Go to content Go to navigation Go to search

Advocacy

Humanities Advocacy Day and the NHA Conference - March 09, 2008

On March 3 and 4, 145 members of the humanities community, including college professors, museum professionals, librarians, archivists, and independent scholars, gathered in Washington, D.C. for the 2008 National Conference of the National Humanities Alliance (NHA), of which the AHA is a member. The highlight of the conference was the ninth annual Humanities Advocacy Day.

Read more...


AHA Objects to Destruction of Guantanamo Records - February 19, 2008

In letters sent to federal authorities, the American Historical Association objected to recent disclosures that the Central Intelligence Agency destroyed records from interrogations of individuals suspected of terrorism, and requested action to prevent further loss.

Read more...


Advocating for History - January 03, 2008

Among the dozens of Annual Meeting sessions held yesterday was a unique panel on “Historians, Advocacy, and Public Policy .” This session, highlighted in yesterday’s morning overview, focused on a topic that many historians don’t pay much attention to: advocacy.

Read more...


Update: Federal Funding for National History Day - October 25, 2007

Updating a story from earlier this week, Senators Norm Coleman (R-HI) and Daniel Akaka (D-HI) have declined to bring to the floor for a vote their amendment (S.AMDT.3364), submitted last Thursday, which would have set aside $2 million in federal funds for “activities related to” National History Day.

Read more...


Federal Judge Invalidates Order Allowing Former Presidents to Withhold Records - October 01, 2007

On October 1, a federal district court judge gave historians and researchers a partial, but significant victory in a lawsuit questioning the legality of President George W. Bush’s Executive Order (EO) 13233, which broadened the rights of presidents and former-presidents to withhold federal records from the public.

Read more...


New Petition Against Florida's Definition of History - March 29, 2007

Florida’s A++ Plan, an educational directive passed by the Florida state legislature in 2006, mandates that “American history shall be viewed as factual, not as constructed, shall be viewed as knowable, teachable, and testable, and shall be defined as the creation of a new nation based largely on the universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence”. An electronic petition drive is underway to amend the mandate.

Read more...


ALERT—Tell Congress to Restore Access to Presidential Records - March 08, 2007

On March 8 the House Oversight Committee unanimously approved the “Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007.” The bill is expected to go to the House floor the week of March 12. Please tell your congressional representatives your thoughts on this bill.

Read more...


Sprawling Over History - February 07, 2007

The U.S. Bureau of the Census recently reported that there are now more than 300 million Americans consuming food, land, water, and other natural resources at an incredible rate. Unfortunately, one of the first casualties of our seemingly insatiable appetites may be our history…

Read more...


Blogging the IRB - January 11, 2007

Members who are troubled about the growing intrusion of Institutional Review Boards over oral history will want to take a look at Institutional Review Blog, just started by Zachary Schrag at George Mason University.

Read more...


Letter to Mayor Shirley Franklin of Atlanta - January 09, 2007

In a letter to Mayor Shirley Franklin of Atlanta, Georgia, AHA President Barbara Weinstein, Past President Linda K. Kerber, and Executive Director Arnita A. Jones, expressed the AHA Council’s concern over an incident between historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto and an Atlanta police officer, that began with jaywalking and escalated to an 8 hour ordeal in jail.

Read more...


A New Voice for History in Washington - December 21, 2006

Leland White, the new Director of the National Coalition for History, just posted his first report over at History News Network.

Read more...


More Sunshine for the Smithsonian - December 19, 2006

In bureaucratic terms, a new report from the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) offers a fairly damning critique of the way the Smithsonian Institution implemented its contract with the Showtime Network and provided information to the general public.

Read more...


EPA Economies Put Documents on Endangered Species List - December 12, 2006

A cost-cutting move by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to shut down its national network of scientific libraries, possibly destroying thousands of pages of agency documents in the process, has raised the hackles of four key Democrats elected to the 110th Congress.

