.jpg)
November 19, 2009
Grant of the Week: Dissertation Year Fellowships from the Truman Library
The Harry S. Truman Library & Museum offers up to two Dissertation Year Fellowship grants of $16,000 annually to support graduate students working on some aspect of the life and career of Harry S. Truman or of the public and foreign policy issues which were prominent during the Truman years. Fellowship awardees may accept a competing fellowship or major grant from another institution with if certain stipulations are met. Applicants should have substantially completed their research and be prepared to devote full time to writing their dissertation. Preference will be given to projects based on extensive research at the Truman Library. Deadline: February 1.
November 18, 2009
What We’re Reading: November 19, 2009 Edition
We start off this week with some news items: the Committee on Lesbian and Gay History has put out a press release for the 2010 AHA Annual Meeting and Georgetown University has a new masters in global history. Then, we look at the future of print: Syracuse University is keeping its “little used” books, Tom Peters at Library Journal weighs in, and some history students switch to the Kindle. We also link to a number of interviews this week. Hear from Richard Moe, individuals from the Depression and WWII, and editors Mark Philip Bradley and Marilyn Young. Three articles tackle a variety of topics: academic writing, the history of the internet, and the end of the ‘00s. And finally, take a look at Lincoln through dance, view lesser known photos from the JFK investigation, and see remembrances of Veteran’s Day around the world with the Boston Globe’s Big Picture blog.
News
- CLGH Press Release
The Committee on Lesbian and Gay History, an affiliate of the AHA, has posted a press release about the 2010 AHA Annual Meeting and the Manchester Grand Hyatt. - Georgetown to Offer New Joint Master’s in Global History with King’s College London
Georgetown University has announced it will offer a new master of arts in global history with King’s College London.
The Future of Print
- In Face of Professors’ ‘Fury,’ Syracuse U. Library Will Keep Books on Shelves
The Chronicle reports on humanities professors successfully resisting an effort to remove "little used" volumes from the stacks at the Syracuse University Library. This suggests some of the challenges for libraries facing pressures to serve different constituencies with limited space, and historians’ traditional methods of browsing in the stacks. Inside Higher Ed also covered this story, with their article, “A Win for the Stacks.” - As the book changes form, the library must champion its own power base—readers
This article relates to the one above. In it Tom Peters advises librarians that they "cannot rest on our pulpy laurels." He suggests a reader-centered librarianship. - History class goes paperless by piloting new Kindle DX
“When students sat down for their first day of Dr. Vincent Arnold’s history class in September, instead of being handed a syllabus, all twenty-eight students were given a brand new Kindle DX. No textbooks required. History 131 ‘European History in Perspective to 1500’ was the class selected to pilot a two-year program to compare using kindles to ordinary textbooks.”
Interviews
- Preservationist Richard Moe on saving America’s important places
In an interview with Minnesota Public Radio, Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and 2007 Theodore Roosevelt-Wilson award winner, spoke about the preservation’s importance, community revitalization, and his upcoming retirement. Hat tip. - Voices of History
Hear personal histories from people who lived through World War II and the Great Depression. A few of these stories include: “Living on wings of freedom,” “Thank you, veterans,” “She lives artfully,” and “A career of judgment days.” - New Books in History Podcast of Making Sense of the Vietnam Wars
The National History Center announces a new podcast from New Books in History. This one includes an interview with Mark Philip Bradley and Marilyn Young, the editors of the Making Sense of the Vietnam Wars.
Articles
- Defending the academicians
At the Washington Post, Professor Gordon S. Wood explains that “advising academic historians that they have to write more stimulating prose if they want to enlarge their readership misses the point.” He takes a look at narrative versus analytic history and the challenges academic historians face in finding an audience. - The History of the Internet in a Nutshell
Cameron Chapman at the Six Revisions blog presents “a brief history of the Internet, including important dates, people, projects, sites, and other information that should give you at least a partial picture of what this thing we call the Internet really is, and where it came from.” - Naming the ’00s
In just a little over a month the first decade of the 21st century officially becomes history. How will the ‘00s be branded?
Dance
- Lincoln’s History, Melded With a Choreographer’s
“Past, present, future. History, memory, experience. The recasting of history through memory and experience.” Enjoy a choreographic journey through Lincoln’s history, where spoken text splices dramatic dance. Sample the experience of the dance through a clip from Serenade/TheProposition.
Photos
- U. of North Texas Catalogs the Photos of the JFK Investigation You Haven’t Seen
The Chronicle takes a look at the University of North Texas’ “digital catalog of photos from the Dallas Police Department’s investigation of the John F. Kennedy assassination.” - Armistice Day Remembrances
The Boston Globe Big Picture blog captures some beautiful images from Veterans Day.
Contributors: Elisabeth Grant, Vernon Horn, Arnita Jones, Jessica Pritchard, and Robert B. Townsend
November 17, 2009
Resources for Minority Historians
The American Historical Association is pleased to announce the creation of the “Resources for Minority Historians” portal web page. The page brings together important Perspectives on History articles on the racial/ethnic disparity in the historical profession and the best practices guide for promoting equity for minority historians in the academy. It also contains relevant AHA statements and reports on affirmative action and racial and gender equity. In addition to links to cognate AHA committees and related associations, the web site provides a list of web-based resources in the areas of diversity and equity, recruitment, teaching, mentoring, community service, and professional development.
