Although small towns in America differ significantly in terms of how well they are maintained, there has been little scholarly work on what community factors relate to upkeep. In this research, we search for the correlates of town maintenance using data from a unique study of 99 small Iowa towns. The data include visual assessments of the towns, citizen responses to random sample attitudinal surveys, and U.S. census information. When these data are analyzed, the results show that better kept towns are associated with (a) higher median family incomes, (b) larger populations, (c) higher percentages of elderly, (d) fewer commuters, (e) stronger psychological attachment to the community, and (f) more community improvement activity. The implications of these findings are discussed.

This article provides a historical perspective on the development of scholarly writing in academic advising beginning in 1972 with some of the first journal articles solely devoted to advising and continuing through the initial 20 years of the NACADA Journal—the premier advising publication venue during the period. An important part of the evolution of advising's scholarly writing was the vision and perspective of each NACADA Journal editor. Each brought a distinct set of academic experiences to the job, each defined scholarship, and especially research, differently. Early (1972–2001) scholarly articles and the editors who published them shaped academic advising's literature base. This article analyzes the contributions made by these early articles and editors.