Our illustration depicts the initial words of the Vulgate version of the Gospel of Luke, “Quoniam quidem multi conati sunt ordinare narrationem quae in nobis completae sunt rerum” (“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us”). Initial by Kathryn Finter.

Although the things accomplished among us in the Medieval Association of the Pacific are not so momentous as those recounted in the gospels and although not many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the history of MAP, nevertheless, an overview of MAP's goals and accomplishments reveals a parallel, even if less significant, record of collective efforts and shifting emphases contributing to an ongoing consistent enterprise: providing a western locus for interdisciplinary conversations about the Middle Ages. For the past 32 years, although most conferences met in California, a growing number of medievalists have traveled to MAP meetings as far north as Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia, as far west and south as Hawaii, and as far east as Tucson, Arizona. MAP is governed by a Council and a Constitution.