November 16, 2009
Roy Rosenzweig Fellowship Endowment Still Needs Support
The first recipient of the Roy Rosenzweig Fellowship for Innovation in Digital History will be announced at the annual meeting in January, but the endowment for the award still needs your support.
The award was developed by friends and colleagues of Roy Rosenzweig to honor his life and work as a pioneer in the field of digital history. But in order to assure this award remains on a firm financial footing into the future, we need your assistance.
The George Mason University Foundation, Inc. manages the funds for the Rosenzweig Prize. Contributions may be tax deductible to the full extent allowable by the law.
Gifts for the AHA/CHNM Rosenzweig Prize may be mailed to:
GMU Foundation, Inc.
4400 University Drive, MS 1A3
Fairfax, VA 22030
Checks should be made payable to the GMU Foundation, Inc. and indicate that the gift is for the AHA/CHNM Rosenzweig Prize. Gifts may also be made online at give.gmu.edu, but funds must be specified for the AHA/CHNM Rosenzweig Prize in the comments section.
For questions or information on alternate methods of giving, individuals should contact: Amy Lambrecht, Director of Development, Phone: (703) 993-8706, e-mail: alambrec@gmu.edu.
Contributions may also count toward the center’s National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) matching grant in accordance with NEH guidelines.
November 15, 2009
Inuit Contact: An Arctic Culture Teaching Resource
By Jessica Pritchard
Much of history stems from exploration—of land, of resources, of people. The Inuit Heritage Trust, which is committed to protecting the heritage of arctic peoples, has created Inuit – Contact and Colonization, a resourceful teaching web site dedicated to takurngaqtaq, an Inuit term that translates to “encountering something for the first time.” The resources available on the site provide a historical and cultural context for Inuit contact with first nations, whalers, explorers, and traders. There are three primary types of contact outlined throughout the site’s sections: direct contact, indirect contact, and contact between cultures.
To get started, visit the site’s Historical Exploration Toolkit, which explains historical pedagogical techniques, such as story telling, a pillar of historic discovery. The site guides the user—ideally a teacher—on how to use the available resources; how to collect evidence; how to figure out the evidence’s significance, if any at all; and furthermore how to piece together the evidence to draw conclusions and give perspective. Additionally, teachers can help their students to approach history like a historian, through historical and critical thinking.
One final resource teachers can access before delving into the heart of the site is that of Instructional Modules intended for junior secondary students.
Inuit and the Land explores the Inuit belief system and the impact of direct and indirect contacts had on this belief system: “Students will be able to examine the historical influences that impacted Inuit culture today through an investigation of beliefs, practices, stories and the links of these cultural markers to actual archeological sites and the interpretation of finds from those sites by elders.”
Economics for Contact investigates economic activities of the Inuit and the impact European contact had on these activities: “Students will be able to examine the historical influences that impacted Inuit culture today through an investigation of economic and social drivers and the impacts these had on Inuit culture. Special focus will be given to identifying events and evidence and developing a critical approach to understanding what happened between groups and how this impacted them historically.”
Once teachers have familiarized themselves with the web site—the goals, the navigation, the available resources—they can then move into one of five different topics. Each of the following topics contains packs, trunks, and bags that change over time and through different relationships, The themes in each of these packs, trunks, and bags include sewing and clothing, cultural knowledge, tools, technology, weapons, trade, and food. Students can explore artifacts, documents, and stories, each coupled with their individual evidence, perspective, and significance.
- Inuit and the Land – “For Inuit, the Arctic has always been home, the land and landscape have provided both physical and spiritual needs and a unique sense of relationship with the land lies at the very core of Inuit belief.”
- Contact with First Nations – “As Arctic climates warmed and cooled Inuit groups encountered First Nation tribes as they shared paths across the barren lands to secure game and materials.”
- Contact with Whalers – “From the 16th century, Europeans began the move from a rural and agricultural society into a mixed economy that increasingly demanded artisans, craftsmen, skilled labour, and more centralized city centres. One of the demands that came with this change was the demand for fuel…This increased demand sparked the whale hunting industry in earnest.”
- Contact with Explorers – “Arctic exploration exploded in the 19th century when the age of scientific discovery, economic expansion came together with a surplus of naval ships and officers with a relative period of peace between warring European nations.”
- Contact with Traders– “At the heart of every exploration initiative is the motive of profit…Trade and the emerging merchant class of the 15th century onwards set the discoveries of this period in motion.”
November 12, 2009
David Ferriero Sworn in as Archivist of the U.S.
By Lee White, Executive Director of the National Coalition for History
Crossposted from the National Coalition for History’s web site.
On November 13, David Ferriero, the former Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Libraries, was sworn in as the tenth Archivist of the United States at a small ceremony at the National Archives at College Park, MD. Mr. Ferriero will move to Washington and assume his duties full-time in the very near future.
At his swearing-in ceremony, Mr. Ferriero said, “I’m very excited about being here. I am looking forward to jumping in with both feet to work with the staff at the National Archives on the important issues that we face in a world increasingly dependent upon information and technology.”
