NASOH Announces the John Lyman Book Awards for 2002
At its annual meeting held in Bath, Maine, the North American Society for Oceanic History announced the recipients of its John Lyman Book Awards that recognize outstanding books dealing with the maritime and naval history of North America. The following books published during 2002 received prizes:
Science and Technology: Steven J. Dick, Sky and Ocean Joined: The U.S. Naval Observatory, 1830–2000 (Cambridge University Press); Honorable Mention, William H. Roberts, Civil War Ironclads (Johns Hopkins University Press)
Canadian Naval and Maritime History: John Griffith Armstrong, The Halifax Explosion and the Royal Canadian Navy (University of British Columbia Press)
U.S. Naval History: Mitchell B. Lerner, The Pueblo Incident: A Spy Ship and the Failure of American Foreign Policy (University Press of Kansas); Honorable Mention: Robert M. Browning, Jr. Success Is All That Was Expected: The South Atlantic Blockading Squadron During the Civil War (Brassey’s)
U.S. Maritime History: Wade G. Dudley, Splintering the Wooden Wall (Naval Institute Press)
Primary Source Materials: Michael J. Crawford, et al., eds. The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, vol. 3 (Naval Historical Center); Honorable Mention: Charles Dana Gibson and E. Kay Gibson, Over Seas: U.S. Army Maritime Operations (Ensign Press).
AJHS Announces Book Prize and Calls for Papers
The American Jewish Historical Society has awarded its Saul Viener Book Prize (awarded biennially for the best book in the field of Jewish history) to Gerald Sorin for his Irving Howe: A Life of Passionate Dissent.
The AJHS calls for proposals for papers for the 2004 Biennial Scholars’ Conference on American Jewish History, which will meet in Washington, DC, at American University and at the Library of Congress, June 6–8, 2004. Since 2004 marks the 350th anniversary of Jewish settlement in America, this, the sixth of the biennial scholars’ conference, is cosponsored by the members of the Commission for Commemorating 350 Years of American Jewish History: the American Jewish Historical Society, the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives and Records Administration. Proposals for sessions and individual papers in diverse areas of the American Jewish experience are invited. The former are especially encouraged. Graduate students completing dissertations may submit proposals accompanied by a letter of recommendation from their adviser. One-page abstracts, panel proposals, and a short biography (250 words) should be mailed by October 1, 2003 to
Pamela S. Nadell
Scholars’ Conference Chair, Jewish Studies Program, American University
4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016-8042
AASLH Adopts Statement of Concern Supporting State and Local Historical Agencies
In response to the nationwide trend of decreasing support provided to history organizations by state governments, the American Association for State and Local History adopted (at its June 2003 meeting of the board of directors) the following statement in support of state and local historical agencies.
Preservation of, public access to, and free and open debate over the content and interpretation of the past are essential to the health of American constitutional democracy. Enlightened discourse over critical issues, public policy, and the very nature of our democracy, requires continuous reference to the historical context.
That is why the American Association for State and Local History is deeply concerned over the draconian reductions in public funding of historical organizations and activities that currently are being made across the country, most egregiously at the state level. These reductions demonstrate a wanton disregard of the relationship of the past to the future of the democratic institutions that define America and its position in the world.
The threat to state historical resources and institutions is especially alarming. State libraries and archives, historical collections and museums, historic sites, and other historical resources are not frills to be discarded when budgets are tight or to accomplish particular political agendas. They are essential trustees of our democratic inheritance.
It is ironic that these threats are being made at a time when the demise of totalitarian regimes around the world has made especially obvious the connection between the historical record and the democratic experience. Whether in Iraq in 2003 or in Eastern Europe fifteen years earlier, one of the first actions of newly freed peoples always is to open the previously closed governmental archives to public scrutiny. Through critical examination of the historical evidence the past is confronted and a future of new possibilities can be envisioned.
The American Association of State and Local History asserts that the historical record is just as important to the future of a 227-year-old democracy. Therefore, AASLH emphatically urges all Americans and the public officials who they elect to continue to invest in the federal, state, and local resources and institutions that are the custodians of our democratic experience. To do anything less dishonors the heritage upon which we build and threatens the future we aspire to create.
The statement was distributed widely to organizations in the field, provided to the CEO of each state historical society and museum, and sent with an accompany letter to each state Governor and Secretary of State.
Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, the AASLH (https://www.aaslh.org) represents more than 6,000 members from the field of state and local history.
OHA Calls for Papers
The Oral History Association invites proposals for papers and presentations for its 2004 annual meeting to be held September 29–October 3, 2004, at the Hilton & Executive Tower in Portland, Oregon.
“Telling Stories: narratives of our own times,” the conference theme, invokes both the practice of oral history and the unique ability of oral history to capture stories that are especially revealing and meaningful. The present historical moment lends an especial urgency to this call. War in Iraq, the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Seattle protests over the World Trade Organization—the enormity and significance of these events, and many others, urge us to record and interpret the “narratives of our own times,” not only the cataclysmic events at the turn of the 21st century, but also the sweep of the 20th century that lies within living memory. While recent events suggest histories of conflict, change and rupture, the practice of oral history offers the possibility of bridging differences, finding commonalities, and tracing continuity. Turning lives into stories can help individuals and communities negotiate wrenching social and economic changes and undermine hierarchies of power and dominance. We are eager for presenters to help set an agenda for the myriad of stories of our times that need to be recorded and suggest new ways of preserving and disseminating them.
Proposals should be sent by January 15, 2004 to:
Madelyn Campbell
Oral History Association
Dickinson College
P.O. Box 1773
Carlisle, PA 17013
Fax 717-245-1046
Proposals are invited from oral history practitioners in a wide variety of disciplines and settings such as scholars, teachers, students, museum professionals, public historians, activists, filmmakers, radio documentarians, photographers, and journalists. While sessions may be organized in the customary panel format, proposals for workshops, poster sessions, media and performance-oriented sessions, off-site sessions, and formats other than conventional conference presentations will also be welcomed.
Details about the annual meeting and requirements for sending proposals can be obtained from https://oralhistory.org/.
