Great Plains Quarterly

In 1981, noted historian Frederick C. Luebke edited the first issue of Great Plains Quarterly. In his editorial introduction, he wrote

The Center for Great Plains Studies has several purposes in publishing the Great Plains Quarterly. Its general purpose is to use this means to promote appreciation of the history and culture of the people of the Great Plains and to explore their contemporary social, economic, and political problems. The Center seeks further to stimulate research in the Great Plains region by providing a publishing outlet for scholars interested in the past, present, and future of the region. [GPQ 1981 (1:1:3)]

Great Plains Quarterly is published four times a year and includes peer-reviewed articles on a wide variety of regional topics. Great Plains Quarterly seeks a readership of scholars and interested laypersons, and publishes articles on history, literature, culture, and social issues relevant to the Great Plains, which include Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. The journal is edited by a faculty member from the University of Nebraska and includes a distinguished international board of advisory editors. Recent issues include articles on Blackfeet Reservation and Glacier National Park, transient services in Kansas during 1933-35, maps of the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Reservation, sea and prairiescapes in contemporary art, racial violence in Kansas, and critical essays on Mari Sandoz and Willa Cather.


EditorRamón Guerra, Associate Professor of English, University of Nebraska at Omaha

Book Review EditorRebecca Buller, Geography, UNL

Review Essays EditorGeorge E. Wolf, Emeritus, Department of English, UNL 

GPQ email


Now accepting creative nonfiction submissions

With its diverse landscape, dynamic urban communities and rural populations, and rich, multi-cultural history, the Great Plains has inspired writers and artists for generations. To broaden Great Plains Quarterly's stated mission to "promote appreciation of the history and culture of the people of the Great Plains and to explore their contemporary social, economic, and political problems," we seek creative nonfiction submissions that celebrate, question, explore, and discover this unique region. What is creative nonfiction? We take our definition from Creative Nonfiction magazine: "True stories, well told." We invite submissions of no more than 15,000 words (smaller submissions will be considered), double-spaced, using Microsoft Word. If submitting photos as part of your submission, we must have copyright permission to publish them. We do not accept work currently under consideration by other journals or publications, or that have been previously published elsewhere. Authors in doubt about what constitutes prior publication should consult the editor. This work will not be peer reviewed, but will be judged on its merits alone. Only email submissions will be considered. Please send your work to gpq@unl.edu. If you have questions about the suitability of a submission, we will be happy to answer them. We look forward to reading your work!

New award

In 2022, The Center for Great Plains Studies instituted the Charles A. Braithwaite Award for Student Publication in conjunction with Charles and Dawn Braithwaite. This award distinguishes the best article published by a student in Great Plains Quarterly during a volume year. This student award will be offered annually beginning with submissions included in Volume 43 of the journal; all articles submitted to Great Plains Quarterly while the author was a student are eligible for this award. Judges are drawn from the Publication Committee of the Board of Governors for the Center for Great Plains Studies. The award will be presented at the Center for Great Plains Studies’ annual meeting of Fellows and includes a cash stipend of $300. Charles A. Braithwaite was the longest-serving editor for GPQ; he served at this position for 20 years, retiring in 2021. A Senior Lecturer at UNL’s Department of Communication Studies for 21 years, he was a Fellow and active scholar of the Center for Great Plains Studies doing work in the areas relevant to the center, including the award-winning book, African Americans on the Great Plains: An Anthology (Univ. of Nebraska Press: 2009).


PERMISSIONS

For permission inquiries, please visit UNL Press


Instructions for accessing GPQ via Project MUSE:

On-Campus Instructions

If you’re on any University of Nebraska campus (with the exception of UNMC) and connected to the Internet network, you’ll automatically be recognized as being part of the Project MUSE network, and you’ll be able to view the journals with no additional steps. Simply visit Project MUSE’s website at http://muse.jhu.edu/, then do a search for Great Plains Quarterly. The link to the issue should appear.

*Note: Retired emeriti who no longer have their NU ID number can contact their Department PAF Coordinator (personnel action coordinator) who can look up the NU ID number. 

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3) You will then have to provide your UNO NU ID number and password for the library. If you have not yet set a password, click on the Set/reset password link to do so. You will be taken to the Project MUSE site. Do a search for Great Plains Quarterly.

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ACCESS FOR ASSOCIATE FELLOWS

Access to Project Muse

If you are not a subscriber to Project MUSE, here are two ways to access it:

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Educational Resources:

Black History Flyer

Five Voices, One Place
GPQ Vol. 21, No. 4 (Fall 2001)

Excerpt from a Biography of Grace Abbott
GPQ Vol. 23, No. 2 (Spring 2003)

Texas Folk Songs
GPQ Vol. 30, No. 3 (Summer 2010)

The Buffalo Skinners.”
Ken Baake, vocals and fretless banjo / Eric Prust, tension ring model. 2010.

Dakota Land.” Ken Baake, vocals and fretless banjo / Eric Prust, tension ring model. 2010.

Go in the Wilderness.”
Ken Baake, vocals and nylon string Yamaha guitar / Jenny Lee Shelton, vocals. 2010.

Hell in Texas.” Ken Baake, vocals and nylon string Yamaha guitar. 2010.

The Hellbound Train.”
Ken Baake, vocals / steel string banjo / Deering Goodtime five-string banjo. 2010.

Lonesome Valley.”
Ken Baake, vocals and nylon string Yamaha guitar / Jenny Lee Shelton, vocals. 2010.


Review Essay:
Custer, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and the Little Bighorn

GPQ Vol. 32, No.1 (Winter 2012)