The traditional tasks of the American Historical Association are as important as ever, while newer challenges and opportunities—­from academic downsizing to digitization—­require responses from an organization that can speak for as much of the discipline as possible. Our very energetic staff is working hard to increase our impact without increasing our spending; but there is only so much that we can expect along those lines. To act effectively, the AHA needs broad participation; and in order to offer crucial services to graduate students, part-­time faculty, and others with limited incomes, it needs those of us who do earn good incomes as historians to, quite literally, pay our dues.

If you are reading this, you are already helping to maintain the AHA community. But before you decide you’ve done enough, you might consider taking advantage of your credentials to persuade a colleague to do likewise. Many nonmembers have simply forgotten to rejoin; others are not aware of what we do, but are easily persuaded once this is pointed out. So it’s often an easy sell when a friend asks, and it’s one by which we help ourselves and others dedicated to history.

So please, pass along this copy of Perspectives to a colleague today, and let them know that being a member of the AHA provides access not only to our expanded menu of individual benefits—­including invaluable publications, resources, and discounts—­but also to a diverse and vibrant network of over 14,000 historians. Remind them that membership supports the Association’s crucial advocacy work on behalf of the discipline and enables us to provide leadership on current issues such as academic freedom, access to archives, and the centrality of history to public culture.

Thank you for your membership in the AHA and for your help in making us the premier organization for historians across the discipline.

—­Ken Pomeranz, AHA president, 2013, and Jan Goldstein, AHA president, 2014