The year 2024 marks the 30th Anniversary of Jabberwocky here at UMass. If this news is surprising to you, don’t worry, you’re not alone.
This semester as part of my advanced expository writing class, English 450, I was tasked with writing a personal essay that included some aspects of UMass history from the special collections or UMass archives. Earlier this semester I interviewed Grace Holland, one of the Co-Editors-In-Chief of Jabberwocky, the official student-run undergraduate literary journal. My meetings with both my faculty coordinator Janine Solberg and with Grace led to the realization that none of us knew when Jabberwocky was first established. So it followed naturally that I’d use this essay as an opportunity to go down a rabbit hole in search of Jabberwocky’s origin.
Into the Archives
As a whole class we ventured over to the W.E.B Du Bois Library and waited patiently for an elevator, one which would take us to floor 25, home of the Special Collections and University Archives. I was thrilled to make this trip: if anyone was going to have the information I sought, the archives would be it. To my dismay as I searched online through the digital archives and list of available physical archives, I found almost nothing. Not a single mention of Jabberwocky beyond a few small advertisements in the UMass Daily Collegian.
Despite my dismay, which thankfully did not land me in a pool of tears, I was still hopeful that something would turn up, so I asked archivist Annie Sollinger, who was helping my class, for assistance. She offered to look in the physical archives for anything that wasn’t listed online. She returned momentarily with a small box of hugely important material. Inside the small box were the first three editions of Jabberwocky (from 1994, 1995, and 1996) and some subsequent editions as well.
Inside the 1994 edition, it says:
Jabberwocky has been the English Club’s most consuming project this semester. The idea of producing a literary journal came to us last semester as an alternative to sponsoring a creative writing contest. While a writing contest acknowledges a handful of outstanding student writers with monetary prizes, a journal reaches a greater number of students and honors the artistic achievements. A journal also lends visibility to the English Department, the Undergraduate English Club, and in general the UMass community. For these reasons, the English Club is proud to see the first printing of Jabberwocky. (Jabberwocky, 1994)
This wonderfully surprising discovery presented itself at the perfect time as we now know that this year, 2024, marks the thirtieth anniversary of the journal’s existence. The realization that this journal has persisted for this long and survived a global pandemic says a great deal about UMass students' longlasting dedication to uplifting student voices, creative expression, and a love for literary and artistic pursuits.
Time, Dedication, and Transformation
The journal's longevity also illustrates that UMass students don’t shy away from difficult work. Publishing a student literary journal is no small task. Through interviewing Grace, I learned just how much work the Jabberwocky team takes on. They sort submissions, determine which will be published, edit for grammar and spelling, use design programs to format the journal, organize a launch party, communicate with faculty advisors, and so much more. It’s easy to see just how much work a journal can take when looking at the first edition of Jabberwocky. The journal lists thirty people on the editorial board, not including the faculty advisors who gave their support and those who donated money. The journal is a frabjous (fabulous and joyous) amalgamation of many people’s dedication and hard work.
Looking at a journal such as this one, it can be interesting to consider things that have changed throughout the years—obvious changes as well as more subtle ones. One of the most immediately apparent changes is the journal’s appearance. Below are images of the 1994 cover (left) and the 2024 cover (right).
There are some stark differences in terms of the binding, the typeface or font, and the fact that there’s no image on the 1994 edition. Another obvious change is the inclusion of visual media submissions (photography, digital art, collage, etc) in later editions. If you flip through the early editions of Jabberwocky until at least 2008, you will see that they include many different types of literary submissions including poems, prose, and more but no visual works.
One of the subtle changes that I myself only became aware of this semester is the change from Jabberwocky being run by The English Club to it being its own separate entity now that the club is no longer active. Another subtle yet important change is the shift from the Jabberwocky staff being a more informal group where people came and went to a more editorially driven and focused group. All these changes, whether it be one people notice immediately or one they can only learn about through researching the journal, are representative of the growth the journal has seen over the years.