November 12, 2009
Grant of the Week: Holocaust Museum Summer Research Workshops
The Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies (CAHS) of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) invites proposals from workshop coordinator(s) to conduct two-week research workshops at the museum during June through August of 2010. The center welcomes proposals from scholars in all relevant disciplines including history, political science, literature, Jewish studies, philosophy, religion, comparative genocide studies, law, and others. Workshops consist of two weeks of intensive discussion, culminating in a public presentation of the group’s results. The center offers stipends and financial assistance to cover some expenses. The deadline for applications is January 31, 2010. See this page for more information and instructions on how to apply.
November 11, 2009
What We’re Reading: November 12, 2009 Edition
In the news this week, new restrictions and fees for researchers entering the U.S. raises concerns, Marilyn B. Young’s Decolonization lecture is now online, historian Robert N. Proctor continues to deal with Big Tobacco, ICHS gears up for Amsterdam 2010, and Newsweek takes a look at the last decade. On the topic of African American history we bring you two articles: one on Howard University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center and the other on BlackPast.org. Then we turn to the archives, looking to forgotten treasures and a turn to the digital. And finally, we round this post of with some fun: performer Lin-Manuel Miranda raps about Alexander Hamilton, a “historic gastronomist” recreates meals from the past, and the University of Chicago lets visitors “make [their] own academic sentence.”
- Brussels attacks U.S. plan to charge visitors
A bill now working its way through Congress would add a new fee and new restrictions on researchers coming to the United States. In addition to making it more difficult for foreign colleagues to come here to do their work and participate in conferences, it also raises the potential for European retaliation in kind.
- Marilyn Young’s Lecture on “Limited War, Unlimited”
A lecture given by Marilyn B. Young, professor of history at New York University, at the National History Center’s 2009 Decolonization Seminar is now available online. - Big Tobacco Strikes Back at Historian in Court
Big Tobacco continues to aggressively pursue Stanford historian Robert N. Proctor, accusing him of witness tampering, and trying to bar him from serving as an expert witness against them. - History is alive in Amsterdam 2010
The next congress of the International Committee of Historical Sciences (ICHS) will be held August 22-28, 2010, in Amsterdam in 2010. - The Decade in Rewind
Newsweek takes a look at historic and cultural moments of the first decade of the 2000s.
African American History
- Black History At Risk?
Inside Higher Ed reports on concerns that Howard University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center may be in trouble. - BlackPast.org – Now on Facebook
BlackPast.org is now on Facebook. On their Facebook Page visitors can ask questions and get answers, find the latest updates on Blackpast.org, share information with Blackpast.org staff, and connect with others interested in African American history and news.
Archives and Libraries
- Rare Books Don’t Always Live in Glass Cases
Geraldine Fabikant of the New York Times takes a look at lesser known archives and the treasures they house. - Digital School Library Leaves Book Stacks Behind
Cushing Academy, a boarding school in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, recently converted their 20,000 print library collection into an entirely computer-based collection. Although the library seeks to reach the new generation of students by offering an online academic research center, there are many skeptics in both researchers and students—not everyone learns via digital resources. You can listen to the complete story on NPR.
For Fun
- The Hamilton Mixtape
Writer and performer Lin-Manuel Miranda performs his Alexander Hamilton rap for the President and First Lady. See this and through the White House’s YouTube channel. Hat tip. - Sarah Lohman, ‘Historic Gastronomist’
The Serious Eats food blog takes a look at a short documentary on Sarah Lohman, a “historic gastronomist” who “recreates American recipes that went out of style hundreds of years ago.” See the video on Vimeo, and check out Sarah Lohman’s blog, Four Pounds Flour, where she shares recipes she recreates and gives their historic backgrounds. - Make Your Own Academic Sentence
The University of Chicago pokes a little fun at writing in academia with their academic sentence generator. Create gems like: “The epistemology of history as such opens a space for the historicization of the public sphere.”
Contributors: Miriam Hauss Cunningham, Elisabeth Grant, Vernon Horn, Arnita Jones, Jessica Pritchard, and Robert B. Townsend.
Comment [1]
November 10, 2009
Veterans Day Resources
By Jessica Pritchard
In honor of this year’s Veterans Day, we bring you a number of educational resources for in and out of the classroom.
Resources
- Experiencing War: Stories from the Veteran’s History Project
Read veteran stories from the Coast Guard and from Merchant Marine ships as a part of the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project. - The Price of Freedom: Americans at War
This online exhibit from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History “examines how wars have shaped the nation’s history and transformed American society.”
Teaching Aids
- VA Kids
This site offers learning resources on veterans geared for students in grades 6–12, along with educational games. Teachers can access a separate site for students in grades K–5.
Read-Write-Think
ReadWriteThink is a collaboration of the International Reading Association (IRA), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the Verizon Foundation, providing students and educators with lesson plans, standards, web resources, and materials.
- Love of War in Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story” (Grades 9-12)
This lesson plan encourages students to think about love and war through texts that exemplify camaraderie between soldiers. - Building Vietnam War Scavenger Hunts through Web-Based Inquiry (Grades 9-12)
This lesson encourages students to take on the mindset of a character in a Vietnam-era book, fiction or nonfiction, and research this mindset using online resources. - Wartime Poetry: Working With Similes (Grades 3-5)
This lesson encourages students to analyze a photograph and create a poem based around a character’s perspective, experience, emotions, etc.
