Material Culture in the Digital Frame
Anti-Apartheid Portraits Quilt, made c. 2003 by Fina Nkosi, Soweto, South Africa. Collection of the Michigan State University Museum.
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Featured Articles
From the AHA
Cataloging for the Future: NARA on Archiving Federal E-mail Records
We have come a long way since Raymond Tomlinson sent the first experimental e-mail in 1971. Playing around on ARPANET,…
Material Culture in the Digital Frame: Introduction
The use of digital images for research is so ubiquitous in every kind of historical inquiry that it's taken for…
Artifacts as Pixels, Pixels as Artifacts: Working with Photographs in the Digital Age
What are historians to do? The evolving digital environment poses a challenge for all of us who work with photographs;…
Women’s Worlds in Qajar Iran Digital Archive and Website: What Could Writing History Look Like in a Digital Age?
The 1970s through the 1990s witnessed an explosion of women's history and the gendering of historical research and writing, but…
Stitched Together: Doing History with the Quilt Index
Digital archives of thematic material culture collections are much more than gatherings of data; they are resources that allow historians…
Advanced History for Beginners
Ideas about general education are changing, with both intellectual and material implications for historians. Increasingly, people who plan post-secondary education…
The Historian’s Craft of Teaching
Although many of our students spend a great deal of time taking advantage of their school's architecturally enhanced facilities and…
History Coalition Active, Even as Government Stalls
This article was written on the first day of fiscal year 2014, as the process of shutting down the federal…
The Expanding Social Mind
The digital social network in some ways isn’t all that new. Human beings have always demonstrated a desire to connect…
The Digitization and Democratization of Oral History
In the field of oral history, nothing has been more prominent and consequential over the last two decades than the…
Complex Shades of Green
Environmental history requires a knowledge of the physical and life sciences, social movements, politics, economics, and religion. It is rarely…
From Reggae to “Education for a Change!”
Eighth International Seminar on Decolonization member Birte Timm's love of reggae led her first to a dissertation topic and then…
Ike Memorial Mired in Controversy
The design of public art in Washington, DC, is shaped by a long, often opaque process of committee approvals, public…
The Presidential Sessions at the 128th Annual Meeting
It has been a pleasure working with the 2014 program committee, ably led by Anne McCants (MIT) and Peter Perdue…
Six Questions about the AHA Annual Meeting
With the annual meeting a few short months away, we want to provide answers to some of the most commonly…
Debating History and Politics at the Eighth Annual AHA Film Festival
The AHA film festival has become an important part of the annual meetings in facilitating lively debate about the significance…
Tours Organized by the Local Arrangements Committee
The Local Arrangements Committee has organized 10 tours highlighting the historical resources of Washington, DC. Preregistration for tours is highly…
128th Annual Meeting Highlights
The 128th Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association will be held in Washington, DC at the Marriott Wardman Park,…
Generations of Women’s History at the 2014 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC
A series of sessions at the 128th annual meeting in Washington DC will look back at the achievements of earlier…
Prizes, Awards, and Honors to Be Conferred at the 128th Annual Meeting
The following is a list of the recipients of the various awards, prizes, and honors that will be presented during…
Member News, November 2013
AHA members are encouraged to submit news about their careers, including prizes, promotions, honors, tenure, and new jobs. If you…
On “An Assignment from Our Students”
Perspectives on History welcomes letters to the editor on issues discussed in its pages or which are relevant to the…
Arvarh E. Strickland (1930–2013)
Historian of African Americans in the 20th Century Arvarh E. Strickland, professor emeritus of history at the University of Missouri,…
William Z. Slany (1928–2013)
Historian of the Department of State William Z. Slany, former chief historian at the US Department of State, passed away…
Martha Jackson Ross (1923–2013)
Influential Oral Historian Pioneering oral historian and legendary teacher Martha Jackson Ross died April 5, 2013, in Fremont, Ohio. Ross…
Pauline R. Maier (1938–2013)
Historian of the American Revolution Pauline Maier, the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of American History at the Massachusetts Institute…
Charles Jelavich (1922–2013)
Historian of Balkan Nationalism, Inspiring Mentor Charles Jelavich was born and grew up in the Santa Clara valley town of…
Robert Fogel (1926–2013)
Economist and Historian Robert William Fogel died in Chicago on June 11, 2013, at age 86. He was the Charles…
William A. Chaney (1922–2013)
Historian of Anglo-Saxon England William A. Chaney died on March 15, 2013, at the age of 90. At the time…
William Marvin Bowsky (1930–2013)
“Unforgettable” Historian of Medieval Italy William M. Bowsky, professor emeritus of medieval history at the University of California, Davis, died…
For the Record: An Editor’s Reflection on the In Memoriam Essays
I received the notice that Genevieve Miller had passed away in July 2013. According to the AHA member database, she…
New Discounts for AHA 2014
Just in time for Black Friday we are announcing a few discounts that attendees can take advantage of during the…
Flashback Friday: A Gentleman’s Game of Faro
Each week we scour the web for interesting and historic documents that catch our eye, make us think or simply…
Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Thanksgiving with Pie and Apple Cider
In advance of Thanksgiving, we would be remiss to acknowledge a very important anniversary. Tomorrow marks the 150th anniversary of…
Perspectives on History forum on Material Culture in the Digital Frame
Keyword searching and advanced text mining techniques have transformed the way many historians discover and use textual primary sources. For…
AHA Member Spotlight: Christopher McKnight Nichols
AHA members are involved in all fields of history, with wide-ranging specializations, interests, and areas of employment. To recognize our…
The Malleable PhD at the 2014 Annual Meeting
The 2014 annual meeting will feature several opportunities to promote broader thinking about careers for history PhDs, including aCareer Fair,…
Historians and History Museums: Offsite Sessions at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
The annual meeting program will feature two offsite sessions at the National Museum of American History on Friday, January 3,…
JFK: 50th Anniversary
Although by no means comprehensive, we offer a mashup of interesting readings, video and images marking the 50th anniversary of…
History Jobs Update: November 22, 2013
In an effort to keep our readers informed about the different academic positions trending on the job market, we are…
Join the Committee on Minority Historians for a Brainstorming Session
The AHA Committee on Minority Historians cordially invites all interested AHA members to a brainstorming session to think through the…
Flashback Friday: Horsing Around
Each week we scour the web for interesting and historic documents that catch our eye, make us think or simply…
Is 3D Printing: A Game Changer?