Read more...


Clarifying the Clarifications - December 11, 2006

Michael Carome has once again “clarified” the federal Office of Human Research Protection’s position on oral history. According to a blog posting by Jeffrey Cohen (“an independent consultant in human research protections”), Carome reiterated his medically themed clarification of two years ago at recent PRIM&R conference of regulators. Unfortunately, it is hard to discern where Carome’s clarifications end and Cohen’s opinions begin in the blog posting.

Read more...


Sunshine for Smithsonian/Showtime - November 20, 2006

The Smithsonian Institution is trying to sweep its secret contract with Showtime under a Congressional rug, according to Carl Malamud at the Center for American Progress. Malamud reports that “Smithsonian lobbyists are trying to paper over their exclusive 30-year sellout to Showtime, saying that the contract has posed no problems and nobody seems to be upset about it anymore.”

Read more...


The National Coalition for History Reacts to the Recent Election - November 08, 2006

Bruce Craig, Director of the National Coalition for History, forecasts the effects of a Democrat controlled House of Representatives on history and archives in his most recent NCH Washington Update.

Read more...


Debating the Need for IRBs – A Chronicle Colloquy - November 08, 2006

Yesterday the AHA’s own Robert Townsend, assistant director for research and publications, lead a live online discussion on the need (or lack there of) for institutional review boards in oral history.

Read more...


Oral History and IRBs - November 05, 2006

Students, and their advisors, working on the history of the 20th century should take a look at the article on “Oral History Under Review” in this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education. The Association is on record as objecting to the often arbitrary application of IRB rules, which use criteria that seem wholly inappropriate to our field. The report documents a number of troubling cases that reinforce those concerns.

Read more...


The Problem with IRBs - October 11, 2006

Anyone concerned about the extension of Institutional Review Board (IRB) oversight into humanities and social science research will want to read The American Association of University Professors new report on “Research on Human Subjects: Academic Freedom and the Institutional Review Board.” As the report details, the IRBs exercise virtually unchecked power, make up standards and criteria as they go along, and typically fail to provide any means of appealing their decisions.

Read more...


AHA Opposes Changes in Archives Hours - September 06, 2006

In a letter delivered to to Allen Weinstein, Linda Kerber opposes proposed cutbacks in the hours for researchers.

Read more...


Action Alert: Support Amendment to Restore NEH funding - May 17, 2006

The U.S. House of Representatives is tentatively scheduled to consider the FY2007 Interior Appropriations bill between Friday, May 19 and Tuesday, May 23. Recently, the Interior Appropriations Committee supported the President’s request and recommended funding for the NEH at $142 million. Despite the appearance of level funding, this actually is a proposed cut of $1.3 million to the agency’s core programs of research, education, preservation & access, public programs, and challenge grants.

Read more...


Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence Small Replies to AHA President’s Letter - May 08, 2006

In a lengthy response to AHA President Linda Kerber’s original communication of April 14, 2006, Lawrence Small, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, dismissed the criticism leveled against the Smithsonian’s deal with Showtime Television Network.

Read more...


Society of American Historians Concurs with AHA Position on the Smithsonian-Showtime Deal, - April 26, 2006

In a resolution it adopted on April 25, 2006, the Society of American Historians, an affiliate of the American Historical Association, has expressed its concurrence with the AHA’s statement that the Smithsonian’s relationship with Showtime constitutes a “violation of the trust of generations of Americans who have donated materials to which they believed the public would have free, open, equal, and non-discriminatory access forever.”

Read more...


AHA Responds to Hurricane Katrina - September 12, 2005

As an immediate response, and to facilitate communication and exchange of information at this critical juncture, the American Historical Association has joined with the Organization of American Historians and the Southern Historical Association to sponsor a message board for historians. The site, at http://www.oah.org/katrina/, will be open to all historians regardless of their fields of study and whether or not they are members of the sponsoring organizations.

Read more...