The Frailty of Historical Truth
The image on the cover of the print edition is from Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), starring James Stewart as Jefferson Smith. Photo © Columbia Pictures, courtesy Photofest.
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The Benefits of a Good Story
Although the parade is over, and everyone who attended the inaugural balls has hopefully recovered, I have one more addition…
The Chronicle Launches the Adjunct Project
After years of reporting on the pay and working conditions of adjuncts, the Chronicle of Higher Education recently took a…
Fracture and Reflection: Emancipation Proclamation Events Offer a Window into Current Debate
January 1, 2013, marked the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation and, although the general historical consensus is that slavery was…
Women’s History and the National Park Service
The National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (NCWHS) held a workshop at the historic Sewall-Belmont House and Museum in Washington,…
In Praise of Frank Capra, Fabulist
From 1936 to 1946, Frank Capra directed four of the most compelling movies I have ever seen: Mr. Deeds Goes…
Masters at the Movies, Take 21
The AHA’s “Masters at the Movies” series invites distinguished scholars in the history profession to comment on the impact of…
Narrowing Distances: A Proposal for Talking about History
Historians share an approach to reading, and to relating bits of information to each other, which distinguishes us from our…
MOOCs and Historical Research
At first glance one might imagine that the challenges presented by massive open online courses (MOOCs) have everything to do…
What’s in a Title?
Inspired by a member query, I created a “word cloud” of the history dissertation titles and subtitles from the past…
Are Race, Class, and Gender Dominating the Discipline?
A new report from the National Association of Scholars (NAS) charging that American history survey courses at two Texas universities…
The Frailty of Historical Truth
How tiresome are the endless anecdotes about [William Best] Hesseltine, his seminar, and his students,” wrote Wisconsin editor Paul Hass.1…
Falling Out of Love with Living in the Past
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with what life was like in other times and in…
History a la MOOC
On planet MOOC—massive open online course—people have funny diets. Check out the menu of offerings at the restaurant called “Coursera.”…
Teaching Transnational American History in a Study Abroad Program
One of the more important historiographical developments in the practice of American history in the last 20 years has come…
NCH Asks Federal Court to Review Detrimental FOIA Decision
On January 29, the National Coalition for History (NCH) filed an amicus curiae (friend-of-the court) brief in the U.S. Court…
Emancipation, the Cold War, and Hidden Themes of History
Sometimes it’s easy to recognize the themes that animate the National History Center’s programs—big events such as the Arab Spring,…
Henry R. Winkler (1916–2012)
Historian of the British Labour Party, Editor of the American Historical Review, and AHA Life Member Henry R. Winkler, historian,…
Alfred F. Young (1925–2012)
Activist and Historian of American Labor Studies and AHA 50-Year Member Alfred F. Young died at age 87 in Durham,…
John C. Rule (1929–2013)
Leader in the American School of Louis XIV Studies John Corwin Rule, professor of history emeritus at the Ohio State…
Uncertainty, Humility, and Visions of the Future
“In general the teachers in History are the most jingoistic in the universities. Their whole lives are spent in the…
AHA Protests Senate Initiative to Restrict Funding of Political Science Research
On March 20, 2013, the United States Senate approved an amendment offered by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) to the Continuing…
AHA Member Spotlight: Donna J. Guy
AHA members are involved in all fields of history, with wide-ranging specializations, interests, and areas of employment. To recognize our…
Thirteen New Sites Recognized as National Historic Landmarks
On March 12, the Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Director of the National Park Service Jonathan B. Jarvis…
Now Available from Perspectives Online—Michael Kazin on Frank Capra
As we lift the pay gate on Michael Kazin’s contribution to the Masters at the Movies series, I’m reminded of…
Announcing the Latest Robert H. Smith Seminar: Assessing the US Constitution
The Institute for Constitutional History is pleased to announce another Robert H. Smith seminar for advanced graduate students and junior…
Should I Stay or Should I Go? Aging Workforce Creates a Complex Dilemma for Colleges
Academics have talked about an impending mass retirement of baby boomer professors for decades, but young PhDs continue to wait…
AHA Member Spotlight: Yonatan Eyal
AHA members are involved in all fields of history, with wide-ranging specializations, interests, and areas of employment. To recognize our…
Preservation EXPOsed! Deserves More Exposure
The US National Archives (NARA) recently held its annual Preservation EXPOsed! event in Washington, DC, highlighting a diverse slate of…
Nominations Invited for the American Historical Association’s Equity Awards
The American Historical Association seeks nominations for its Equity Awards, which recognize individuals and institutions that have demonstrated an exceptional…
Bancroft Prize Winners – 2013
Congratulations to the 2013 winners of Columbia University’s prestigious Bancroft Prize. The winners, both AHA members, are W. Jeffrey Bolster (University of New Hampshire,…
Now Available from Perspectives Online—“Falling out of Love with Living in the Past”
Susan Ferber, executive editor of American and world history at Oxford University Press in New York, spends more time “living…
History- There’s an App for That?!
After a long hiatus, our series “History— There’s an App for That” is back, just in time to showcase a…
The National Parks and the Value of History
Heritage tourism is big business. A recent report on the economic impact of the National Park Service (NPS) estimates that…
Is There Any Value in U.S. News Rankings of History Grad Programs?
The latest iteration of the U.S. News and World Report rankings of history graduate programs appeared yesterday, prompting fresh questions…
NARA Investigators Detail Brazen Theft and Daring Capture in the Archives
On July 10, 2011, the stars were aligned. On that day, according to Jim Warwick, assistant US attorney for the…
AHA Member Spotlight: Megan Birk
AHA members are involved in all fields of history, with wide-ranging specializations, interests, and areas of employment. To recognize our…
Now Open and Available at Perspectives Online—MOOCs, Transnational Teaching
Is this the “year of the MOOC,” as a New York Times reporter put it? Massive open online courses (MOOCs)…
Top Tumblrs for Historians
Tumblr is a virtual goldmine of creative, niche micro-blogs. A few weeks ago, I asked our Twitter followers to recommend…
Books by Members
As a service to AHA members, we periodically list books by members received in the headquarters office in recent months.…
AHA Council Spotlight: Jacqueline Jones
To go along with our ongoing AHA Member Spotlight we have introduced an AHA Council Spotlight series featuring short interviews…
Is this the Golden Age of Historian Administrators?
Recently, we read an essay in the Nation on the role of university presidents as civic leaders that lamented the…
Reflections on the February 2013 Tuning Workshop
Comedian Joel McHale recently gave an interview where he mentioned that he had been a history major but had turned…
The Dos and Don’ts of Live-Tweeting at an Academic Conference: An Update
A few weeks ago, I asked our readers to help me tackle an issue raised at the annual meeting—the lack…
Perspectives on History for March: MOOCs, Hurricanes, Historical Truth, Frank Capra, and More
Two of our favorite columns in Perspectives on History are being expertly filled this month by David Lowenthal and Michael…
AHA Addresses Historical Issues in Supreme Court DOMA Case
The has joined a group of individual distinguished historians in signing an amicus brief in US v. Windsor, a case…
2013 AHA Nominations
The Nominating Committee for 2013–14, chaired by Raúl A. Ramos (University of Houston), met in Washington, D.C. on February 9–10…
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Regional Residency Fellowships
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), with the generous support of the Foundation for the National Archives, announces…