In the news this week, the OAH has hired a new executive director, the NHPRC is recommending $2.9 million for grants, Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero gives his “State of the Archives” address, and recent panel looks at changes in the Lower East Side. Then, we bring you three links to pages on oral history and storytelling: Cambridge University has a new online oral history collection, the Clerk’s Office of History and Preservation has created an oral history site for the U.S. House of Representatives, and Andrew Marr at the Economist’s culture magazine Intelligent Life looks at TV as a storyteller. Other articles we link to include advice on pursuing a career in academia, a look at the much forgotten Hall of Fame for Great Americans, history on Twitter, and finally, scanned articles from the days after the Pearl Harbor attack.

News

• New Executive Director at OAH
  The Organization of American Historians has a new executive director. After an extensive process that resulted in 54 applications, Katherine (Kathy) Finley has been selected by the OAH Executive Board at its fall board meeting.
• Commission Recommends $2.9 Million In Grants For Documentary Editing And Archival Projects
  The National Archives put out a press release last week on the National Historical Publications and Records Commission’s recommendations to Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero to fund 32 grants totaling $2.9 million.
• David Ferriero’s first “State of the Archives” address
  The ArchivesNext blog highlights a section of David Ferriero’s, archivist of the United States, recent “State of the Archives” address where he talks about Web 2.0.
• The Lower East Side’s Changing Fortunes
  The New York Times’ Sarah Maslin Nir reports on a recent panel put on by the Gotham Center for New York City History described as an “examination of the Lower East Side, remembered and revisited.”

Storytelling and Oral History

• South Asian oral history archive goes online
  Cambridge University recently created an online forum for their oral history collection. These oral histories were recorded in the 1960s and 70s in an attempt to “to preserve the memories of the British in India, members of the Indian independence movement, and people who had known Gandhi.”
• Oral History of the U.S. House of Representatives
  The Clerk’s Office of History and Preservation has recently announced the launch of the official US House of Representatives’ Oral History Web site. The site offers interviews with a range of House staff and officers, as well as children of Members of Congress. There are also interview transcripts in html and PDF formats, video and audio clips, brief interviewee biographies, artifacts, images, and educational resources for teachers. The content will be growing in the coming months more interviews are processed and added to the site.
• Fireside Tales on the Telly
  In this article from the Economist’s culture magazine Intelligent Life, Andrew Marr starts off with the question, “How well can television do history?” He goes on to explore this question, linking the television experience with that of “pre-literate fireside story­telling.”

What Else We’re Reading

• Advice on How to Become a History Professor
  Michael Brooks, an instructor at Bowling Green State University, offers students some advice on how to pursue a career in academia.
• A Hall of Fame, Forgotten and Forlorn
  The New York Times takes a look at The Hall of Fame for Great Americans on the campus of Bronx Community College and how it has been neglected and forgotten over the years.
• What Lincoln Would Have Tweeted
  The Chronicle’s Wired Campus blog takes a look at TwHistory a new site that believes Twitter can be a “novel way to tell the stories of our past.”
• Times Online – Pearl Harbor
  Explore a collection scanned newspaper articles from the days following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.  

Contributors: Elisabeth Grant, Jessica Pritchard, and Robert B. Townsend

This post first appeared on AHA Today.