How did you become involved with AJHA?

I found out about the AJHA via American Journalism and the annual conferences. Professor Kathleen Endres, whose work I had long admired, introduced me to several folks at my first AJHA conference many years ago! 

How did you develop your interest in the nineteenth century and media history in the South?

This may be a combination of a couple of different motivations. First, I was born in North Carolina and had a strong interest in the South growing up. That upbringing dovetailed with my father’s interest in the nineteenth century and specifically in early periodicals. He was a literature professor at the University of South Florida and introduced me to the fascinating world of journalism history.

How have you seen your field change since you started?

It has changed a great deal, and for the better in my opinion. We are much more attuned to the journalistic work of marginalized peoples, which has revealed really valuable history, some of which I wrote about in Women Writers and Journalists in the Nineteenth Century South (Cambridge, 2011).

You have been interviewed by a variety of news outlets, podcasts, and public organizations. What advice do you have for other researchers who want to engage in public scholarship?

It is important, of course, to know your audience so that you can pitch your responses the right way. And it is also important to be brief in your answers—something I’m very much still working on!

What hobbies or activities do you enjoy outside of academia?

I am a big baseball fan and also enjoy traveling and hiking.

Jonathan Daniel Wells is a professor of history in the departments of Afroamerican and African Studies, history, and the Residential College at the University of Michigan. His most recent publication The New York Kidnapping Club: Wall Street and Slavery before the Civil War (2020) won the New York Library Society Book Award 2020-2021 and the Victorian Society Book Award.