Publication Date

November 8, 2019

Perspectives Section

AHA Annual Meeting

AHA Topic

Research & Publications

Thematic

History of the Discipline, Medicine, Science, & Technology, Research Methods

Among the ongoing revolutions in historical research is the flood of new information about the human past that comes not from written documents but from the natural sciences. What might this mean for the profession of history, our research and interpretations of the past, and our training and hiring practices? Which fields of history will be most, and least, affected? How can historians avoid the perils, without ignoring the promise, of using data from genetics, the paleosciences, and elsewhere?

Norman Ross prepares the fossil of a young dinosaur, about seven or eight million years old, for exhibition in 1921.

Norman Ross prepares the fossil of a young dinosaur, about seven or eight million years old, for exhibition in 1921. National Photo Company Collection/Library of Congress. Image cropped.

The presidential address will take place on Saturday, January 4, 2020, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the New York Hilton’s Trianon Ballroom.

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John R. McNeill
John R. McNeill

Georgetown University