Washington Notes, March 1988

The seasonal cycle of the AHA, like that of its many members in acade­mia, follows the model of the school year. This is particularly true for AHA staff members, who even observe a pseudo-semester rhythm. September brings an increase in contacts with mem­bers, a rise in services to departments of history, and a busy sequence of meet­ings including the divisional committees, Program Committee, Committee on Committees, Joint Committee on Historians and Archivists, and culminating with the meetings of the Council, the Committee on Women Historians, and the annual meeting. On the other hand, the same committees meet in the spring semester, plus the Nominating Committee, climaxing with the meeting of the Council in May to approve the budget for the next fiscal year, beginning July I. Happily for the staff we are not on a quarter system or we might have to develop a two-platoon system.

The valleys between the fall and spring peaks of activity give us an opportunity to focus on fund raising for special projects, planning, and even a bit of introspection. One such reflective moment has been to review the procedure and experiences of the last several job registers held at the AHA annual meeting. The heartening upsurge in job opportunities over the past two years has had a sharp impact on the operations of the job register. Overcrowding, conflicting engagements, inadequate staffing and facilities have been the pen­alties of success. Job searches and interviews are supremely important and highly stressful activities, and we are determined to upgrade the activity from a once a year side-line to a more profes­sional, useful, and tranquil service. The overworked staff of Perspectives, which has long been responsible for the job register because of its familiarity with employment information listings, needs reinforcement and a greater involve­ment of the Association’s elected and appointed leadership. The Professional Division Committee will review the mat­ter in its meeting this month.

The headquarters staff also has been involved in a number of international historical activities during January. A meeting of the ACLS-IREX joint com­mission with the Soviet Academy of Sci­ences on exchanges in the humanities and social sciences took place in Prince­ton during the weekend of January 17. The formal business of the two and a half day meeting was to complete the negotiation and signature of a new bilat­eral protocol governing these exchanges over the next two years. Professor John Gaddis of Ohio University and the AHA’s executive director participated in the meeting to represent the subcommission on history and archeology. Professor Norman Saul, University of Kansas, the other member of the sub­commission, was unable to be present.

Negotiations took very little time. The twelve separate history exchange programs (in addition to individual scholars’ travels) were already fully agreed to by both sides. They include the biennial colloquium of Soviet and American his­torians; programs in quantitative re­search in history, agrarian history, and demography; the history of late nine­teenth and early twentieth century con­flicts, social processes, and the evolution of political structures; the history of World War II; Soviet American rela­tions during the Cold War; preparation of a volume of documents on US-Russian relations 1815-65 (with the joint commission on the archives); the devel­opment of Slavic and Balkan national cultures; history of Asia; Near East his­tory; and the comparison of banking systems in the two countries at the turn of the last century. We also had time to do some exploration of possible future projects of interest to the two sides, which will perhaps be “ripe” in time for the next protocol.

The atmosphere of the meeting was perhaps the most interesting aspect of the two day event. The impact of glas­nost and perestroika on our interlocuteurs has been profound. The atmosphere of the exchanges discussions in the past, while always correct and intensely inter­esting, has taken a quantum leap in cordiality, Stiffness and caution has less­ened remarkably. The Soviet Ambassa­dor, who attended the signing ceremo­ny, gave a stump speech endorsing the new expansiveness and cordiality, which would do credit to his talented chief. General Secretary Gorbachev.

Headquarters staff have been in­ volved in planning meetings of a project to review the status of international edu­cation at the college level. Early discussions have been held with representa­tives of the American Council on Educa­tion, the American Conference of Academic Deans, and the Atlantic Council to explore possibilities for a conference on the subject.

Another activity of the Association during the first few weeks of 1988 has been keeping up with our commitments to two lobbying organizations (besides the more intense involvement in histori­ans’ own National Coordinating Com­mittee) in which we participate. Several meetings of the executive committees of the Consortium of Social Science Associ­ation and the National Humanities Alli­ance have dealt with some restructuring and personnel changes in the member­ship representatives for both organiza­tions.