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Introduction

This issue marks the 18th anniversary of Voces Novae: Chapman University Historical Review, the award-winning, student-run e-journal published by the Alpha Mu Gamma Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta. The contributors of this issue dedicated over a year of their undergraduate studies to researching and developing groundbreaking papers, each contributing to the history of the world. Ranging from the role of political murals in Northern Ireland to the strategic importance of women airforce pilots in World War II, this edition of the journal looks deeply into how our history has shaped the world we live in today.

We would like to thank the graduating class of history students in 2026, each of whom used their time in the classroom to challenge existing historical understandings and push further into the discourse of history. We would also like to thank our faculty in the History Department, as without them, the papers developed and published in this issue would never have been imagined. Special gratitude goes to our professors that served as mentors for our class, including Dr. Jeffery Koerber, Dr. Alexander Bay, and Dr. Kyle Longley.

Many thanks to our faculty advisor, Dr. Shira Klein, who continues to help facilitate the acquisition of our stellar editing team, and to Kristin Laughtin-Dunker for helping us navigate the publication process.

Finally, our sincerest gratitude goes to our editing team. Our general editors worked tirelessly to make each paper ready for publication. To our junior and sophomore editors — Emma Dinan, Kristin Bauzon, Victoria George, Hailey Zuniga— you not only helped edit, process, and prepare these papers, but contributed to the publishing of this journal. Your hard work does not go unnoticed, and we cannot wait to see how you put together the next issue.

Sincerely,
Luke Schamber and Matthew Chin, Senior Editors