Comment [1]
November 09, 2009
LGBTQ Taskforce Statement
By Leisa Meyer, Taskforce co-chair
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Taskforce of the AHA was created by AHA Council at the January 2009 annual meeting. The Taskforce is composed of five members (with the vice president and a member of the Professional Division and AHA serving as co-chairs), one additional AHA member appointed by the Professional Division (PD), and two appointed by the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender History (CLGBTH), an affiliate society of the AHA. The Taskforce has a three-year charge and meets once a year always during the AHA annual meeting with several conference calls during the year for discussion of ongoing business.
As a newly constituted Taskforce of the AHA, our charge is to gather information about the concerns of LGBTQ historians and propose concrete, practical solutions for as many of them as possible. We have already begun conducting a benchmark survey of other professional organizations with an eye to best practices and policies. Ideally, this will result in an “LGBTQ equity in the workplace/best practices” guide. Another possible focus of attention will be a survey of LGBTQ historians and those doing LGBTQ history to determine hiring and discrimination trends in the field. This would result in a “status of LGBTQ people in the historical profession” report. But the Taskforce will also attend more broadly to the special problems faced by LGBTQ historians (including those teaching LGBTQ topics) on the job market, in the classroom, in the research field, and in all stages of their careers. In addition, the Taskforce will address the ways in which the AHA can best serve the needs of LGBTQ historians.
Our target audience is the AHA leadership and membership and our charge does not include taking a public stand on issues such as the boycott of the Manchester Grand Hyatt, one of the headquarters for the 2010 AHA annual meeting in San Diego.
That said, the Taskforce is interested in learning more about and reflecting on how and why this situation developed, how the AHA has responded, what the impact will be on LGBTQ history and historians, and what can be done to avoid such situations in the future.
If members of the AHA have thoughts about the San Diego convention that they would like to share with the Taskforce, please e-mail Leisa Meyer at ldmeye@wm.edu.
If members of the AHA would like more information about the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History, please consult the committee’s web site and/or Facebook page:
- http://www.clghistory.org/
- http://www.clghistory.org/contact.html
- http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53766491591 (Login required)
November 09, 2009
AHA Launches Drive to Endow New Prize for South Asian History
Following a recent Council decision, the AHA has launched a drive to endow a new annual prize—the John F. Richards Prize—for the best book South Asian history, and invites all interested in the region’s history to contribute generously to the fund.
Historical work on South Asia has become increasingly prominent and remarkably influential in recent decades. Numerous books focused on the region have deeply influenced scholarship on other parts of the world as well because of their innovative methodologies and novel perspectives. South Asian history is now taught at a growing number of colleges and universities worldwide, indicating an increasing interest among students and portending a rising volume of research on it. Nowhere is this truer than in the North American academy.
Historians of South Asia have also been increasingly visible within the American Historical Association with a growing representation at its meetings and in its flagship journal, the American Historical Review. Recognition of South Asian history reached another level in the election of Barbara D. Metcalf, a leading historian of the subcontinent, as the AHA’s president for 2010, and also in the selection of Romila Thapar as the AHA’s next Honorary Foreign Member (the second South Asian historian to be so honored after Jadunath Sircar, on whom the Honorary Foreign Membership was conferred in 1952).
The time seemed apt, therefore, to add a new prize dedicated to South Asian history to the list of 20 book prizes currently awarded by the AHA and which now cover every other major world region. The AHA did award a prize—the Watumull Prize—for the best book on the history of India for a few decades, from 1945 through 1982. But the prize, which had recognized the scholarship of many distinguished historians, became defunct for lack of funds. The initiative to resurrect a prize focused on the region, now more broadly defined as South Asia, came from the newly formed interest group, the Society for Advancing the History of South Asia. Members of the society, many of whom are also in the campaign committee for the fund, decided to name the prize in memory of John Folsom Richards, a distinguished historian noted for his generosity, breadth of vision, and the collegial quality of his many academic ventures at Duke University and elsewhere.
By bringing the best new work to the attention of the scholarly and journalistic community each year, the John F. Richards Prize will reaffirm the significance of South Asian history to the historical discipline as a whole. It will signal the vibrancy of the field; and even as it turns a well-deserved spotlight onto a winner, the prize will also serve to illuminate the work of the many excellent scholars whose collective efforts have advanced South Asian history so notably during the past several decades.
Gifts to the John F. Richards Prize fund of the American Historical Association will be tax-deductible as permitted by law and each will be acknowledged by the chair of the fundraising committee as well as the AHA office. Any member of the campaign committee may be contacted for further information. Checks should be made out to the American Historical Association with “Richards Prize” in the check’s memo line and mailed to AHA Richards Prize Fund, P.O. Box 532, Metuchen, NJ 08840-0532, USA, along with this form (PDF) that can be downloaded online. The form may also be used to make a pledge—payable by December 31, 2010—to the fund.
November 05, 2009
Grant of the Week: NEH Challenge Grants in United States History and Culture
NEH invites applications for Challenge Grants in United States History and Culture. This grant opportunity is designed to help institutions and organizations strengthen their ability to explore significant themes and events in American history, so as to advance understanding of how—since the nation’s founding—these events have shaped and been shaped by American identity and culture. Nonprofit institutions (public agencies, private nonprofit organizations, tribal governments) are eligible for these grants. Deadline: February 3, 2010. See the National Trust for Historic Preservation “Show Me the Money” blog and the NEH Challenge Grants page for more information.
