Thank you, Clarksville-Montgomery County, for the warm reception and support you have given our fledgling Second & Commerce quarterly journal. When Volume 1, No. 1 launched in October 2021, we collectively held our breath and hoped for the best. The positive response was immediate and very encouraging to our entire Museum staff.

Bringing a new publication to life is, at best, a very calculated risk. Any one of the myriad moving parts required to produce a magazine can “go south” and leave a publisher in a state of high anxiety. Our first year of publication has proven to be a mix of great exuberance and nail-biting frustration. I must admit that in all my years spent in marketing communications, public relations and publishing, the thrill of seeing ink on paper is still a magical moment.

The S&C editorial team led by our very talented Managing Editor, Becky Wood, has been both diligent and open-minded in searching out and selecting interesting story ideas, then allowing contributing writers to dive deep into their assignments. The resulting compendium of articles that compose the first four issues in Volume 1 has already established a base of evergreen content that S&C will continue to build upon. My desire is that many of our readers accumulate a bookshelf of back issues, because they feel we are connecting them with stories that have context for them… stories of our shared history and culture… stories they want to keep, and perhaps even pass on.

I have often used this phrase when speaking about how a “successful” project happens, and I feel that the initial success of Second & Commerce fits the same pattern. Success happens when opportunity, need and commitment all converge at the right time and place. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

Enjoy Issue No. 1 of Volume 2!

Frank Lott

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR