American Historical Association Privacy Policy

The American Historical Association (AHA) is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains our data practices regarding Personal Data (as defined below) and other information that we collect in connection with:

  1. your use of the websites www.historians.org (our main site with content of interest to members and those interested in history) and secure.historians.org (our member services pages, which include payment portals)
  2. events you may attend (for example, the annual meeting)
  3. your use of websites run by partner companies that provide services for AHA members, including but not limited to AHA Communities (communities.historians.org), the AHA Career Center (careers.historians.org), the American Historical Review (academic.oup.com/ahr), and meeting registration forms.

By using our websites, you consent to policies and practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the data practices described in this Privacy Policy, you should not use our websites.

We will share only very limited Personal Data with outside sources, and only with your permission. The AHA maintains postal address mailing lists of its members and institutional subscribers that can be rented in the form of printed mailing labels to send materials of genuine professional historical interest. You may opt out of inclusion in the mailing list. This list does not include any personal information beyond postal address and areas of specialization. We do not distribute email addresses or any other Personal Data attached to your name.

 

Our Collection of Your Personal Data

The AHA collects and uses information that, alone or in combination with other information, could be used to identify you (“Personal Data”) in order to deliver our products and services, process applications to join programs, inform you of various opportunities, and provide support, as described below (please also see the “How We Use Information” section below).

Personal Data That You Voluntarily Provide To Us

The AHA primarily collects Personal Data provided to us by individuals when they interact with our products, services, and customer service. For example, you may voluntarily provide us with Personal Data when you become a member, register for the annual meeting, create a profile to find a job in the Career Center, or create a nonmember account.

The types of Personal Data that we collect vary based on the services covered on the websites, but generally include your name, address, telephone number, company name, job title, e-mail address, and other information that you voluntarily submit to us.

Information Received from Other Sources

We may receive information about you from publicly available and third-party databases or services that provide information about historians, or from third parties from whom we have purchased or been shared information (including an individual’s name, job title, business contact information, and information about the institution where the individual works), and combine this data with information we already have about you. This helps us to update, expand and analyze our records, identify others interested in history, and provide products and services that may be of interest to you. We will obtain your consent before contacting you if required by the law of the country in which you are located.

Your department may also provide some data (usually limited to public information found on the institution website as well) as part of the Directory of History Departments, Historical Organizations, and Historians and the Directory of Dissertations.

Automatically Collected Data

As you interact on our websites, we may collect information about your computer or device and visits to one or more of our websites (“Automatically Collected Data”) through cookies, web beacons and other technologies, Internet Protocol (IP) address tracking/URL tracking, and other tools (collectively, “Tracking Technologies”). The types of Automatically Collected Data collected on our websites through the use of these and other tools that we may add from time to time may include: the search terms you used, new or returning user information, browser information, computer or device type, operating system, internet service provider, website usage, referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, number of clicks, and ads viewed. Please see the “Tracking Technologies” section below to learn more about how we use Tracking Technologies.

How We Use Information

Provide our products and services, respond to requests, and facilitate membership renewal. We use the Personal Data we collect from you (unless otherwise restricted by law) to:

  • Provide you support or other services you have ordered from us, as well as renewal notices and election ballots. For EU Data Subjects, such use is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us.
  • Respond directly to your information requests (including registrations or other specific requests) or other inquiries. For EU Data Subjects, such use is necessary to respond to or implement your request prior to entering into a contract with us.

Facilitate your engagement in the Member Forum. For EU Data Subjects, such use is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us. You are able to opt out of receiving emails of forum messages.

Marketing. The AHA sends marketing communications through a third-party vendor. When you opt-in to receive our bi-weekly e-newsletter and/or our email announcements, you consent to allow us to transfer data from your member profile to Informz to be processed. You can unsubscribe from these lists using the link in the footer of any email message. You can also change the subscription in your AHA member profile at any time (www.historians.org/myaha).