The Buddha Vairochana is an impressive, monument-sized limestone figure that looms over gallery space in the Freer and Sackler Galleries…
Session of the Week: Governmentality and LGBT Lives
In an effort to highlight the diverse range of scholarship at the upcoming annual meeting, we’re highlighting different sessions here…
Let There Be WiFi!
The AHA is happy to announce it will be able to offer free WiFi to annual meeting attendees. Starting mid-day…
What Does the Google Books Decision Mean for Historians?
If you’re like me, over the past few years, your Twitter feed has periodically been briefly taken over by reactions—often…
AHA Member Spotlight: David J. Trowbridge
AHA members are involved in all fields of history, with wide-ranging specializations, interests, and areas of employment. To recognize our…
What Sessions Do You Want to See Recorded at the AHA’s Annual Meeting in January?
In spite of the perks of networking with over 5,000 historians, attending sessions on the latest scholarship, and perusing the…
Banish the Thought: A Response to the Times Book Review
Readers of the October 27 issue of the New York Times Book Review might have seen the AHA referenced in…
A New Oral History Association Organization Forms in India
We were glad to seethis article, and not just for the well-placed quotation from E. H. Carr (“The facts are…
Immigration Policy: Why Legislation (and Its History) Matters
Immigration legislation might be “dead for the year” in the House of Representatives, but it will be front and center…
Flashback Friday: Extreme Cycling
Each week we scour the web for interesting and historic documents that catch our eye, make us think or simply…
Why You Should Be Reading the In Memoriam Section
How much time have you spent with the In Memoriam section of Perspectives on History? Admittedly, it may not sound…
History Jobs Update: November 15, 2013
In an effort to keep our readers informed about the different academic positions trending on the job market, we are…
A Grad Student’s Guide to Getting the Most Out of the AHA Annual Meeting
So, you’re in graduate school, and you’re wondering whether or not to register for the Annual Meeting and attend sessions.…
Screening Slavery: Robert Brent Toplin on 12 Years a Slave
Now available at Perspectives on History online, Robert Brent Toplin, longtime editor of Perspectives’ popular Masters at the Movies series,…
Session of the Week: The “History Wars” of the 1990s: What Was That All About?
In an effort to highlight the diverse range of scholarship at the upcoming annual meeting, we’re highlighting different sessions here…
AHA Member Spotlight: Deanna Forsman
AHA members are involved in all fields of history, with wide-ranging specializations, interests, and areas of employment. To recognize our…
Announcing THATCampAHA 2014
We are very excited to announce that the AHA annual meeting will again play host to THATCamp on Sunday, January…
What I Do: Historians Talk About Their Work
This month, Luann Jones, historian for the National Park Service, speaks with What I Do about her role as a…
History Jobs Update: November 8, 2013
In an effort to keep our readers informed about the different academic positions trending on the job market, we are…
Flashback Friday: Extreme Cirque du Soleil
Each week we scour the web for interesting and historic documents that catch our eye, make us think or simply…
Session of the Week: The Period of Significance is NOW: Catalytic Change at Historic Sites
In an effort to highlight the diverse range of scholarship at the upcoming annual meeting, we’re highlighting different sessions here…
AHA Member Spotlight: Matthew Lawrence Daley
AHA members are involved in all fields of history, with wide-ranging specializations, interests, and areas of employment.Torecognize our talented and…
Digitization, Undergraduate Teaching, and Environmentalism in November Perspectives
The digitization of historians’ source materials takes center stage in Perspectives on Historythis month, with “Material Culture in the Digital…
Flashback Friday: Suffragette on a Scooter
Each week we scour the web for interesting and historic documents that catch our eye, make us think or simply…