We begin this week with coverage on AHA Executive Director Jim Grossman’s latest Perspectives on History article, “Plan C.” Then, submit your nominations for this year’s Cliopatria Awards and learn where America’s Best Restroom is located (hint:  it’s in the same city that’s hosting the AHA’s 126th annual meeting). Read on to learn about the new web-book, Writing History in the Digital Age; a story about a letter written on Hitler’s stationary; historic photos of D.C.; a new exhibit on prints from early modern Europe; and Washington State’s Open Course Library. Finally, since Halloween was just a few days ago we link to posts on historic haunted houses and history-themed Halloween costumes.

Jobs & Careers

• More Options for History PhDs
  This month’s issue of Perspectives on History features AHA President Anthony Grafton and AHA Executive Director Jim Grossman’s article “Plan C,” on how the AHA and history departments can educate “early career historians of the extensive possibilities open to them” outside of academia. Scott Jaschik at Inside Higher Ed takes a closer look in “More Options for History PhDs,” while The Chronicle posted the article in its entirety. Blogger and diplomatic historian Nick Sarantakes also contributed with these thoughts.

Awards

• 2011 Cliopatria Awards Nominations
  Submit nominations for Best Group Blog, Best Individual Blog, Best New Blog, Best Blog Post, Best Series of Blog Posts, Best Writer, Best Twitter Feed, and Best Podcast Episode for this year’s Cliopatria Awards, which will be presented during the AHA’s 126th annual meeting.
• The Field Museum in Chicago Wins America’s Best Restroom Award
  While taking in the culture in Chicago during the AHA’s 126th annual meeting in January, make sure to stop in at The Field Museum. While there are plenty of interesting exhibits, apparently what you really need to hit is the bathroom, since The Field Museum recently won the America’s Best Restroom Award.

Publishing and Peer Review

•  Writing History in the Digital Age
  The new web-book,Writing History in the Digital Age, edited by Jack Dougherty and Kristen Nawrotzki, stretched “the bounds of the traditional model of blind peer review, inviting both experts and general readers to review the collection in public.” Learn more in this article.
• Googling Peer Review, Part Two
  Michael O’Malley offers a manifesto for the new online journal American History Now, which critiques the role of peer review in the discipline. His colleague at George Mason, Zachary Schrag, responds with a defense of the role of editors and peer review in history.

Collections

• How a letter on Hitler’s stationery, written to a boy in Jersey, reached the CIA
  As a young OSS officer Richard Helms stole a piece of Hitler’s personal stationery and wrote a letter to his young son that shows broad historical perspective. The letter is now in the CIA’s museum.
• Historic Photos of Washington, D.C.
  Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library has a digitized collection of Alexander Lmanian’s work.
• Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe
  Harvard Art Museums has posted a video highlighting the prints, books, maps, and more showcased in the “Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe” exhibit at the Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum through December 10, 2011.

Teaching

• State of Washington Opens Online Library of 42 Open Courses
  Washington State new Open Course Library offers online access to 42 courses for no more than $30. Learn more in this article from earlier this year.

Halloween

• Is That House Haunted?
  The National Trust for Historic Preservation featured a collection of stories about historic houses (and whether they might be haunted) on their Preservation Nation blog on Halloween, this past Monday.
• History Halloween How-Tos
  File this away for next year: the National Museum of American History offers some tips on how to make some historic Halloween costumes.

Contributors: Debbie Ann Doyle, Elisabeth Grant, Vernon Horn, and Robert B. Townsend

This post first appeared on AHA Today.