Continuing the New York Times/Nixon tapes/AHR saga (mentioned here and here in past What We’re Readings) Clark Hoyt, “the reader’s representative” at the New York Times, weighs in. Then, the National Coalition for History reports on 2009 funding for a number of government agencies, programs, and institutions of interest to the history community. Read also about green ideas from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, links for use in the classroom, Lincoln articles in an online journal, advice for potential graduate students, and the history of the smiley face.

• They Still Have the Nixon Tapes to Kick Around
  The ombudsman of the New York Times casts a critical eye on their recent Page 1 article about the Nixon tapes, which used the submission of an article to the AHR as a hook for rehashing old disputes.
• 2009 Omnibus Funding
  Lee White of the National Coalition for History reports on 2009 funding for the National Archives, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, Teaching American History grants, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Park Service, and the Smithsonian.
• The Green Issue
  The National Trust for Historic Preservation has just put out a green-focused issue of its Preservation magazine. In it they give tips and tricks to save energy and money, and also recognize that “the greenest building is the one that already exists,” a fact the preservation community wants to share with the public. Hat tip.
• Links for You
  The History is Elementary blog rounds up a bunch of interesting sites to check out. Including: Cotton Campus (on the history of cotton), 21st Century Abe (resources on Lincoln), Democracy Web (Democracy in the U.S. and around the world), Academic Earth (a collection of video lectures and courses), and more.
• Oxonian Review: Lincoln Bicentenary
  The Oxonian Review, graduate student run online journal at Oxford University, devotes an issue to essays on Lincoln. Hat tip.
• So you’ve gotten into grad school. What do you do now?
  Jeremy Young at the Progressive Historians blog tells potential graduate students what questions to ask when they visit schools they’re considering.
• The History of the Smiley Face Symbol
  With the new Watchman movie coming out, this article explores the history of the iconic smiley face symbol: “The Smiley has travelled far from its early 1960s origins, changing like a constantly mutating virus: from early-70s fad to late-80s acid house culture, from millennial txt option to serial killer signature and ubiquitous emoticon. That’s quite a journey for a simple logo that began in kids’ TV and corporate morale-building.” Hat tip.

Contributors: Elisabeth Grant and Robert B. Townsend

This post first appeared on AHA Today.