November 04, 2009
What We’re Reading: November 5, 2009 Edition
November is National Native American Heritage Month and in this What We’re Reading we bring you three sites with information on events, activities, lesson plans, and resources on various topics pertaining to Native Americans. From the National Coalition for History read up on all the budget updates, new commissions, and nomination progress happening in Washington. Two articles focus on assessments and suggestions: the first on PhD programs, and the second on natural-history museums. Finally, learn more about photographer Roy DeCarava, look back at Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation: A Personal View, consider hiking the Ridgeway National Trail.
Native American Heritage Month
- EDSITEment celebrates Native American Heritage Month
EDSITEment is recognizing Native American Heritage month this November, by highlighting the PBS series We Shall Remain. Also new on their site this month: origins of “City on a Hill,” “Homer’s Civil War Veteran” in honor of Veteran’s Day, and over 30 lesson plans on American Literature in the 19th century. - American Indian Heritage Month at the Smithsonian
The Smithsonian is hosting a number of events in D.C. in this November in honor of American Indian Heritage Month. See the complete calendar here. Also check out the National Museum of the American Indian’s press release (PDF) on their feature event weekend: “’From Deer to Dance’ is a weekend of music, dance and hands-on craft activities that will be held Saturday, Nov. 14, and Sunday, Nov. 15, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.” Educators may also want to check out the Smithsonian’s teaching resources for American Indian Heritage Month. - Native American Heritage Month
And finally, visit nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/, a collaboration of the Library of Congress, NEH, National Gallery of Art, NPS, Smithsonian, Holocaust museum, and NARA, for assorted events, information, images, audio and video, and more.
News
- News from the National Coalition for History
In recent news from National Coalition for History, Congress Passes Second Continuing Resolution, budget updates (NEH, NPS, Smithsonian, and the Library of Congress), a Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission Bill has been introduced, new Founding Fathers Documents are now available online, and a Senate Panel Clears Ferriero Nomination to be Archivist of the United States.
Assessments and Suggestions
- The PhD Problem
Louis Menand offers a sobering assessment of the self-replicating nature of many PhD programs in the humanities, and asks whether we have been looking to the wrong solution to the imbalance between academic jobs and PhDs. He observes that “Possibly the story has a different moral, which is that there should be a lot more PhDs, and they should be much easier to get.” - Preserving the Future of Natural-History Museums
William Pannapacker (under the pen name Thomas H. Benton), an associate professor of English at Hope College, “humbly submit[s]” a list of suggestions to natural-history museums. The first recommendation being, “Do not sacrifice the history of your museum for the sake of being up-to-date everywhere you look.”
Assorted Articles
- DeCarava’s Photos Improvised The Music Of Life
Roy DeCarava, the first black photographer to win a Guggenheim, had an eye for capturing life in Harlem, “a mix of quiet, ordinary moments, everyday struggles, tiny triumphs.” - Forty Years of ‘Civilisation’
In our culture of 30-minute sitcoms devoid of much meaning (if any at all), the thought of watching a thirteen-part TV series seems inconceivable. In 1970, however, Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation: A Personal View was a hit, as he journeyed through thousands of years of cultural history. Although Clark died in 1983, his words still ring true today: "It’s worth trying . . . to make people realize how fragile civilisation is and how easily it might slip from our grasp." - Hiking History: England’s Ancient Ridgeway Trail
The Ridgeway National Trail in southern England “takes you past some of the best Neolithic monuments on earth, and through ancient landscapes.”
Contributors: Elisabeth Grant, Jessica Pritchard, and Robert B. Townsend
November 03, 2009
New Member Category for Early Career Professionals
By Elise Lipkowitz and Robert B. Townsend
We are pleased to announce the establishment of an Early Career Member category, to assist junior members of the profession in their transition from graduate school into long-term employment in the profession.
For years now, younger members of the Association have chafed at the doubling of dues when they switch from student to regular member, and quite a few have indicated they had dropped their memberships as a result. To encourage sustained membership in the Association, the new category will provide an incremental step on the path toward sustained membership—rising from the student rate of $39 to the transitional rate of $50 for the first three years after leaving the student membership category.
At a time when any number of historical organizations are competing for historians’ limited membership dollars, we hope this will provide early career professionals with the resources and information they need to ease the transition from student to a long-term career in the discipline—while doing so at a price they can afford. For historians just starting out in the profession, the Association’s publications and web site provide the latest news and trends in the discipline; resources on teaching, publication, and tenure; and the Archives Wiki. Membership in the Association also supports networking opportunities at the annual meeting, letters of introduction to research institutions, annual meeting sessions that address career development issues, research grants, prize opportunities, and much much more.
As always, we welcome your thoughts and ideas about how we might improve the membership experience for historians and aspiring historians at all stages in their careers. Please feel free to comment here, or write to us directly.
Comment [3]
November 02, 2009
Celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall
By Jessica Pritchard
It seems hard to believe that a mere 20 years ago, a physical barrier ran through Berlin, Germany, dividing the city’s residents in two. The Berlin Wall symbolized the Cold War, serving as an incessant reminder to East and West Berliners of their turbulent past, which only bled into their present isolation.
Until November 9, 1989, when the world watched as Berliners traveled freely, harmoniously from the east side of the Germany to the west, from the west side of Germany to the east. No violence. No fear. Just freedom.
