The quarterly journal American Literature was founded in 1928 by Jay Broadus Hubbell as a joint effort of the Modern Language Association's American Literature Group (later Section) and Duke University (it is published by Duke Press). The journal was the first to take American literature as its exclusive subject.
Hubbell served as Chairman of the Board of Editors 1929-1954; Clarence Gohdes 1954-1969; Arlin Turner 1969-1979; Edwin Cady 1979-1985; Louis Budd 1985-1990; Cathy Davidson took over in 1990. The size of the board of editors (in addition to the Chairman and a Managing or Associate Editor) began at four, became eight in 1960, and 12 in 1990. Members must be approved by the American Literature Section. The membership of the Board at any given time can be found at the front of issues of the journal. How commentary by members of the Board is distributed through the collection is detailed in the accompanying guide to the Editorial Comments files.
Today the journal retains most of its original form. It consists of scholarly articles on American literature, shorter pieces (usually called Notes ), long and brief book reviews, and increasingly occasional unpublished manuscripts by American writers. Because such information was available in a more thorough form elsewhere, annotated bibliographies and a listing of articles on American literature in current periodicals stopped appearing in the early 1970s.
In 1964 Norman Foerster, a major literary scholar of the Hubbell generation, endowed an annual award (The Foerster Prize) for the best article published in American Literature each year. The Jay B. Hubbell Medallion was established that same year, initially to recognize Hubbell's own contributions to the field but thereafter as a sort of lifetime achievement award. Though administered by the American Literature Section, overlapping membership means that those involved with the journal often have had much to do with the Hubbell Medallion (as both recipients and selectors).
From the guide to the American Literature, Records, 1927-2000s, (Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library)
