For Immediate Release
July 1, 2025
American Historical Association Welcomes Dr. Sarah Weicksel as Executive Director
WASHINGTON, DC — The American Historical Association welcomes Dr. Sarah Weicksel as its executive director, effective July 1, 2025.
Since 2020, Weicksel has served as the AHA’s director of research and publications, spearheading major initiatives in higher education, professional development, academic publishing, and teaching with material culture. In 2024, she was appointed by the Archivist of the United States to the National Archives Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee. Before joining the AHA, she worked at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and held a Mellon postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wolf Humanities Center.
A first-generation college graduate who grew up on a small family farm, Weicksel earned a BA in history from Yale University, an MA in American material culture from the Winterthur Program at the University of Delaware, and an MA and PhD in history from the University of Chicago. Her forthcoming book, A Nation Unraveled: Clothing, Culture, and Violence in the American Civil War Era (Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2026), is an object-based history that explores how making, wearing, saving, and destroying clothing was central to how people waged war and acutely experienced war’s costs. “A Nation Unraveled,” said Zara Anishanslin (Univ. of Delaware) “is, quite simply, one of the most compelling histories of the American Civil War around.”
Ben Vinson III, AHA president, said, “Dr. Weicksel holds true and dear the mission of the AHA. Having worked closely with her over the past five years, I can fully attest to her steadfast dedication both to our members and the work of our organization. She is a committed historian’s champion who will guide us well in the years to come.”
James Grossman, who served as AHA executive director for 15 years, said, “It’s easy to retire when one has full confidence in a successor. Sarah Weicksel brings to the AHA new insights, new approaches, and new ways of thinking about what the AHA can be and do.”
Dr. Weicksel’s appointment followed an extensive national search and reinforces the AHA’s commitment to historical scholarship, the promotion of history and historians, and public engagement. The Association looks forward to her leadership in supporting an expansive historical discipline, advocating for the importance of history, and promoting collaboration and innovation that brings historians’ work into more aspects of public life.
For media inquiries, please contact press@historians.org.
Founded in 1884 and incorporated by Congress in 1889 for the promotion of historical studies, the American Historical Association provides leadership for the discipline and promotes the critical role of historical thinking in public life. The Association defends academic freedom, develops professional standards, supports innovative scholarship and teaching, and helps to sustain and enhance the work of historians. As the largest membership association of professional historians in the world (nearly 11,000 members), the AHA serves historians in a wide variety of professions and represents every historical era and geographical area. Learn more at historians.org.
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