The AHA uses member profile data to target email communications based on areas of interest. Informz stores subscribers’ IP addresses to improve email deliverability. Please contact ltownsend@historians.org if you would like the AHA to delete your entry in our Informz lists. With your permission, we may also use information you provide to us as a testimonial posted on the websites.

Correspondence. If you correspond with the AHA via email, the postal service, our web forms, or other form of communication, we may retain the correspondence and the information it contains. We may use the information for business purposes, including responding to your inquiry, notifying you of AHArelated opportunities, and other marketing purposes (please read the Marketing section above for more information on our marketing practices and how to opt out or unsubscribe).

URL and IP Address. The AHA collects information about users’ IP addresses, including users’ utilization of our websites, to help us design our websites to better suit our website users’ needs. We may use information about your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server, administer our websites, analyze trends, track visitor movements, and gather information that assists us in identifying visitor preferences. We also may use your IP address to enhance our security and investigate an actual or potential security incident. For EU Data Subjects, this use of your information is necessary for our legitimate interests in understanding how the websites and our Services are being used by you, to improve your experience on it and ensuring network and information security. For more information about what we mean by legitimate interests, and when we may process Personal Data for our legitimate interests, please see the “EU Data Subjects” section below.

Aggregated Data. We may also compile, anonymize and/or aggregate Personal Data and other information collected about websites’ visitors, as described in this Privacy Policy, and use such anonymized and/or aggregated data for our business purposes, including disclosing such data to our partners, service providers, advertisers and/or other third parties for marketing or promotional purposes. This aggregate information does not identify you. For EU Data Subjects, this use of your Personal Data is necessary for our legitimate interests in understanding how the websites and our products and services are being used by you and to improve your experience on it. For more information about what we mean by legitimate interests, and when we may process Personal Data for our legitimate interests, please see the “EU Data Subjects” section below.

Service Data. Our use of information collected on behalf of our partner websites is limited to the purpose of providing the service for which the partner has engaged the AHA and is governed by our contract with that partner and the partner’s own privacy policies.

Disclosure of Information

The AHA discloses Personal Data that we collect (described above) in accordance with the terms set forth in this section.

We share your Personal Data with third parties who provide certain services to us to assist us in meeting business operation needs. These parties are authorized to process your Personal Data, on our behalf and pursuant to our instructions, only as necessary to provide these services to us. We share your Personal Data with the following service providers:

  • Providers of payment processing and accounting, as necessary to process payment from our members and donors • Customer service providers
  • Providers helping us fulfill subscription services
  • Providers of research and analytics services, including Google Analytics
  • Providers of cloud computing infrastructure services

We may also disclose Personal Data to third parties in the following circumstances:

  1. if you request or authorize (when required by the law, we will inform you in advance of the third parties to which we may provide your data and the purpose for doing so, and we will obtain your prior consent for such use);
  2. the information is provided
    1. to comply with the law (for example, to comply with a search warrant, subpoena or other legal process),
    2. to enforce an agreement we have with you,
    3. to protect our rights, property or safety, or the rights, property or safety of our employees or others,
    4. to investigate fraud, or
    5. to respond to a government request or to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements;
  3. (3) to address emergencies or acts of God;
  4. to address disputes, claims, or to persons holding a legal or beneficial interest;
  5. if we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing due diligence, reorganization, bankruptcy, receivership, sale of assets, or transition of service to another provider, in which case your Personal Data and other information may be transferred to a successor or affiliate as part of that transaction along with other assets.

We collect, store and process the information from our websites in the US. If you are outside the US, then your Personal Data and other information will be transferred to the US. The data privacy and data protection laws outside your country may offer less protection than the laws in your country. By using our services, websites, or otherwise providing us with your Personal Data, you agree to the transfer of your Personal Data as described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to such cross-border transfers of your Personal Data, please do not submit it through our websites.