Websites
To celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall, we’ve compiled a list of web sites below for your enjoyment, enlightenment, and education.
- German Missions in the United States – “The fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago marked the beginning of a new era in history. It was the end of the Cold War, the beginning of a fully united Europe, and proof that peaceful change is possible, even in the moments when it seems most unlikely.”
- Looking back at the Fall of the Berlin Wall – Explore the Wall’s historic timeline.
- Berlin Wall in the United States – Locate pieces of the Berlin Wall across the U.S.
- Traces of the Wall – Relive history in Berlin through the bits and pieces of the wall still evident in the city.
- From No Man’s Land to Nature Preserve – See the ways in which “conservationists are working to preserve the unique eco-systems that flourished in the former no man’s land”
- Wall Stories – Read about where Germans were when the Wall fell.
- Profiles – Learn about the East Germans who shaped life in postwar Germany and Europe.
- Making the History of 1989, from the Center for History and New Media (CHNM) located at George Mason University, this web site offers countless resources on the Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. The following excerpts are taken from the web site.
- Introductory Essay – Sets the scene for the events of 1989 and explains their significance in world history.
- Primary Resources – Over 300 primary resources, including government documents, images, videos, and artifacts with introductory notes.
- Scholar Interviews – Four scholars focus on the history and events surrounding 1989 through primary sources.
- Teaching Modules – Provide historical context, strategies, and resources for teaching the history of 1989 with primary sources.
- Case Studies – Teaching case studies provide historical context and strategies for teaching the history of 1989 with primary sources.
- Newseum – The Berlin Wall
- The Newseum online forum explores the role of news during the era of the Berlin Wall. Start by exploring Two Sides, One Story, which juxtaposes the spread of news in the highly controlled portion of East Germany as opposed to that in West Germany, where the news spread freely and openly.
- The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall takes you through an interactive timeline that serves as a great resource for students, asking them to become Berliners. For instance, the site suggests the following activity: “Pretend you are a resident of either east or west Berlin. Draft a letter that you hope will make it to the other side of the wall. Address the letter to a family member or close friend. Or write an article that you would want delivered to the people on the other side. What do you want to say?
- Then explore Stalin’s manipulation of photographs for political and social gain in The Commissar Vanishes.
- The web site concludes with Gene Mater’s essay, “The German Media and its Role in History over the Last Century.”
- National Archives and Records Administration – On June 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy traveled to Berlin and gave a moving speech to Berliners, commending them on their fight for freedom.
Photographs
Take a historic journey along the Berlin Wall via photographs, from its original construction through today:
Videos
- Wallstories – Choreographed by Nejla Yatkin, Wallstories is a part of The Berlin Wall Project, a contemporary dance event that focuses on stories and memories, on the emotional impact of the Wall. “I think through dance and movement,” Yatkin explains, “emotions convey a stronger message and the political comes through. It gets under your skin more than the historical narrative because human emotions are universal, and people can connect to it even if they haven’t lived through the historical.”
- Berlin Wall: 20 Years On – A mini series that features five short films on the evolution of the Berlin Wall, historically and geographically.
- From the fall of the Berlin Wall to Germany Unity – Produced by Deutsche Welle in Cooperation with the German Information Center, this video clip relives the events leading up to both the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 and German reunification on October 3, 1990.
- The Wall – A documentary detailing life in Berlin in 1962, amidst an era of terror from the omniscient Berlin Wall.
Upcoming Events
Washington, DC
- German Historical Institute
Nov. 5 – Lecture by German writer Katrin Askan: "On Shoelaces, Fishing Manuals, and the Fear of Misspeaking"Nov. 12 – 23rd Annual Lecture of the GHI, by Professor Donna Harsch: "Footnote or Footprint? The German Democratic Republic in Modern History"
Dec. 03 – Lecture by Professor Daniel Hough: "Was it really meant to be this way?: Unification and the Remaking of German Party Politics"
Los Angeles, CA
- The Wall Project
Date: Nov. 8, 2009
Location: The Wende Museum
Tickets: $250
Call 310.216.1600, ext. 305 for more details
November 01, 2009
Program of the 124th Annual Meeting – Now Online!
By Elisabeth Grant
The Program for the 124th Annual Meeting is now available online. Use it to:
- Search for events and sessions by keyword, or by day and time (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday)
- Browse sessions of the AHA and of affiliates (also browse affiliates chronologically)
- View special events (like the miniconference on Historical Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage, the film festival, the AHA’s General Meeting, and the Opening of the 124th Annual Meeting.)
- Find meeting participants (conveniently linked to their paper abstracts and sessions)
Or use the search box to find sessions and events through relevant keywords.
Highlighted Sessions
Every year sessions at the annual meeting cover an impressive range of places, time periods, topics, and themes. Here is just a glimpse of the range of presentations scheduled for the annual meeting:
- Historical Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage
Here are two of the 14 sessions in the miniconference on the history of same-sex marriage.
