the Texas Digital Library powered by Open Journal System with the support of Baylor University. All articles are single-blind peer reviewed. Interested in submitting to this journal? Please review the About the Journal page for the journal's section policies, as well as the Author Guidelines. If you have any questions or are interested in submitting your art historical scholarship, please contact Founding Editor in Chief, Heidi J. Hornik, (Heidi_Hornik@baylor.edu). You may also contact Volume Editor, Judith W. Mann or Series Editor, Cheryl Snay. Authors will register with the journal prior to submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the five-step process. All single-blind peer review and editing is completed through the online system.

If you would like to sign up for the publishing notification service for this journal, use the Register link (also located at the top of the home page for the journal). This registration will result in the reader receiving the Table of Contents by email for each new issue of the journal. This list also allows the journal to claim a certain level of support or readership. See the journal's Privacy Statement, which assures readers that their name and email address will not be used for other purposes.