From the AHA
History Cooperative Takes Off
At a Washington, D.C., press conference, the American Historical Association announced a major new initiative to publish the American Historical…
AHA Members Take Top History and Nonfiction Prizes
AHA members dominated the nation's top prizes for history and nonfiction writing this spring, capturing two Pulitzers, three Bancroft Prizes,…
Gutenberg-e Workshop Sets the Scene
"It is a publication, not merely the digitizing of information." In that simple, declarative sentence, William Strachan, director of Columbia…
George Mason University to Establish History PhD Program
In March Virginia's State Higher Education Board approved George Mason University's proposal for an innovative doctoral program in history. According…
Nazi War Criminal Records Group Solicits Assistance
The Nazi War Criminals Records Interagency Working Group, created by presidential executive order 13110 in January 1999, is soliciting assistance…
Historians and the Public(s): Introduction
Historians use specialized language and seek to develop comprehensive analyses of the past. The rest of society rejects what they…
Professional Historians and Popular Historymakers
Editor's Note. The following very briefly summarizes the results of a survey that is the basis of The Presence of…
Individuals in History
Editor's note: In the following essay, Thelen extrapolates on the data from the survey he conducted with Roy Rosenzweig (see…
The Struggle for History at the Precollegiate Level
The precollegiate history classroom has become much more than a place where minds meet to consider historical questions. Teachers continue…
The Private Sector and Public Higher Education
One of the most shopworn criticisms of college professors, and of historians in particular, is that, rather than addressing any…
World History and the Public
Each generation must write its own history, not because past histories are untrue but because in a rapidly changing world…
Politics and Standards: The Illinois Story
Schooling and the curriculum are inherently political—what is taught in the public schools reflects the values of the different groups…
A News Service by Historians
Historians have often written opinion editorials, or "op-eds," that throw historical light upon current events. But until recently their efforts…
Connecting to the Public: History through the Internet
Many who share your fascination with the past may never walk into your classroom, let alone hear you speak at…
Educating America: The Historian’s Responsibility to Native Americans and the Public
Slinking down in my chair of the high school classroom, I listen with dread to the discussion about Native Americans.…
Professional Issues beyond the Classroom
Book Buff needed to direct city's public library. Must be amiable and well liked. Would prefer someone who has read…
Out of the Ivory Tower: Historians and the Public(s)
This special issue of Perspectives addresses a question that should be of concern to all historians—our relationship as professional students…
NCC Advocacy Update, May 2000
News from the National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History
We Bid You Farewell, Page Putnam Miller … You Will Be Missed!
It is difficult to encompass in mere words and within the necessary brevity of an encomium in Perspectives, the many…
The Wonders of My Africa: An Africanist Historian’s View of Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s Wonders of the Africa World
Whether we regard our modern American homes as comfortable and secure or not, we all carry baggage from them when…
Africa through a Western Optic
Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s Wonders of the African World is a bold attempt to represent Africa and her peoples to…
Appreciating Historians
To the Editor: I am writing to express my appreciation for the superb obituaries of historians that have been appearing…
Historians and the Job Market
To the Editor: When Professor Burnham ("Historians Have the 'Job Market' All Wrong,” Perspectives online, April 2000) tenders his resignation…
Arthur A. Ekirch Jr. (1915-2000)
Arthur A. Ekirch Jr., a leading scholar of American intellectual history and professor emeritus of history at the State University…
Benjamin I. Schwartz (1916-99)
Benjamin Isadore Schwartz died at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on November 14, 1999. Born in East Boston on December…
Albert E. Van Dusen (1916-99)
Albert E. Van Dusen, known to his many friends and colleagues simply as "Van," former Connecticut State Historian, professor emeritus…