Excerpt
Minutes of the AHA Council Meeting,
Columbia University, New York City, December
28, 1943
Mr.
Theodore C. Blegen reported on the work of the Historical Service Board. This
Board was established as a result of action taken by the Executive Committee on
September 2, 1943, in response to a request by the Secretary of War that the Association
should assume responsibility for the preparation of pamphlets on significant current
problems for the War Department's educational program—specifically for soldier
discussion groups. The Board consists of the following ten members: Shepard
B. Clough, Robert E. Cushman, Guy Stanton Ford, Dixon Ryan Fox, Waldo G. Leland,
Edwin G. Nourse, J. Salwyn Schapiro, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Robert R. Wilson,
and Donald Young. At a Board meeting held on November 27, Mr. Ford was chosen
chairman. The work of the Board was begun October 1, under the directorship
of Mr. Blegen. The War Department submitted some two dozen questions resulting
from a sampling of soldier interest in camps in the United States and abroad.
These fell into four main groups: our allies, international affairs, national
affairs, and community and personal problems. The task assumed by the Board was
to prepare factual materials for these questions in the form of pamphlets to serve
as the basis for "G. I. Roundtables." The completed pamphlets are to
be supplied to the camps through orientation officers. Every effort is being made,
with the co-operation of scholars in many fields, to prepare materials that are
factual, impartial, adequate, and interesting. Two members of the Board serve
as referees for each manuscript. The series will include a guide for discussion
leaders. Mr. Blegen reported that some twenty pamphlets were in course of
preparation. Ten had been received and were in various stages of editing, rewriting,
revision and criticism. Two had already been submitted to the War Department.
The Association is under contract to furnish the manuscripts at an average rate
of three per month after December 3.
