Through personal essays, interviews, and conversations, contributors to this issue reflect on their early introductions to the Middle Ages and medievalism–and particularly on the ways that medievalisms shaped their early understandings of the Middle Ages. Some medievalists are introduced to the period as a child through a combination of fairytale, fantasy, and history in the form of stories, films, games, theme parks, and more. Others may come to the field of study by experiencing art and architecture–historical and historicizing–in museums, travel, or the classroom. The reflections in this issue celebrate such journeys, as well as those that may not have been positive experiences. Some contributions acknowledge and grapple with the ways that racist, sexist, and homo/transphobic perceptions of the medieval period shape current understandings of the Medieval and medievalism. Others reflect on how such medievalisms provided paths to expanding access to, or the scholarly study of, the global Middle Ages.