Whether you are a museum professional, an academic, a K–12 teacher, an independent scholar, or a public historian, you can benefit from membership in the American Historical Association (AHA). Only the AHA brings together historians from all specializations and professions, embracing the breadth, variety, and ever-changing activity in history today. Through its publications and programs, the AHA addresses the professional needs of both individuals and institutions. Unlike more specialized organizations, which have the important job of overseeing subsets of our profession, the AHA works for all historians.

For more than a century, the AHA has stood at the heart of the profession. Its position has been constant, but its activities have not. The Association has changed as the discipline and the profession have evolved, but AHA’s central mission has remained the same: the advancement of historical knowledge. AHA is the oldest and largest professional historical organization in the United States, bringing together nearly 5,000 institutions and more than 14,000 individuals, including college and university faculty, public historians, independent scholars, archivists, librarians, and elementary and secondary school teachers. It maintains a network of 100 affiliated societies with a combined membership exceeding 80,000 and has served as the source from which numerous specialized organizations have developed.

In short, the AHA is history’s hub—the only organization that can make a whole of the historical profession's many parts. Join now and become part of the only professional association for all historians.

As an AHA Member, You Will Receive

The American Historical Review. Since 1895, the AHR has been the major journal of record for the historical profession, offering scholarship from every major field of study. Published five times annually.

AHR Online As a benefit to members and subscribers, online version to the AHR is available. In addition to providing a fully searchable version of the AHR, the online version also includes additional materials that could not be incorporated in the print edition. As a membership benefit, you will need a membership number to access the full text of articles.

The AHA’s Perspectives on History. The major national news monthly for the historical profession, Perspectives on History offers articles and commentary on teaching, technology, history in the media, public history, archives, and research, as well as comprehensive job listings for academic and public historians. Published nine times annually.

The AHA’s Annual Meeting Program. The handbook for the largest annual gathering of historians in the United States, the program's diverse agenda brings together historians from every specialization and work context in our field.

Additional individual member benefits. Special member prices for AHA publications, discounts on computer software and journals, and a host of other services and opportunities available only to AHA members.

Your Membership Advances the AHA’s Important Efforts

The AHA Serves the Profession

Professional Standards. The Association provides the profession's only comprehensive statement on the rights and responsibilities of historians, which are developed and overseen by the AHA’s Professional Division and published as the Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct.

Employment opportunities. The AHA provides the profession’s most complete clearinghouse of job listings and information about the history job market online and in Perspectives on History and at the annual meeting Job Center.

Directories. AHA directories provide comprehensive overviews of the profession, including the Directory of History Departments, Historical Organizations, and Historians; the Directory of History Doctoral Programs, the Directory of Dissertations, and the Directory of History Journals.

Diversity. The AHA supports efforts to ensure broad participation by women, minorities, independent scholars, public historians, and teachers.

Essays series and pamphlets. The Association also offers several essay series, including Teaching Diversity: People of Color, The New American History, Essays on Global and Comparative History, as well as a number of pamphlets that address professional concerns across specializations, including Careers for Students of History and Becoming a Historian: A Survival Manual for Women and Men. See the AHA Store for more information.

Advocacy. With the National Coalition for History, the National Humanities Alliance, and the Consortium of Social Science Associations, the AHA works to defend and protect history and the rights of historians at all levels. The AHA also serves as liaison with foreign scholars and historical organizations, advocates for the rights of historians abroad, and provides official representation for U.S. historians on the International Committee of Historical Sciences.

The Creation of New Knowledge

In addition to supporting the American Historical Review and the AHA’s annual meeting, two of the premier outlets for new historical scholarship, the AHA also provides:

Grants and fellowships. The AHA offers its members financial assistance on a competitive basis for doctoral and postdoctoral work in all fields of history.

Awards and prizes. These awards recognize outstanding publications in many different categories.

Dissemination of History in the Classroom and to the Public

In addition to regular columns in Perspectives on History on teaching and public history as well as a growing number of sessions treating these concerns at the annual meeting, the AHA also offers:

Pamphlets and instructional materials.The AHA offers a wide variety of publications for those interested in innovations in the field or the historiography of a specific topic. Pamphlet series include Historical Perspectives on Technology, Society, and Culture; Teaching Diversity: People of Color; and Women in the Global Context.

Regional teaching conferences. Forums for teachers at all levels to discuss content and methodology.

Collaborative programs. Including the History Teaching Alliance and National History Day, both cosponsored and supported by the AHA.

Teaching awards. The Association offers three annual awards for excellence in history teaching: the Beveridge Family Prize for Teaching, honoring K-12 teachers; the Eugene Asher Distinguished Teacher Award, honoring postsecondary teachers; and the William and Edwyna Gilbert Award for articles on teaching history. Together, these prizes recognize the Association's commitment to teaching at all educational levels.

If you have further questions or need additional information, please contact the AHA membership department:

Membership Department
American Historical Association
400 A St. SE
Washington, DC 20003
202.544.2422
Fax 202.544.8307
E-mail