Mark Bauman to Receive Recognition for Research

The 20th annual volume of the Southern Jewish Historical Society’s scholarly journal, Southern Jewish History, features a retrospective honoring its editor, Atlantan Mark Bauman.

Drawing on interviews with authors and colleagues about Bauman’s impact on the field of Southern Jewish historical research, Steve Whitfield, professor emeritus of American civilization at Brandeis University, writes that Bauman’s role “in furthering the understanding of the Southern Jewish experience has been as incontestable as it has been inescapable.”

In 1996 Solomon Breibart, Eli Evans, Belinda Gergel, Patricia LaPointe, Samuel Proctor, Saul Viener, Bernard Wax, Beryl Weiner and Berkley Kalin promoted the idea for a journal. On becoming editor, Bauman determined that it would, Whitfield writes, “showcase scholarship, while still appealing to the laypeople whose loyalty remains pivotal to the vitality of the SJHS.”

Bauman, now a retired professor of history, has been the only editor and has reviewed every article since 1998. He pushed to have articles peer-reviewed and for editorial board membership to be rotated to expand participation within the society.

Whitfield’s article quotes numerous contributors to the journal about Bauman’s influence on them and the study of Southern Jewish history. Scott Langston, a professor of religion at Texas Christian University, says Bauman “has cast a wide net in facilitating the research of others and making it available in the journal’s pages.”

The journal is a benefit of society membership and available for purchase at www.jewishsouth.org.