The websites use interfaces with social media websites or platforms that are owned and/or controlled by third parties, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and others (“Social Media Sites”). If you choose to “like” or share information from a website through any Social Media Sites, if you are a member of a Social Media Site the interfaces on our websites may allow the Social Media Site to connect your website visit to your Personal Data. The information that you share with the Social Media Sites will be governed by the specific privacy policies and terms of service of the Social Media Sites and not by this Privacy Policy. You should review the privacy policy of that Social Media Site before choosing to access and use any Social Media Sites, including interacting with our pages on those sites.

How You Can Access and Change

Information

The AHA acknowledges that you have the right to access your Personal Data. Our websites allow you to access, correct, amend, or delete inaccurate data. In case you request us to remove data, we will respond within a reasonable timeframe.

Upon request, the AHA will provide you with information about whether we hold any of your Personal Data. You can update or correct your Personal Data or remove it from our system by making a request to us at the contact information provided below. Requests typically receive a response within thirty (30) days. If access cannot be provided within that time frame, we will provide the requesting party with an estimated date by which the information will be provided. If for some reason access is denied, we will provide an explanation of why access has been denied.

Moreover, when you create a profile at AHA Communities at communities.historians.org, we will collect the information that you elect to upload to your profile, such as a biography, your education and job history, employer information. You should carefully consider whether you wish to submit Personal Data and whether you wish to make your profile available to other users, and you should tailor any content you submit appropriately. You should also review any additional terms and conditions that may govern your use of our services.

If you are an EU Data Subject, please see the “EU Data Subject” section below for information on your rights in relation to the Personal Data we hold about you.

EU Data Subjects

Scope. This section applies if you are an individual located in the European Union (“EU”) (“EU Data Subject”). For these purposes, reference to the EU also includes the European Economic Area countries of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway and, where applicable, Switzerland.

Data Controller. The American Historical Association is the data controller for the processing of your Personal Data, but we act as data processor on behalf of Clients for Personal Data that we process through our websites.

Your Rights. Subject to applicable law, you have the following rights in relation to your Personal Data:

  • Right of access: If you ask us, we will confirm whether we are processing your Personal Data and, if so, provide you with a copy of that Personal Data (along with certain other details). If you require additional copies, we may need to charge a reasonable fee.
  • Right to rectification: If your Personal Data is inaccurate or incomplete, you are entitled to have it rectified or completed. If we have shared your Personal Data with others, we will tell them about the rectification where possible. If you ask us, where possible and lawful to do so, we will also tell you with whom we shared your Personal Data so that you can contact them directly.
  • Right to erasure: You may ask us to delete or remove your Personal Data and we will do so in some circumstances, such as where we no longer need it (we may not delete your data when other interests outweigh your right to deletion). If we have shared your data with others, we will tell them about the erasure where possible. If you ask us, where possible and lawful to do so, we will also tell you with whom we shared your Personal Data so that you can contact them directly.
  • Right to restrict processing: You may ask us to restrict or ‘block’ the processing of your Personal Data in certain circumstances, such as where you contest the accuracy of that Personal Data or object to us processing it. We will tell you before we lift any restriction on processing. If we have shared your Personal Data with others, we will tell them about the restriction where possible. If you ask us, where possible and lawful to do so, we will also tell you with whom we shared your Personal Data so that you can contact them directly.
  • Right to data portability: Effective 25 May 2018, you have the right to obtain your Personal Data from us that you consented to give us or that is necessary to perform a contract with you. We will give you your Personal Data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. You may reuse it elsewhere.
  • Right to object: You may ask us at any time to stop processing your Personal Data, and we will do so:
    • If we are relying on a legitimate interest to process your Personal Data — unless we demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing; or
    • If we are processing your Personal Data for direct marketing.
  • Rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling: You have the right to be free from decisions based solely on automated processing of your Personal Data, including profiling, that affect you, unless such processing is necessary for entering into, or the performance of, a contract between you and us or you provide your explicit consent to such processing.
  • Right to withdraw consent: If we rely on your consent to process your Personal Data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on your prior consent.
  • Right to lodge a complaint with the data protection authority: If you have a concern about our privacy practices, including the way we have handled your Personal Data, you can report it to the data protection authority that is authorized to hear those concerns. You may exercise your rights by contacting us as indicated under “Contact Us” section below.