- Land of the Free and Home of the Brave: Same-Sex Marriage in Canada
AHA Session 2
Thursday, January 7, 2010: 3:00-5:00 PM, Manchester Ballroom G (Hyatt)
- Gay Marriage and Proposition 8: Reflections
AHA Session 71
Friday, January 8, 2010: 2:30-4:30 PM, Elizabeth Ballroom D (Hyatt)
- Land of the Free and Home of the Brave: Same-Sex Marriage in Canada
- Presidential Sessions
- Misbehaving Women: Sex Radicals and Nonconformists Who Made U.S. History
AHA Session 1
Thursday, January 7, 2010: 3:00-5:00 PM, Manchester Ballroom A (Hyatt) - Interviewing in the Job Market in the Twenty-First Century
AHA Session 36
Friday, January 8, 2010: 9:30-11:30 AM, San Diego Ballroom Salon B (Marriott) - Generations of Historians/Generation of History: Roundtable Discussion by Members of
Multi-Generational Families in the Historical Profession
AHA Session 70
Friday, January 8, 2010: 2:30-4:30 PM, Manchester Ballroom B (Hyatt) - Mormonism and National Politics
AHA Session 206
Sunday, January 10, 2010: 8:30-10:30 AM, Manchester Ballroom A (Hyatt)
- Misbehaving Women: Sex Radicals and Nonconformists Who Made U.S. History
- Assorted Sessions
- Humanities in the Digital Age, Part 1: Humanities in the Digital Age, Part 1: Digital Poster Session
HA Session 40
Friday, January 8, 2010: 9:30-11:30 AM, Marina Ballroom Salon G (Marriott) - What Becomes of Print in the Digital Age?
AHA Session 142
Saturday, January 9, 2010: 11:30-1:30 PM, Marina Ballroom Salon D (Marriott) - Working Together: A Century of Collaboration between Classroom Teachers and University Professors to Improve History Teaching
AHA Session 112
Saturday, January 9, 2010: 9:00 AM-11:00 AM, Marina Ballroom Salon E (Marriott) - Is Google Good for History?
AHA Session 3
Thursday, January 7, 2010: 3:00-5:00 PM, Manchester Ballroom D (Hyatt) - Vampires: Dead, Undead, and Rumored Undead
AHA Session 32
Thursday, January 7, 2010: 3:00-5:00 PM, Edward B (Hyatt) - What Has Obama Learned from History? A Roundtable on Politics, Economy, and Society
AHA Session 59
Friday, January 8, 2010: 9:30-11:30 AM, San Diego Ballroom Salon C (Marriott)
- Humanities in the Digital Age, Part 1: Humanities in the Digital Age, Part 1: Digital Poster Session
More Information
For more Annual Meeting information see the 2010 Annual Meeting page online. There you will find information on registering for the meeting, accommodations, transportation, and more. Also see the AHA web site for Job Center info, Exhibit Hall details, and instructions on how to submit proposals for the 2011 meeting.
October 29, 2009
Grant of the Week: Rachel Carson Prize for Best Dissertation in Environmental History
The American Society for Environmental History offers the Rachel Carson Prize for Best Dissertation in Environmental History. This year, ASEH’s prize committees will evaluate submissions of dissertations completed between November 1, 2008 and October 31, 2009. Three copies of the dissertation must be submitted by November 6, 2009. For more information see the ASEH awards page, or contact Lisa Mighetto at director@aseh.net.
October 28, 2009
What We’re Reading: October 29, 2009 Edition
We start off this week with news and advocacy. Take a look at all the items in the National Humanities Alliance’s October Policy Digest as well as their push for NEH funding, review COSSA’s Washington Update, and in non-Washington related news, check out a map from 1675 up for auction in the UK. Today, October 29th, is the anniversary of the “Black Tuesday” stock market crash, and we bring you three articles from NPR remembering the event. Have an iPhone? Check out a few apps for historians. And finally, with Halloween taking place this weekend we couldn’t resist brining you a couple of Halloween-related links.
News and Advocacy
- National Humanities Alliance – October Policy Digest
The National Humanities Alliance recently released its October Update on important news from Washington. The topics covered in this update include: the confirmation hearing of David Ferriero, the Federal Register in XML, challenges in the humanities job market, and political science research funding. For the most up-to-date news from the NHA, see their home page. - National Endowment for the Humanities – Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 appropriations
Also from the National Humanities Alliance, see the first item on their current issues in advocacy page, which asks for support in urging “Congress to support $75 million in new funding for NEH in the FY2010 Interior Appropriations bill.” For more information see the NEH letter (PDF) to the House appropriations committee. Though as of yesterday, Inside Higher Ed reports that compromise on funding may have been reached. - COSSA Washington Update (PDF)
The most recent Washington Update from COSSA begins with an article on a recent debate on the Senate floor. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) proposed an amendment to eliminate funding for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) political science program, and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) stood up in the program’s defense. - England’s oldest map goes on sale
The map “Britannia Volume the First, or an Illustration of the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales” dates from 1675 and shows a time when Britain only had 73 roads. It’s up for auction and is estimated to go for about £9,000.
Anniversary of Black Tuesday
This week, NPR remembered the 80th anniversary of the 1929 stock market crash, now commonly referred to as “Black Tuesday.” View three articles they’ve recently posted on the crash and the Depression.
