ABSTRACT
In 1895, University of Wisconsin historian Frederick Jackson Turner and former Harvard historian Henry Adams were invited to contribute essays to the inaugural edition of the American Historical Review, the flagship publication of the American Historical Association. Beyond their scholarly credentials, peers recognized both men as representatives of distinct sections – Adams the patrician East, Turner the democratic West. Review editor John Franklin Jameson explained to Turner the regional implications of his request: “We wish to make [the Review] obviously and from the first, an organ representative of the historical scholarship of all sections of the country alike. It is deemed essential that the first numbers...shall contain an article by a representative historical scholar of the West, and, if he is willing, upon some topic of Western history or connected therewith.” 1 Accordingly, Turner appeared in the first edition of the Review, as did Adams. From that point on, their professional fortunes diverged widely. Turner, despite publishing little, became the most celebrated historian of his generation while the more prolific Adams exerted comparatively little influence on the historical profession.
