(AP) — A group of historians is warning of the loss of Middle America’s contemporary history and calling for a revival of academic study of the Midwest.

The group is launching a new academic journal of Midwest history next month and a new Midwest history association in the fall — the first in decades with that sole focus.

Jon Lauck is the chairman of the Midwest History Working Group and author of “The Lost Region: Toward a Revival of Midwestern History.”

He says that with no Midwest-focused academic association or journal, there is “a huge disincentive to write any kind of formal academic research about the Midwest, because there’s no place to send it.”