Legitimate Interest. “Legitimate interests” means the interests of the AHA in conducting and managing our organization. For example, we have a legitimate interest in processing your Personal Data to analyze how our websites, and our products and services are being used by you, and to ensure network and information security, as described in this Privacy Policy. When we process your Personal Data for our legitimate interests, we make sure to consider and balance any potential impact on you, and your rights under data protection laws. Our legitimate interests do not automatically override your interests. We will not use your Personal Data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you, unless we have your consent or those activities are otherwise required or permitted to by law. You have the right to object to processing that is based on our legitimate interests. For more information on your rights, please see “Your Rights” section above.

Our Security Measures to Protect Your Personal Data

We are committed to taking reasonable efforts to secure the information that you choose to provide us, and we use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect against unauthorized access to or alteration, disclosure, or destruction of Personal Data. We restrict access to Personal Data to our employees, contractors and service providers (described in the “Disclosure of Information” section above) who need to know the information in order to operate, develop, or improve our services.

Unfortunately, no transmission of Personal Data over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Accordingly, and despite our efforts, the AHA cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, or to or from our online products or services. The AHA has no responsibility or liability for the security of information transmitted via the Internet. If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or the security of your Personal Data, please contact us as indicated under the “Contact Us” section below. We retain your Personal Data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreements. We retain Personal Data collected through the Platforms we process on behalf of our Clients for as long as needed to provide services to our Client and pursuant to our contract with that Client.

Tracking Technologies

The AHA and its partners use cookies and other technologies to analyze trends, administer the websites, track users’ movements around the websites, and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. We have a notification that we are using cookies with a link to this policy on our website.

I. What Are Cookies

Cookies are pieces of data sent to your browser when you visit a website and stored on your computer’s hard drive. Cookies may store user preferences and other information. For example, cookies can store your session information for easy log-in to a website or platform, or your language or user interface customization preferences or may allow websites to record your browsing activities (for example, number of page views, number of visitors, and time spent on each page). We use both session ID cookies and persistent cookies. A session ID cookie expires when you close your browser. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for a set period of time or until you delete it.

II. Cookies in Use on This Site

Cookies and How They Benefit You

Our website uses cookies, as almost all websites do, to help provide you with the best experience we can. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile phone when you browse websites

Our cookies help us:

  • Make our website work as you’d expect
  • Save you having to login every time you visit the site
  • Remember your settings during and between visits
  • Improve the speed/security of the site
  • Allow you to share pages with social networks like Facebook
  • Continuously improve our website for you
  • Make our marketing more efficient (ultimately helping us to offer the service we do at the price we do)

We do not use cookies to:

  • Collect any personally identifiable information (without your express permission)
  • Collect any sensitive information (without your express permission)
  • Pass data to advertising networks
  • Pass personally identifiable data to third parties
  • Pay sales commissions
Granting us permission to use cookies

If the settings on your software that you are using to view this website (your browser) are adjusted to accept cookies we take this, and your continued use of our website, to mean that you are fine with this. Should you wish to remove or not use cookies from our site you can learn how to do this below, however doing so will likely mean that our site will not work as you would expect.

III. More about Our Cookies

Website Function Cookies

Our own cookies

We use cookies to make our website work including:

  • Making our shopping basket and checkout work
  • Determining if you are logged in or not
  • Remembering your search settings
  • Allowing you to add comments to our site

There is no way to prevent these cookies being set other than to not use our site.

Third party functions

Our site, like most websites, includes functionality provided by third parties. A common example is an embedded YouTube video. Disabling these cookies will likely break the functions offered by these third parties.

