As AHA members, most of you will on occasion deal with certain members of your headquarters staff, whether in writing, by telephone, or in person. Beginning with this issue, Perspectives plans to personalize some of these names and voices, so you know whom to contact for what purpose, and what to expect. We also think that our staff includes some remarkable people.
For this issue, editorial assistant Monica Goldberg spoke with James Robertson, who handles AHA publication sales and channels our considerable volume of mail to the proper destinations.- Ed.
On any given day if you drive past the AHA headquarters, you may see a masked man on a black motorcycle pulling out of the driveway. But don’t fret, the AHA wasn’t held up, it was just James Robertson taking the daily mail to the post office.
Robbie, as he is known to his co-workers, handles both in- and outgoing mail and fills requests for AHA publications. These duties keep him extremely busy since we publish and distribute quite a few publications. We distribute twenty-two pamphlets in the pamphlet series, and fifteen tides in the institutional series (AHA titles), the NCC has three publications, and there are three publications connected to Project ’87. The prices range from S1.50 for some of the pamphlets to $22.00 for the Guide to Departments of History. According to Robbie, the AHA pamphlet series is very popular but the most requests are for Grants and Fellowships of Interest to Historians.
In order for Robbie to promptly fill a mail request, he must have a check or money order for the correct amount of the publication(s) ordered. “People have to be aware that prices change. Many times we get requests with outdated prices which causes delays in mailing and extra paperwork,” Robbie explains. He has just finished updating the price list, which is available to anyone who calls or writes him at the AHA address. Also, current issues of Perspectives contain advertisements of new publications and their prices.
Sometimes overseas orders can be troublesome for Robbie because purchasers don’t consider the length of time it takes publications to arrive if they’re not sent by airmail. Within the US, “most single-copy orders go by first-class mail,” he says. But overseas orders, unless airmail postage is included with payment, are sent by surface transportation. “As a rule, especially on multiple-copy orders, buyers should allow up to four weeks for delivery and eight weeks for overseas delivery,” Robbie says.
Before coming to the AHA in 1979, Robbie spent twenty-three years in the Air Force. Since 1955 he has served three Southeast Asia tours of duty, including Vietnam. He has been a security policeman and, as the unit historian, compiled data on significant accomplishments and actions involving personnel and/or equipment into a report. These reports become part of the Air Force’s permanent records and may be of use to military history researchers. The last years of Robbie’s duty were spent at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where he served as privacy officer, records manager, and freedom of information officer. In his capacity as freedom of information officer he “processed all public requests for information pertaining to air force activities at Andrews Air Force Base.” One of the benefits of his military days, he says, was extensive travel opportunities. He mentions Great Britain, Alaska, Hawaii, Thailand, and Okinawa as just a few of the many places he has visited.
AHA members may have noticed some or the professionally drawn signs at the annual meeting in San Francisco. Those were just some of the many graphic designs Robbie produces for advertisements in magazines, newspapers, and handouts. Robbie also spends time motorcycling, fishing. and traveling. During his next vacation he plans to combine all three by taking a motorcycle trip across the country which shouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary since he claims he once drove his car from Alaska to Washington, DC in just five days!
When first meeting Robbie, people may find his size and demeanor a bit intimidating, but actually he is friendly as well as helpful. AHA members can feel assured that the masked man on the motorcycle helps the headquarters staff handle AHA affairs efficiently with the interest of the members in mind.
