American Historical Association

Dear AHA Member,

Fortnightly News is the AHA's e-mail newsletter, sent out around the first and fifteenth of every month to keep members up to date with the AHA and the history profession.

In this issue:

AHA Today – recent news and information related to history

News from our coalitions in Washington

New and updated entries at the ArchivesWiki

Updating the Directory

125th Anniversary Fund

Please feel free to forward this e-mail to your friends and colleagues.

AHA Today

Perspectives on History is on hiatus for the summer, but you can keep up with the latest information on history and the profession on the AHA’s blog, AHA Today. Recent posts include:

National History Day 2009: The Individual in History
This year over a half a million students across the country participated in National History Day and explored historical topics centered on the theme of “The Individual in History.”
Hidden Lives Revealed: Archive of Children in Care 1881-1918
The Hidden Lives Revealed site draws from archival materials of the Waifs and Strays’ Society, which took care of “poor and disadvantaged children” from England and Wales from 1881 through WWI.
Letters of Introduction: A Valuable Tool when Conducting Overseas Research
It is sometimes difficult to gain access to institutions while doing research abroad. This is why the AHA provides Letters of Introduction to assist researchers in gaining access to foreign research facilities, special collections, and government archives.
Government on Twitter
First YouTube, then blogging, and now Twitter; it appears that the U.S. government has fully embraced Web 2.0.
In Memoriam: Ernest R. May
Ernest R. May, Charles Warren Professor of American History at Harvard University and a consultant to numerous government agencies, passed away on June 1, 2009, following complications from cancer surgery.
Also, see the most recent What We’re Reading (June 18 and June 25) and Grant of the Week posts (Hodson Trust-John Carter Brown Fellowship and ASECS/Folger Institute Fellowship).

News from Washington

In addition to AHA Today, the Association also draws on the efforts of a number of coalitions that support the Association's agenda to keep track of issues in the nation’s capital that will be of concern to historians. Here are news updates from some of them.

The National Coalition for History

Ask Congress to Increase Funding for the Office of Museum Services
Representatives Paul Tonko (D-NY) and Louise Slaughter (D-NY) are circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter in the House encouraging Members of Congress to join their letter to the House Appropriations Committee urging $50 million for the Office of Museum Services (OMS) at the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
National Park Service FY 2010 Budget Update
The National Park Service would receive $2.7 billion under the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies fiscal year (FY) 2010 bill that was approved by the House Appropriations Committee on June 18.
National Endowment for the Humanities FY 2010 Budget Update
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) would receive $170 million under the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies fiscal year (FY) 2010 bill that was approved by the House Appropriations Committee on June 18.

COSSA

June 15, 2009 (PDF) - a Special Edition on Proposed FY 2010 Budgets for Social and Behavioral Science.

National Humanities Alliance

Act Now to Support Museum Funding Representatives Paul Tonko (NY-21) and Louise Slaughter (NY-28) are circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter.
Senate Subcommittee Allocates Less Money than the House for NEH Full committee scheduled to mark up Interior appropriations bill on June 25.
House Appropriations Committee Marks up Spending Bill The committee recommends $170 million in FY 2010 funding for NEH and details programmatic allocations.

New and Updated Entries at the ArchivesWiki

Here are some of the archival institutions that have been recently added or updated on the AHA's ArchivesWiki. We hope you will find them useful, and will add any information about them you may have about them, or other institutions.

Updating the Directory of History Departments, Historical Organizations, and Historians

Departments and Organizations
By this time all departments and organizations should have started to update their information for the Directory. If you are the head of a department or organization and want your institution listed, and have not yet received information about how to do so, please see the listing in the Directory page on the AHA’s web site or write to directory09@historians.org for assistance.

Information updated before August 1, 2009, will be included in the print edition, but changes can be made online throughout the year. When the online version is completed in late September, users will be able to access up-to-date details on all listing institutions.

125th Anniversary Fund

We have already received generous support from many members of the Association. If you have not yet contributed, and would like to aid in the expansion of the Association’s public programs and outreach efforts, we hope you will give your support to the AHA 125th Anniversary Fund.

You can contribute to the fund online at www.historians.org/give or by check to AHA Anniversary Fund, 400 A St. S.E., Washington, DC 20003.

Please feel free to forward this email on to a colleague or friend.

Contributions to this issue of Fortnightly News came from: Elisabeth Grant, Vernon Horn, and Robert B. Townsend

Last Updated: June 30, 2009