In their introduction to the first issue of The Middle East Journal in January 1947, the Journal’s editors noted that, except “to a very few Americans,” the Middle East “is essentially terra incognita,” and thus “no apology need be offered for adding a quarterly journal relating to the Middle East.” The Middle East Journal and the Library of Congress will mark 60 years of publication with a morning conference at the Library on February 27, looking at the legacy of the past as well as the challenges of the future in the field of Middle East scholarship