Letter from the Editor

Abstract

Editorial| May 01 2023 Letter from the Editor Mary Ann Irwin Mary Ann Irwin Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar California History (2023) 100 (2): 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2023.100.2.1 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Mary Ann Irwin; Letter from the Editor. California History 1 May 2023; 100 (2): 1–3. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2023.100.2.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentCalifornia History Search This issue addresses the fundamental role of controversy in history. We expect Michael F. Magliari’s “The California Indian Scalp Bounty Myth: Evidence of Genocide or Just Faulty Scholarship?” to provoke controversy. In it, Magliari debunks an assertion that has become commonplace in histories of the newly formed state of California: that white Americans were so determined to exterminate California’s Indigenous population that state, county, and other officials appropriated funds and paid cash bounties to so-called “Indian hunters” for scalps, heads, and other Native American body parts. Magliari traces this evolving narrative through multiple secondary sources, searching for the primary source evidence upon which these claims were originally based. His article records the results of that careful search. We invite scholars of California history to debate Magliari’s conclusions. This is our job as historians: we argue with one another. It is our duty, as scholars, to seek the truth and to... You do not currently have access to this content.