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:

Annual Meeting 2010 - Registration, Supplement, Job Center handout

Annual Job Report

Directory – Free Online Access during the Annual Meeting

December Perspectives on History

AHA Today – Recent history news

News from Washington – Updates from NCH and NHA

Calendar – History Events

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Annual Meeting 2010

It’s a new year and almost time for the 124th Annual Meeting. To prepare, check out the following news, updates, and resources.

Registration
Register for the 124th annual meeting online or over the phone by calling (508) 743-0510. In person on-site registration at the annual meeting opens at noon on January 7, 2010 and will be held in the Hyatt’s Douglas Pavilion A.

Annual Meeting Supplement
The Supplement to the 124th Annual Meeting is now online, and print copies will be available at the annual meeting. Along with important details about the meeting and changes that have been made to the Program, the Supplement also includes information on:

Sessions and Events. Learn more about the National History Education Clearinghouse Workshop, the Poster Session, Film Festival, Tours in San Diego, and Events of the Miniconference on “Historical Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage.”
San Diego’s Past and Present. The Local Arrangements Committee has put together a fascinating array of articles covering topics on San Diego’s military heritage, missions, Asian Pacific heritage, African American heritage, LGBT community, agriculture, Mexican and Mexican American communities, dining scene, cheap eats, and bars.
Job Center and Exhibit Hall Info. Get the FAQs about the Job Center, see a list of Exhibitors at the meeting, and check out maps of the Exhibit Hall and Job Center.

There is also content on how to make presentations accessible and guidelines for the hiring process. Be sure to check out the complete Supplement to the 124th Annual Meeting online.

Job Center
New this year: The Job Center Handout is online.

This handout gives an early preview of which institutions will be conducting interviews in San Diego. Not all searches will be included in the Handout; many positionscan open up right before the annual meeting, so be sure to check the bulletin boards at the Job Center.

Troubling News on Job Market for History PhDs

In advance of the annual meeting, we are publishing the annual job report online a bit earlier than the rest of the January issue of Perspectives on History. It offers troubling news for job seekers, the history doctoral programs conferring their degrees, and the discipline as a whole. Read more about this report in this blog post on AHA Today, and check out the full report online here.

December Perspectives on History

From the President
Now online, the December issue of Perspectives on History begins with Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s valedictory column as president: “The Trouble with History.” In it she advocates listening to your instincts and following your drive, as a passion for history can transcend all challenges.

The Art of History
In “Teaching Scholarship,” Caroline Walker Bynum addresses important questions that are often not raised in the classroom. The essay inaugurates a new column in which distinguished historians will discuss various aspects of the historian's art.

History Profession
Other important topics in the history profession are explored in this issue. Including articles on recruiting minority students (with lessons from Hartwick College and UNC), ageism and hiring, and navigating graduate admissions.

Teaching
History teachers may be particularly interested in David Voelker’s article “Clicking for Clio: Using Technology To Teach Historical Thinking.”

News
More current subjects are covered in the 2009 AHA Election Results, list of donors for 2009, Rob Schneider’s overview of the December 2009 AHR, Robert B. Townsend’s article on the field of religion and AHA members, and Lee White’s appropriations roundup.

More Articles, Letters, and Obits
Also read articles on Academic and Popular Histories in India by Chitralekha Zutshi and The Social Shape of the AHA, 1884–1945 by Robert B. Townsend. Two letters to the editor this month tackle the questions: What Is "World History"? and Who’s on First? And finally, the late Sidney Fine and Richard H. Zeitlin are remembered.

AHA Today

Keep up with the latest information on history and the profession on the AHA’s blog, AHA Today. Recent posts include:

Martha Washington: A Life
The Center for History and New Media (CHNM) and George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens recently teamed up to create Martha Washington: A Life, an online biographical exhibit.
The AHA Job Center How-To Guide
Just in time for its 124th Annual Meeting in San Diego, the AHA presents a new explanatory video to help guide new and previous users through its Job Center.
Submitting Proposals for the 2011 AHA Annual Meeting
The Program Committee welcomes proposals from all members of the Association (academic and nonacademic), from affiliated societies, from historians working outside the United States, and from scholars in related disciplines.
Also, see the most recent What We’re Reading (December 17 and December 24) and Grant of the Week (Funded Fellowships from the American Research Center in Egypt and Laura Shannon Book Prize in Contemporary European Studies) posts.

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.

National Coalition for History (NCH)
- National Archives–”History Museum or Records Access Agency?”
  On December 16, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Information Policy, Census, and National Archives Subcommittee held a hearing entitled “History Museum or Records Access Agency? Defining and Fulfilling the Mission of the National Archives and Records Administration.”
- Register Now For 2010 Humanities Advocacy Day
  The National Humanities Alliance 2010 Humanities Advocacy Day will take place March 8-9 in Washington DC.
National Humanities Alliance
- The American Anthropological Association to Sponsor Symposium on Capitol Hill "A New National Dialogue on Race" will take place January 12-13
- Modern Language Association Releases New Information on Job Opportunities Data projects 37% decline in faculty positions advertised in the MLA's Job Information List (JIL) in 2009-2010
Calendar

The AHA’s online calendar lists upcoming meetings and seminars, research opportunities, awards and fellowships, internet resources, and exhibitions. Contribute your own announcement through this online form. Below we offer snippets of some of the current listings.
- Call for Papers: Cross Currents in Women's and Gender History. The fourth biennial conference of Women and Gender Historians of the Midwest (WGHOM) will be held on June 18-19, 2010 at Northeast Iowa Community College in Dubuque, Iowa. Deadline for submission of proposals is January 15, 2010.
- Call for Abstracts: Biopolitics Across Borders: Ideas and Practices. Graduate Student Conference, Columbia University, April 9, 2010. Submit an abstract by January 18, 2010.
Read more about all of these events and more at the AHA’s online calendar.

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

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

Last Updated: February 1, 2010