The 123rd Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association will be held January 2–5, 2009, in New York City at the Hilton New York and the Sheraton New York. More than 1,500 scholars, including 203 from other countries, will make scholarly presentations in various modes in 340 AHA and affiliate sessions, and several thousands more will be attending the meeting. Fifty-six specialized affiliated societies and other groups will cosponsor sessions or hold separate luncheons, sessions, and meetings. AHA and affiliate events are summarized in the front portion of the Program, beginning on page 30 with details of sessions listed in the main body of the program. AHA-sponsored session details begin on page 49 with affiliated society sessions following in alphabetical order in each time period.

Noted below are sessions and events sponsored by Association divisions and committees. Session numbers are indicated in parentheses after session titles.

The AHA’s Teaching Division is sponsoring several roundtables and sessions, including “The Environment and the Underrepresented: Perspectives on the Early Modern to Modern Transition in World History” (181). In collaboration with the AHA’s Research Division, the division is sponsoring two sessions, “Sites of Encounter: Teaching the Muslim World and World War I” (126) and “Sites of Encounter: Thinking Historically about Early Human History” (153). With the National History Education Clearinghouse, the Teaching Division is sponsoring five sessions: “Teaching and Learning through a Teaching American History Grant” (3, also with the Organization of History Teachers), “Across the Pedagogical Divide: Bridging Secondary School and Undergraduate Classrooms” (27), “From the Atlantic Slave Trade to the Harlem Renaissance: Stretching and Expanding Cultural Boundaries” (101), “Students As Historians: Historical Thinking and Primary Sources in the American History Classroom” (102, also with the Organization of History Teachers), and “Integrating Global Perspectives and World History into Teaching American History Grant Projects” (154).

Also with the Clearinghouse, the Teaching Division is sponsoring an all-day workshop on Saturday, January 3, 2009, introducing the Clearinghouse and its mission. The Center for History and New Media, George Mason University, and the Stanford University History Education Group in partnership with the AHA and the National History Center created the Clearinghouse with funding from the U.S. Department of Education (Contract Number ED-07-CO-0088). See the 2009 Annual Meeting Program for complete details of the workshop’s five sessions and speakers. For additional information on the Clearinghouse, visit its web site at http//teachinghistory.org.

The Teaching Division will cosponsor the Advanced Placement luncheon on Saturday, January 3 with the College Board and the World History Association. John M. Headley (Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) will speak on the topic, “The Europeanization of the World: The Origins of Human Rights and Democracy.” Allison D. Clark of the Advanced Placement program will preside.

For the 19th year, the AHA’s Professional Division continues its sponsorship of a workshop with the theme, “Interviewing in the Job Market in the Twenty-First Century” (51, in conjunction with the Coordinating Council for Women in History and the AHA Graduate and Early Career Committee). Scheduled for Saturday, January 3, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., session attendees will be divided into small interviewee groups, each led by a college or university faculty member or a public historian who will conduct mock interviews and lead discussion of successful interview strategies. David J. Weber (Southern Methodist Univ.), the vice president of the Professional Division, will preside.

The division is also sponsoring two roundtables, “Editing and Publishing in History” (78, with the AHA’s Research Division) and “Discrimination/Harassment on the Job” (79, with the AHA’s Committee on Minority Historians, the AHA’s Task Force on Disability, the Committee on Lesbian and Gay History, and the Coordinating Council on Women in History).

In the Saturday midday time period, two members of the Professional Division, Kristin L. Ahlberg (U.S. Dept. of State, Office of Historian) and Trudy H. Peterson (consulting archivist), will lead a forum for public historians to discuss issues of interest. That evening, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., the division will co-host a reception for public historians and anyone with an interest in public history, with the American Association for State and Local History, the National Council on Public History, the New York Council for the Humanities, the Department of History at New York University, and the Society for History in the Federal Government.

