Pasts in Public
The words on our cover this month-"Pasts in Public"-allude to an increasingly pronounced sense among historians that engaging in civic life as historians is a responsibility of democratic citizenship. A number of articles in this issue wrestle with interpreting the past in public, particularly Evan A. Kutzler's analysis of the presentation of complicated histories to visitors at the Andersonville National Historic Site, located on the grounds of a massive Confederate prison camp. As Kutzler shows, public historians' efforts to presenta multifaceted interpretation of the US Civil War's deadliest site often clash with the attitudes and knowledge that visitors bring with them. The past in public, in other words, is fraught with challenges. Image: Two Pairs of Unidentified Soldiers in Union Shell Jackets (between 1861 and 1865)/Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs, Library of Congress.
Staff
The Decline in History Majors: What Is to Be Done?
As the March 2016 issue of Perspectives on History reported, the number of people earning a US bachelor’s degree in history…
Number of Doctorates in History Continued Moderate Growth in 2014
Over a thousand people earned doctorates in history in 2014—1,182, to be precise. This is 2 percent of almost 55,000…
Introducing America in 20 Minutes: The Smithsonian’s New Film on the Nation’s History
How do you condense hundreds of years of American history into 20 minutes? This was the challenge facing staff at…
May 2016 Townhouse Notes
As a cultural construction, is the so-called crisis of the humanities gendered? Do ideas about masculinity and femininity influence perceptions…
Diversity
Diversity continues to expand within the discipline of history. By “diversity” I refer first to diversity among practitioners and students…
David Duckworth Bien, 1930-2015
Historian of France The historical profession in North America and western Europe regrets the passing of David Duckworth Bien, who…
Laszlo Deme, 1933-2015
Historian of Hungary and of the Hapsburg Empire Laszlo Deme, professor emeritus of history at New College of Florida, in…
The Privatization of Animal Life and the Future of Circus Elephants in America
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus has just retired elephants from its traveling shows, two years ahead of a…
AHA Member Spotlight: Dr. Electa (Beth) Anderson
Dr. Electa (Beth) Anderson is a high school history teacher at El Toro High School (Lake Forest, California). She lives…
AHA Sends Letter of Concern Regarding Poland’s Museum of the Second World War
The AHA has sent a letter to Poland’s Minister of Culture expressing concern about the proposal to disrupt the planned…
Deportation Diplomacy and China-Taiwan Cross-Strait Relations
The Sydney Morning Herald and Vox.com agree that the recent dispute between Beijing and Taipei over a deportation decision by…
The Opioid Crisis in Historical Perspective
Prince is just the latest high-profile victim of an opioid addiction crisis that has devastated families and communities across the…
Facing Slavery’s Legacy at Georgetown
Many universities in the United States are reckoning with their own involvement in the history of American slavery. What can…
The Politics of the Past in the Black Freedom Struggle
“I grew up reading about you,” historian Clayborne Carson told Terrence Roberts, one of the nine Arkansas teenagers who faced…
Seminar from the Institute for Constitutional History: Dissent and the Supreme Court
The Institute for Constitutional History (ICH) is pleased to announce another seminar for advanced graduate students and junior faculty: Dissent…
AHA Member Spotlight: Michael F. Magliari
Michael F. Magliari is a professor of history at California State University, Chico. He lives in Chico, California, and has…
Who’s Afraid of Numbers?
This post marks the fourth in a series on what we’ve come to call the Career Diversity Five Skills—five things graduate…
What I Learned from Visiting a Historical Site: An Undergraduate’s Experience at Gettysburg
A recent report from Humanities Indicators, a project of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, showed that less than…
Googling History: The AHR Explores Implications of Using Digital Sources for Historians
The April issue of the American Historical Review inaugurates a new listing of digital primary sources. This feature serves as…
Pasts in Public: Presenting the May Issue of Perspectives on History
The unofficial slogan of the American Historical Association is “Everything has a history.” Introduced by executive director James Grossman in…
Seminar from the Institute for Constitutional History: Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic Constitutionalism
UPDATE: The new deadline for this seminar is 9/15 The Institute for Constitutional History is pleased to announce another seminar…
AHA Member Spotlight: Bethany Antos
Bethany Antos is an archivist at the Rockefeller Archive Center in Sleepy Hollow, New York. She lives in Ossining, New…
Slavery on Film
Over the past few years, several movies and television shows have delved into the history of slavery in the United…
Banjos in Baltimore: Using Music to Tell History
In the October 2015 issue of Perspectives on History, I wrote on historically informed performance of medieval, Renaissance, and baroque…
AHA Member Spotlight: Angela Lahr
Angela Lahr is an assistant professor of history at Westminster College (PA). She lives in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, and has…
Communication
This post marks the third in a series on what we’ve come to call the Career Diversity Five Skills—five things graduate…
Mary Church Terrell
Black Lives Matter, the protest movement launched by three African American women, has ignited a search for new role models.…
Delivering History through a Smartphone App: An Interview with Clio’s David Trowbridge
AHA member David Trowbridge, associate professor of history at Marshall University, was recently awarded the Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship. Granted…