About Us

AHA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
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The American Historical Association (AHA) is a nonprofit membership organization founded in 1884 and incorporated by Congress in 1889 for the promotion of historical studies.

The AHA provides leadership for the profession, protects academic freedom, develops professional standards, aids in the pursuit and publication of scholarship, and supplies various services to sustain and enhance the work of its members.

The association’s principal functions fall within four realms: publication, teaching, advocacy, and networking. As the largest historical society in the United States, the AHA serves historians representing every historical period and geographical area.

The nearly 14,000 members include academics at universities, two- and four-year colleges, museums, historical organizations, libraries and archives, but also independent historians, students, K–12 teachers, government and business professionals, and countless people who, whatever their profession, possess an abiding interest in history.

Publications

The American Historical Review is the major journal of record for the history profession in the United States.

Perspectives on History is the national news monthly of the profession

The publications of the AHA play a crucial role in the teaching of history, the dissemination of historical scholarship, and the support of historians’ career development.  These publications include:

Teaching

The AHA’s broad-based teaching mission includes:

  • Making resources available to educators at secondary and post-secondary levels, and public history venues

  • Introducing and integrating historians into the profession

  • Providing ongoing education for historians at every stage of their careers—through topical and professional sessions at the annual meeting, and by way of both innovative web resources and distinguished print publications

Advocacy

The AHA is an advocate for historians in the nation’s capital and beyond. The association’s current advocacy initiatives include:

  • Supporting open access to historical records

  • Protecting academic freedom and the free movement of scholars

  • Promoting the profile of history and the humanities in public culture

  • Preserving federal funding for libraries, archives, historical sites, and K-12 history-teaching initiatives

  • Assisting Ph.D. candidates and their doctoral institutions in thinking widely about the career possibilities open to them

Networking

The AHA provides it members and affiliated societies opportunities to share scholarship, teaching techniques, and best practices through its:

 

 

Last Updated: April 12, 2012 10:12 AM