Social Website Cookies

So you can easily “Like” or share our content on the likes of Facebook and Twitter we have included sharing buttons on our site.

The privacy implications on this will vary from social network to social network and will be dependent on the privacy settings you have chosen on these networks.

Visitor Statistics Cookies

We use Google Analytics cookies to compile visitor statistics such as how many people have visited our website, what type of technology they are using (e.g. Mac or Windows which helps to identify when our site isn’t working as it should for particular technologies), how long they spend on the site, what page they look at etc. This helps us to continuously improve our website. These so called “analytics” programs also tell us if how people reached this site (e.g. from a search engine) and whether they have been here before helping us to put more money into developing our services for you instead of marketing spend.

IV. Your Choices

On most web browsers, you will find a “help” section on the toolbar. Please refer to this section for information on how to receive a notification when you are receiving a new cookie and how to turn cookies off. Please see the links below for guidance on how to modify your web browser’s settings on the most popular browsers:

  • Internet Explorer
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Google Chrome
  • Apple Safari

Please note that if you reject cookies or disable cookies, your use of certain features or functions on our website or Platforms or service may be limited.

To find out more about cookies and similar technologies, including how to see what cookies and similar technologies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit https://www.allaboutcookies.org and/or or the Network Advertising Initiative’s online resources, at https://www.networkadvertising.org, and follow the opt-out instructions there. If you access the websites on your mobile device, you may not be able to control tracking technologies through the settings. If you wish to not have your information used for the purpose of serving you targeted ads, you may opt out by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative’s online resources available here and following the opt-out instructions there, or if located in the European Union, visit the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance’s Your Online Choices opt-out tool here. By opting out of targeted advertisements you will no longer see advertisements on our websites from third party partners that participate in the Digital Advertising Alliance; however, you may still continue to see other nontargeted advertisements on our websites.

Inapplicability of Privacy Policies of Any Linked Websites or Other Third Parties

This Privacy Policy addresses only the AHA’s use and disclosure of your Personal Data. The websites may contain links to other websites, so please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites, and we are not liable for their misuse of Personal Data. We encourage you to be aware that when you go to another website you should carefully read their privacy policy.

California Privacy Rights

In addition to the information provided in this Privacy Policy, under California’s “Shine the Light” law, California residents who provide “personal information” (as defined in the statute) in obtaining products or services for personal, family, or household use are entitled to request and obtain from us, once a calendar year, information about the personal information we shared, if any, with other businesses for marketing uses. If applicable, this information would include the categories of personal information and the names and addresses of those businesses with which we shared such personal information for the immediately prior calendar year. To obtain this information, please contact us by sending a letter or calling us at the contact information below. You may also submit a contact form electronically through the websites.

Children

The websites are not intended for use by or targeted at children under 13, and we do not knowingly or intentionally collect information about children under 13.

Conditions of Use

By using the websites, and our services, you agree to the terms and conditions contained in this Privacy Policy and Conditions of Use and/or any other agreement that we might have with you. If you do not agree to any of these terms and conditions, you should not use our websites. You agree that any dispute over privacy or the terms contained in this Privacy Policy and Conditions of Use and any other agreement we have with you will be governed by the laws of Washington, DC. You also agree to arbitrate any such dispute in Washington, DC, and to abide by any limitation on damages contained in any agreement we may have with you.

Changes to the Privacy Policy

As the AHA, its products, and its services change from time to time, we may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes to our information practices. We reserve the right to amend the Privacy Policy at any time, for any reason, and may do so by posting a new version online. Your continued use of the websites, and/or continued provision of Personal Data to us will be subject to the terms of the thencurrent Privacy Policy. If we make any material changes or if otherwise required by the applicable law, we will notify you by email (sent to the email address specified in your account) or by means of a notice on this website prior to the change becoming active. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our treatment of the information you provide us, please contact as at:

Address: 400 A St. SE, Washington, DC 20003

Phone: 202-544-2422

Email: members@historians.org

Last updated June 17, 2024