Alumni Recollections
Despite all these transformations, one constant is Jabberwocky’s ability to create a sense of community amongst UMass’s undergraduate students. Whether as a team member, someone who submits their work, or a reader, Jabberwocky provides students with a way to get involved.
Thinking about community reminded me of UMass's vast alumni network, so I decided to use this as an opportunity to reach out to alumni who had been involved with Jabberwocky, particularly members of the 1994 editorial board. I wanted the opportunity to ask them how Jabberwocky contributed to their experience as English majors and about significant moments or memories they might recall. Through my search, I was able to find several board members who were willing to speak with me about their experience with the journal. I asked them how Jabberwocky contributed to their experiences as English majors and their favorite memories from working on Jabberwocky.
Hillary Corbett, who graduated from UMass in 1996 and was president of the English Club and a Jabberwocky editor from 1994-1995, shared this memory: "Picking up the copies of the first issue at the printer was definitely great! We did the layout and typesetting ourselves, and of course it was an all-night, last minute endeavor to get the files to the copy shop for printing. I remember being really excited to see them!"
Corbett also described how the experience helped her feel more at home: "Jabberwocky and the English Club more broadly gave me a sense of belonging—UMass is huge, obviously, and that group became my 'people.' Although Jabberwocky wasn't the only literary magazine on campus at the time, I really liked that we were giving more students the opportunity to get published."
"And it was good leadership experience that, on reflection, continued to serve me well after graduating," Corbett explained. "Having the editorial and publication design experience also gave me some real-world job skills—although I didn't go into publishing after graduation, I do work as a freelancer in the field now, so it was a good background to have!"
Jennifer Errick, who also graduated from UMass in 1996 and was the winner of the Sanderson Essay Contest in 1995, said: "I really enjoyed reading the wide range of poems and prose that students submitted to the journal. You never knew what the team would review week to week, and it helped my own creative process as a writer to see how other students approached different topics."
"My strongest memory was early on in the semester. On one of our first days gathering to look at submissions, we were asked to judge a variety of pieces, but unknown to us, it was a test—one poem that we all decided was unworthy of the journal turned out to be a William Carlos Williams piece. The editor wanted us to broaden our senses and not dismiss a poem out of hand without giving it some focus and seeking to relate to it," Errick recalled. "I still think of that poem sometimes, the one of the cat stepping into the flowerpot, when I do a double-take and realize the beauty in a piece of art that I hadn't immediately appreciated.
Current Staff Share Their Thoughts
I also wanted to speak to some current staff members. To them I asked, what is your favorite thing about being a staff member?
River Riddle, a senior studying comparative literature and currently an associate editor of Jabberwocky said: "My favorite thing about Jabberwocky is the way in which we conduct reviewing submissions. Being able to freely discuss our opinions about each piece, and having genuine back and forth discussions on how a submission may or may not fit in the journal, is super fun!"
River added: "I enjoy hearing a wide array of perspectives and being exposed to the diverse writing of the undergraduate student body."
Mary El Vaughan who is a junior double majoring in Linguistics and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, as well as a Co-Editor-In-Chief of Jabberwocky said: "My favorite thing about being a Jabberwocky staff member is getting to see all the different things that people submit to us."
"I was on the criticism/nonfiction team my freshman year, and I loved the way that those terms were taken more broadly than I had been expecting," Mary El explained. "We got movie reviews, personal essays, literary criticism, essays on wider societal issues, and so on. Plus, my team all had different approaches we took in reviewing each piece, and so talking about what each of us noticed or how we had each understood the piece made me feel like both a better writer and reader. As Managing Editor last year, I got to see all the pieces that came in (even if I couldn't possibly read all of them) and see the wide variety of topics that attract UMass students."
"I know my answer is kind of complicated," Mary El continued, "but I think a combination of seeing that 'writing' means so many different things to so many different people and also getting to work with some truly incredible people who have insights I would never think of."
These quotes clearly show how impactful Jabberwocky has been as a place for people to find community as well as one that nurtures literary and artistic talent. I hope this article inspires students to read Jabberwocky, submit their work, consider joining the team, and to follow their curiosity and see where it leads them as I did.
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