Welcome to the summer issue of Quaker Studies, with apologies for the delay in publication. I am delighted to say that the extra couple of months have meant that this issue is able to present a range of excellent scholarship: five peer reviewed articles, two research notes, and three book reviews. I’m very grateful to the authors, peer reviewers, copy editors, and typesetters, and Erica Canela our book reviews editor, all of whom worked with me to get this issue ready as speedily as possible without compromising the care and attention academic work requires at every stage.

This is an open issue rather than one with a specific theme, which enables us to demonstrate the range of topics which are relevant to Quaker studies as a discipline. The journal is also open for submissions, on all aspects of Quaker history, sociology, theology, and more: if you are researching Quakers and wondering whether your work would be a fit, the answer is probably yes. Please contact me at g.rhiannon@bham.ac.uk if you would like to explore the specifics.

We also have an open call for submissions for the special issue for winter 2026, which will be guest edited by Lily Chadwick. In light of the upcoming semiquincentennial anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the issue will focus on liberty, equality, justice and independence, broadly conceived. Again, you are welcome to contact me about this, or Lily Chadwick at lily.chadwick@woodbrooke.org.uk. Article submissions are due 30 January 2026.

If there is a theme in this issue’s articles, it might be the interrogation of historical resources from multiple perspectives. Lily Chadwick explores how Quaker minutes can support work on the history of emotions (relevant to the review of Judith Roads’ new edited volume of minutes), while Penelope Cummins’ research note examines the unreliable claims made about a teapot and Jennifer Gray’s looks at how Arch Street meeting house is presenting history to visitors in new ways.

Francis Rundall assesses the extent to which allegations of Roman Catholicism made against early Quakers were valid, while Paul Harris considers the various sources and significance of religious authority within Quakerism and Hilary Anthony discusses the complexities Quakers found in the process of becoming an antislavery body. In another question about the application of Quaker faith, Sarah Ekhart’s study of diversity, equity and inclusion in Quaker schools gives an insight into one recent moment in a rapidly developing situation. Two further book reviews bring us up to today: one of Brian Blackmore’s history of Quaker work for gay liberation in the mid twentieth century, and the other of Zachary Moon’s contemporary Quaker pastoral theology.

I hope you find this issue as interesting to read as I have.