When the AHA Newsletter launched in December 1962, it declared, “This publication marks the beginning of a new Association venture.” Scheduled for five times a year (bimonthly except for the summer months), the newsletter would include professional news from members like promotions and retirements; “educational developments of professional interest”; job listings; Association news; and announcements of other historical associations’ meetings.
The newsletter became monthly during the academic year in 1974, and its name changed in September 1982 to Perspectives and again in 2008 to Perspectives on History. But over its 62 years, this publication has maintained many of those early goals. Historians found a place where they could publish on the hot topics of the day, from long-running columns “Teaching History Today” and “Advanced Placement Teaching” to discussions of computing and historical films. In 1980, the AHA began publishing obituaries of historians in the newsletter, a genre that had previously appeared in the American Historical Review. Announcements of individual members’ new jobs, sabbaticals, and retirements faded away, presumably as the membership became too large to publish all such transitions.
The newsletter expanded both its scope and its page count as it transformed into a magazine. The newsletter announced in September 1981 that the AHA Council had been “studying the feasibility of launching a popular magazine of history.” They envisioned that such a periodical would be “entertaining, relevant, intellectually challenging, and visually appealing.” Such a publication never materialized, but over time, Perspectives itself became a magazine. By 2000, some issues were printed with a color, or even two, to spice up the black-and-white format. Glossy covers appeared in 2008 with its new name and its rebranding as the “newsmagazine of the Association.” Ad sales brought news of the latest books, conferences, and job openings. Over time, Perspectives became known for its incisive reporting on the discipline itself, including annual articles that tracked academic job openings and PhD conferrals. And eventually, like most publications, Perspectives on History went online, publishing all its print content on the web as well and, with the incorporation of AHA Today as Perspectives Daily in 2018, additional online-only articles too.
This history brought you the magazine you hold in your hands today (or the version you’re reading online). And again, Perspectives is facing a changing world, including rising costs for printing and mailing. So the magazine is returning to its roots as a periodical that will arrive five times a year (September, November, January, March, and May). We are striving to ensure that our readers will still enjoy the high-quality articles they have come to expect from the magazine, including articles by historians across the discipline and news from the Association—though more of this content might appear online instead of in print, especially for time-sensitive material.
What never changes about Perspectives is our commitment to serving the AHA membership and the discipline more broadly. We always welcome feedback from our readers at perspectives@historians.org. We also hope that you’ll consider pitching us an article on your research (broadly defined), teaching, or other professional issues.
When the newsletter announced that it would increase from five issues a year to nine, the headline read that this was “old wine in new bottles.” Perhaps we are moving back to old bottles, but the wine is so much more complex than it was 50 years ago.
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