Our celebratory issue of History of Humanities is out! We celebrate 10 years of our journal by highlighting the remarkable development of a field that, just over a decade ago, was barely recognized as a distinct academic discipline. Today, the history of the humanities occupies a recognized space within academia and has become a thriving, global field of study.
We are keenly aware that we celebrate this milestone at a time when the world is facing a variety of societal, political and ecological crises. Negative trends in the academic world to which the humanities are especially vulnerable continue to be a threat to our emergent field. Yet, the resilience of our scholarly community and the growing recognition of the value of our field give us confidence that History of Humanities will continue to thrive and expand.
If the history of the humanities has revealed anything, it is our shared commitment to humanistic values. As humanists, we must remain connected, drawing inspiration from the Republic of Letters, a tradition that dates back to the time of Isotta Nogarola and Desiderius Erasmus. Even when nations were at war and mutual hatred ran deep, humanists continued to write to one another and extend intellectual hospitality. Let us uphold that legacy—and perhaps even find some solace in it!
Read our celebratory issue here: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/hoh/2025/10/1. It contains two Themes: “Race” in Cultural Knowledge Production and Papers from the MOH X Conference!