First up this week, articles on the National Museum of African American History and Culture, human subjects research policies, and access to Kennedy records. In the news, Walmart has withdrawn its plan to build a store near the Wilderness Battlefield, a historian is accused of changing the date on a Lincoln document, and the White House has put the State of the Union Address on YouTube. See also the Digital Campus podcast on academic conferences, a wiki on history journal response times, and details about the Historians Against Slavery organization. Finally, C-SPAN has posted another video (America’s First Age of Terror) from the 125th Annual Meeting and the National Archives has put up a video on President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell address.

Articles

• The Thorny Path to a National Black Museum
  The Washington Post interviews Lonnie G. Bunch III, director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and looks into funding issues and “fundamental questions about the museum’s soul and message.”
• Obama’s Impossible Request
  Zachary Schrag offers an important word of caution about a recent directive from President Barack Obama ordering a review of human subjects research policies. He notes the irony that a policy review inspired by historical research, could actually make it more difficult to conduct similar research in the future.
• A dark corner of Camelot
  The Boston Globe reports that the Kennedy family is blocking access to Robert Kennedy’s records from when he was attorney general in his brother’s cabinet. See also the related opinion piece in The Atlantic: Shame on the Kennedys.

News

• National Trust for Historic Preservation Commends Wal-Mart’s Decision to Withdraw Plans for Supercenter at Wilderness Battlefield
  Yesterday, Wednesday, January 26, 2011, Walmart announced “it has withdrawn its proposal to build a Walmart Supercenter at a location within the boundaries of Wilderness Battlefield.” This ends a years of protest from historians and others.
• Historian accused of altering Lincoln document at National Archives
  This past Monday the National Archives accused researcher Thomas Lowry of altering the date on Lincoln’s pardon for Civil War solider Patrick Murphy from April 14, 1864 to April 14, 1865 (the day Lincoln was assisnated), to increase the document’s significance and bring Lowry fame.
• The 2011 State of the Union Address: Enhanced Version
  In case you missed it, the White House has posted video of the 2011 State of the Union Address on their YouTube channel.
• Trudy Huskamp Peterson Discusses Archives After Conflict
  Trudy Huskamp Peterson is the next speaker in the National History Center’s Washington Weekly Seminar series. She will give her talk on Monday, January 31, 2011 at 4 p.m. in the Wilson Center.

Profession

• Episode 65 – Conference Season
  The most recent Digital Campus podcast, from George Mason’s Center for History and New Media, discusses the AHA, MLA, and upcoming CES conferences.
• History Journal Response Times
  This wiki relies on informal additions by users to track history journal response times.
• Historians Against (Today’s) Slavery
  Inside Higher Ed talks to James Brewer Stewart about Historians Against Slavery, the organization he started.

Video

• America’s First Age of Terror
  C-SPAN video coverage of the session “The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror,” from the 125th Annual Meeting.
• The Writing of Eisenhower’s "Military-Industrial Complex" Speech
  Last week the National Archives posted a video on President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell address, in which he warned of the "military-industrial complex." Along with footage of the speech this video also includes “Presidential historian (and Foundation for the National Archives board member) Michael Beschloss and Eisenhower Library director Karl Weissenbach discuss[ing] the evolution of the speech.”

Contributors: David Darlington, Elisabeth Grant, Jim Grossman, and Robert B. Townsend

This post first appeared on AHA Today.