In the news this week, $47 million in historic preservation grants are being awarded to states, the New York Times publishes an obit for Peter Novick, and the Cliopatria blog announces it’s shutting down. Also learn about the new e-book versions of the Foreign Relations of the United States, Google’s decreasing efforts to scan books, a new TED-Ed YouTube channel, an argument for the humanities, and more.

News

• $47 million in Historic Preservation Grants to States
  Last week , Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that nearly $47 million in grants will allow “states to preserve and protect our nation’s historic sites without expending tax dollars.”
• Peter Novick, Wrote Controversial Book on Holocaust, Dies at 77
  The New York Times has published anobituary for historian Peter Novick. Last week we linked to the University of Chicago’s announcement of Novick’s death.
• Farewell to Cliopatria
  The HNN Cliopatria blog, a great portal to history articles online, is shutting down after eight years, its editor Ralph Luker has announced.

Digital Media

• E-Book Versions of the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) Series
  The Office of the Historian at the U.S. Department of State has announced that five volumes of the FRUS series are now available in e-book format, with more to come.
• Google Begins to Scale Back Its Scanning of Books from University Libraries
  The Chronicle reports on Google “quietly slowing down its book-scanning work with partner libraries.”
• TED-Ed Launches on YouTube
  TED, a nonprofit known for its videos of speakers talking about big ideas, has developed a new TED-Ed YouTube channel featuring educational talks. The goal is to “capture and amplify the voices of great educators around the world.” The videos in the channel have so far been organized into five categories: Inventions that Shaped History, Questions No One (Yet) Knows the Answers To, Playing With Language, How Things Work, and Awesome Nature.
• Wikimania 2012
  AHA President William Cronon advocated for more historians to participate in Wikipedia in his February 2012 Perspectives on History article “Scholarly Authority in a Wikified World.” Get involved one step further at the Wikimania conference in Washington, D.C. this coming July 12-15, 2012. 

Insights

• Why STEM is not enough (and we still need the humanities)
  National Council on the Humanities council members Cathy N. Davidson, Paula Barker Duffy, and Martha Wagner Weinberg explain why educators shouldn’t leave the humanities behind in an effort to push for more Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) classes in schools.
• Invitation to a Dialogue: Evaluating Teachers
  The New York Times invites readers respond to a letter on the issue of teacher evaluations. Responses will be run this Sunday.
• History Project Interim Report: How Can RSS4S Help?
  Research Support Services for Scholars – History Project is soliciting comments. Having established that "research support professionals across institutions have a need to develop a better understanding of historians’ work flows and challenges," the project is asking for input. Full disclosure: AHA Executive Director James Grossman is on the project’s advisory board. 
• Al-Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East
  A new online journal, Al-Monitor, is now live, bringing "analysis and commentary from journalists in the Middle East to English-speaking audiences."

Looking Back

• Scouting for Girls – 1920 Edition
  For the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts of America, look back through the 1920 edition of Scouting for Girls, Why I Believe in Scouting for Girls by Mary Roberts Rinehart, and the National Archives Flickr feed Girl Scouts set, which is small but fascinating, including images of the Girl Scout troop at the Gila River Relocation Center, Arizona, marching in the 4th of July Parade, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower with a group of Girl Scouts in 1969.
• Why We Have Sliced Bread
  Smithsonian magazine examines the delicious history of sliced bread. It looks at the shift from 1890 to 1930, from home baking to store bought bread, brought on by sanitation concerns, convenience, and aesthetics.

Contributors: Debbie Ann Doyle, Elisabeth Grant, Vernon Horn, Jim Grossman, Matthew Keough, and Allen Mikaelian.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.