AHA History and Archives

From its inception, the Association has been committed to the collection, preservation, and dissemination of historical documents. In keeping with that tradition, the AHA staff digitizes and posts essays, reports, and other materials from the Association's past. As the principal umbrella organization for the profession for 119 year, the AHA's history reflects that of the profession as a whole.

Please note that these materials are offered only for their historical interest, not as statements of current policy or positions on specific historical topics today.

Researchers interested in the Papers of the American Historical Association will find them at the Library of Congress's Manuscript Reading Room in Washington, D.C. The collection currently ranges from the Association's inception in 1884 to 1979.

AHA Presidential Addresses

Since the Association was founded in 1884, the Association's presidents have addressed the annual meeting on a topic of interest or concern to the profession. Since there is no set topic, the subjects treated have ranged widely from the role of history in society to the best practices of historians as writers, teachers, and social scientists. Each in their unique way represents a microcosm of the interests and concerns of the profession in various stages of its development over the past century.



AHA Annual Reports

Annual Reports of the American Historical Association, 1997-2003 (additional reports, dating back to 1884, are forthcoming).

 

Individual Reports

1893

Emerton, Ephraim. "The Requirements for the Historical Doctorate in America," American Historical Association Annual Report 1893.

1898

Committee of Seven, The Study of History in Schools, Report to the American Historical Association

1927

Jernegan, Marcus. "Productivity of Doctors of Philosophy in History." American Historical Review 33:1 (October 1927): 1-22.

1932

AHA Committee on the Planning of Research, Historical Scholarship in America: Needs and Opportunities

1939

AHA Committee of Ten, Final Report of the Committee of Ten on Reorganization and Policy, December 29, 1939

1942

Hesseltine, William B., and Louis Kaplan. "Doctors of Philosophy of History: A Statistical Study." American Historical Review 47:4 (July 1942): 765-800.

1944

Committee on American History in Schools and Colleges. American History in Schools and Colleges, January, 1944.

1962

Perkins, Dexter, et al. The Education of Historians in the United States. New York: McGraw-Hill. The predecessor to the current report.

1963

Holt, W. Stull. "The Education of Historians in the United States," American Historical Review 68:2 (January 1963), 402-6.

1970

Committee on the Status of Women. "Report of the American Historical Association Committee on the Status of Women ( Rose Report)," American Historical Association.

1972

The AHA Review Board. "A Preliminary Report," AHA Newsletter (10:5), November 1972.

1973

Review Board . "Final Report [on reform of the American Historical Association]," AHA Newsletter 11:4 (November 1973), 2–38.

1974

Committee on the Rights of Historians. "Report of the American Historical Association Committee on the Rights of Historians ( Hackney Report)," American Historical Association.

1985

McNeill, William H. "Why Study History?," American Historical Association.

2004

Thomas Bender, et al. " The Education of Historians for the Twenty-First Century," Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press.


Online Publications

  • Guidelines for the Preparation of Teachers of History - Second Edition, 1991
    Developed by the AHA's Teaching Division and approved by the Council, these guidelines have been revised to address current concerns about the preparation of history and social studies teachers.

  • Working Together to Strengthen History Teaching in Secondary Schools -Kathleen Anderson Steeves
    This essay assesses current issues in colleges and universities and K-12 schools with a focus on the preparation of secondary school history teachers. It identifies new trends in the changing nature of research as they affect the history profession in the classroom, suggesting that the many issues that secondary and college/university history faculty share can be catalysts to strengthen history teaching.

The G.I. Roundtable Series

This site reproduces a series of pamphlets the AHA prepared for the Army’s Division of Information and Education between 1943 and 1945, reflecting the concerns of many on the home front. Last Updated: October 11, 2008 10:00 PM