Historical Background

Bryn Mawr Classical Review (BMCR), one of the first electronic journals in the humanities, was started in 1990 to provide timely reviews of books in the classics. To lend solidity, a paper version was produced as well, and the two were issued simultaneously until late 1995, when the electronic reviews began to be published individually more or less as they were received and the paper versions issued four times a year. In 1993 a sister journal, Bryn Mawr Medieval Review (BMMR), was created to review books in medieval studies, and the two journals were combined to form the Bryn Mawr Reviews (BMR). After about two years of activity BMMR became dormant, and toward the end of 1996 both location and management were shifted.^[1] Since then it has become tremendously active, at one point even surpassing BMCR in its monthly output.^[2] Comparisons should be considered with this history in mind. (For more detail, see chapter 24.)