The AHA’s Research Division will sponsor several sessions and roundtables. “From Dissertation to Book: The Process as an Intellectual Dilemma (and Some Practical Advice, Too)” (2, with the AHA Graduate and Early Career Committee), “Editing and Publishing of History” (78, with the AHA Professional Division), “Preparing for the Research Trip: What to Know before You Go” (103, with the AHA Graduate and Early Career Committee), and “Food and Empire” (180). In collaboration with the AHA’s Teaching Division, the Research Division is sponsoring two sessions: “Sites of Encounter: Teaching the Muslim World and World War I” (126) and “Sites of Encounter: Thinking Historically about Early Human History” (153).

The division will sponsor with the Association for the Bibliography of History “The Research Habits of Historians: Practice and Teaching” (Sat., Jan. 3, 2:30 p.m.) and with the Center for History and New Media “The Past of the Future or the Future of the Past? Perspectives on Digital Historical Monographs from Gutenberg-e Authors” (Fri., Jan. 2, 1:00 p.m.).

The AHA’s Committee on Minority Historians (CMH) will cosponsor the sessions “Discrimination/Harassment on the Job” (79, with the AHA’s Professional Division, the AHA’s Task Force on Disability, the Committee on Lesbian and Gay History, and the Coordinating Council on Women in History) and “African Americans, Native Americans, and Narratives of Citizenship” (206).

The CMH invites minority graduate students and first-year faculty to a complimentary continental breakfast on Saturday, January 3, from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. If interested in attending, e-mail Jesse Pierce by December 8, 2008. The CMH also invites minority scholars, graduate students, and others attending the Annual Meeting to a reception on Sunday, January 4, beginning at 6:00 p.m.

The AHA’s Committee on Women Historians invites attendance at its annual breakfast on Saturday morning, January 3. Barbara Ransby (Univ. of Illinois at Chicago) will preside and Deborah Gray White (Rutgers Univ.-New Brunswick) will speak. Preregistration for the meeting and reservation of a seat (on payment) at the breakfast is required; see the AHA preregistration form in this issue or on the AHA’s web site (www.historians.org/annual).

The AHA’s Graduate and Early Career Committee (formerly the Committee for Graduate Students) is sponsoring a workshop and four roundtables: “From Dissertation to Book: The Process as an Intellectual Dilemma (and Some Practical Advice, Too)” (2, with the AHA Research Division), “Interviewing in the Job Market in the Twenty-First Century” (51, with the AHA Professional Division and the Coordinating Council for Women in History), “Preparing for the Research Trip: What to Know before You Go” (103, with the AHA Research Division), “Putting Historical Skills to Work: Careers beyond Academe” (155), and “A Learning Process: Revisiting the Role of Graduate Coursework in the Making of a Historian” (156).

On Saturday, January 3, beginning at 5:30 p.m., the committee will sponsor an open forum to discuss issues of interest to graduate students and early career professionals. Immediately following the forum, a reception begins at 6:30 p.m. See pages 9–10 of the Program for additional sessions and events of special interest to graduate students and early career professionals.

The AHA’s Task Force on Disability, which began its three-year term in June 2008, will co-sponsor the session “Discrimination/Harassment on the Job” (79, with the AHA Professional Division, the AHA Committee on Minority Historians, the Committee on Lesbian and Gay History, and the Coordinating Council on Women in History). The task force also assumes sponsorship from the AHA’s Professional Division of the open forum on disability, scheduled to begin at 4:45 p.m. following the Saturday afternoon sessions. Members of the Task Force on Disability representing the AHA and the Disability History Association—David Weber (Southern Methodist Univ.), chair; Leisa Meyer (Coll. of William & Mary); Catherine Kudlick (Univ. of California at Davis); Paul K. Longmore (San Francisco State Univ.); and David J. Ulbrich (Ohio Univ.)—invite all attendees to join them to discuss professional issues relating to disability.

—Sharon K. Tune is convention director for the American Historical Association.