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Announcing: THE BACKCOUNTRY: A Multidisciplinary Forum on Early American
Frontiers.
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        Since the publication of Robert Mitchell's pathbreaking
_Commercialism and Frontier_, there has been an explosion of interest and
scholarship in the development of America's internal frontier during the
18th and early 19th centuries.  Increasingly convinced that the study of
the post-settlement migrations into the interior of the American
continent provided the key to understanding the development of American
culture and society, scholars have produced an enormous amount of new
research into the early American frontier.  Coalescing around the general
term "Backcountry", these studies have opened new ground into the history of
American migration, race and ethnic relations, economic development, and
political culture.  Over the past several years, a series of biennial
backcountry conferences have revealed an extent of interest in the field
which demanded a new level of discussion and cooperation.

        To further that discussion, THE BACKCOUNTRY was launched.  Building
on the scholarly interest developed at the recent backcountry conferences,
THE BACKCOUNTRY is a newsletter and resource which hopes to increase
cooperation and the exchange of ideas and information among scholars of
all disciplines, within academia, in public history, and among the
general public, interested in the early american frontier.

        THE BACKCOUNTRY hopes to cover the internal migrations in North
America between 1492 and the outbreak of the Civil War, including the
causes of the movement of peoples, the cultures they carried with them
and those they developed in frontier regions, their economies and
material life, their relations with peoples of other racial, ethnic, and
religious groups, and the consequences of these migrations to the
subsequent course of American history.

        Regular features of THE BACKCOUNTRY include:

Lead articles analyzing major developments in the field.
Backcountry bibliography
Article and book reviews
Interviews with leading backcountry scholars
Conference announcements, CFP's, and conference reports
Museum exhibits
and Information on manuscript resources

        Recent issues have included reviews of Faragher's _Daniel Boone_
and Sara Hughes _Surveyors and Statesmen_, conference announcements and
CFP's, and the ever-popular BACKCOUNTRY bibliographies.

        THE BACKCOUNTRY is organized along disciplinary lines, with
section editors coordinating materials from the scholars of various
fields involved in backcountry research.  Current section editors include:

Archaeology: David Colin Crass, Savannah River Archaeological Research
Program (University of South Carolina).
Archives: Fred J. Hay, Appalachian State University.
Family History: Dorothy Boyd-Rush, James Madison University.
Geography: Open.
History: Kenneth Koons, Virginia Military Institute.
Literature and Folklife: Open.
Material Culture: Bradford Rauschenberg, Museum of Early Southern
Decorative Arts.
Public History: Tyler Blethen, Mountain Heritage Center (Western Carolina
University).

        THE BACKCOUNTRY is currently being published with grant
assistance from the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program, and
has been being sent this year gratis to a brief mailing list of possibly
interested persons.  In order to continue its publication, we are
developing a list of regular subscribers.  THE BACKCOUNTRY is published
quarterly, and the annual subscription rate is five dollars ($5).  If you
would like to subscribe, send a check for the above amoung with your mailing
address to:

Circulation Manager
THE BACKCOUNTRY
P.O. Box 1518
Williamsburg, Va  23187-1518

        THE BACKCOUNTRY is edited by Lynn A. Nelson, Sheila R. Phipps,
and David A. Rawson of the College of William and Mary.  If you have any
questions about the newsletter, or would like to contribute, you can
reach us by regular mail as "The Editors" at the above address, or by
e-mail at:

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