- A Spoonful of Socialism Makes the Capitalism Work
Robert S. McElvaine, a historian at Millsaps College, parallels the 1929 market crash with last year’s. - The Crash of 1929
Travel through the highs and lows of the 1929 stock market crash in NPR’s interactive timeline. - Remembering The Great Depression’s Sunny Side
While the Depression affected most in the 1920s and 30s, the full story includes more than suffering during the notorious financially strapped time. Explore how music, food, and entertainment helped Americans “keep to the sunny side of life.”
iPhone Apps for Historians
- National Film Board of Canada – Free Documentaries and Films
Interested in the National Film Board of Canada’s documentaries and films? View them all online, or download them to your iPhone with their new app. - Historic Earth – iPhone App
Browse over 32,000 historic maps with the Historic Earth iPhone app. Even overlay old maps over modern ones. Yep, there’s an app for that. Hat tip.
Halloween
- Not Just Halloween: Festivals of the Dead from around the World
This EDSITEment feature from 2007 explores Festivals of the Dead from around the world. - Halloween on the History Channel
Halloween isn’t just a day full of ghosts, goblins, and oodles of candy. Read about the origin of the spooky day, challenge yourself with pumpkin trivia, play a hidden spirits game, learn about superstitions, and much more.
Contributors: Miriam Hauss Cunningham, Elisabeth Grant, Arnita A. Jones, and Jessica Pritchard
October 27, 2009
American Historical Review - October 2009 Online
By Robert A. Schneider, Editor, American Historical Review
The October 2009 issue of the American Historical Review is now on-line at the University of Chicago Press. It contains two forums, one on “Truth and Reconciliation in History;” the other on “Taylor Branch’s America during the King Years.” There is also our usual extensive book review section. In addition, readers will discover something new: Following “In this Issue,” we introduce “In Back Issues,” an attempt to draw attention to our extensive inventory of articles by taking a look at what was in the AHR 100, 50, and 25 years ago.
AHR Forum: Truth and Reconciliation in History
The forum “Truth and Reconciliation in History” deals with a global experience that both calls history into question and calls upon the participation of historians. Especially since the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa in 1995, after the ending of apartheid, several nations and groups have attempted to confront and possibly come to terms with their fractious and traumatic pasts. This forum offers three examples of how historians have played a role in these attempts. Elazar Barkan introduces the forum with his essay, “Historians and Historical Reconciliation,” in which he surveys the role historians have played “to promote reconciliation through collaborative work to produce a shared history.” The following three articles offer case studies of this process at work. The Polish-Jewish experience during World War II is examined by David Engel, in “On Reconciling the Histories of Two Chosen Peoples.” In “Truth in Telling: Reconciling Realities in the Genocide of the Ottoman Armenians,” Ronald Grigor Suny delves into initiatives by Turkish, Armenian and other scholars to reach some common understanding of the ethnic conflicts in the early part of the 20th century. And Charles Ingrao’s “Confronting Yugoslav Controversies: The Scholars Initiative” gives an account of the ongoing efforts of a whole range of scholars, both from the Balkans and outside that region, to fashion a single narrative of the crimes and misdeeds committed in the former Yugoslavia. The comment is by James Campbell whose essay, “Settling Accounts? An Americanist Perspective on Historical Reconciliation,” not only reflects on these three cases but also offers a commentary on the reconciliation process from the perspective of someone with experience in American attempts to deal with its own problematic past. As Barkan notes in his introductory essay, the participation of historians in these kinds of projects is one example of how scholarship, often assumed to be irrelevant to social problems, relegated to the ivory tower, can play a crucial role on the public stage.
AHR Forum: Taylor Branch’s America in the King Years
The second forum in this issue looks back upon a notable achievement in the writing of recent American history, America during the King Years, by Taylor Branch. The final volume of this trilogy was published in 2007. Three historians examine Branch’s contribution from different perspectives. In “Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Meaning of the 1960s,” Michael Kazin takes an appreciative look at the volumes’ interpretation of that turbulent decade, but also offers some criticism of Branch’s narrative as analytically inadequate to explain the social and political trends that defined the period. Clayson Carson’s “The Biography Branch Might have Written,” assesses the work from a biographical perspective, questioning whether Branch provides an accurate understanding of the deep sources of King’s actions throughout his life. Finally, Peniel Joseph, in “The Black Power Movement, Democracy, and America during the King Years,” focuses on African American militants and radicals, charging that Branch fails to acknowledge adequately the important role played by these figures both in the wider context both of American history and the Civil Rights movement.
December’s issue will include an AHR Forum on “Transnational Perspectives on Sexuality and Gender,” and the AHR Conversation on “Historians and the Study of Material Culture.”
With this issue we note several changes on the Board of Editors. Toby L. Ditz, Lloyd S. Kramer, Daniel Lord Smail, Eric Van Young and Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom are leaving the board, with our thanks for their invaluable service. Their replacements are Jane Kamensky, Jeremy Popkin, Paul Freedman, Jonathan C. Brown, and Ruth Rogaski.
Robert A. Schneider (Indiana Univ.) is the editor of the AHR. He can be reached at raschnei@indiana.edu.
October 26, 2009
2008 AHA Annual Report
The AHA’s Annual Report for 2008 is now available online. It contains a preface from former AHA president Gabrielle M. Spiegel, reports from Council, lists of members (25-year, honorary, and life), and donors to the association. You’ll also find minutes from the 123rd business meeting, council decisions, and the financial report (PDF). Check out executive director Arnita Jones’s report for a broad overview of 2008. Find all of this and more in the 2008 Annual Report online.
| Older Posts |  |