OAH Outlook, August 2012 by Organization of American Historians

OAH

VOLUME 2 / NUMBER 1 / AUGUST 2012

OUTLOOK

A membership newsletter of the

FROM THE OAH PRESIDENT Al Camarillo

OAH DELEGATION TR AVELS TO CHINA Alice Kessler-Harris

The OAH and the Big Tent

or several decades the leadership of the Organization of American Historians has discussed and debated how best to reach out to a diverse population of practitioners of U.S. history. The OAH has done an enviable job of extending membership, developing programs, and expanding the content of its annual meetings to serve not only colleagues teaching in four-year universities and colleges but also community college faculty, high school history teachers, public history professionals, and other historians of many stripes. I remember well, for example, how in the mid-1980s the OAH made a concerted effort to attract more faculty and graduate students of color to the organization and to proactively encourage more content focusing on the history of ethnic and racial minorities for its annual conference programs. I was a member of the OAH at that time, and the establishment of the Committee on Minority History and Historians (now called the Committee on the Status of African American, Latino/a, Asian American, and Native American Historians, or ALANA) represented to me an important commitment by the organization to address a long-standing omission and to embrace groups of historians previously unconnected to the OAH. OAH efforts over the past generation to create a “bigger tent” of American historians and to incorporate scholars in new, emerging subfields in U.S. history have made the organization a far more inclusive institution. Service committees—ranging in focus from the status of women historians to community colleges to collaborations with the National Park Service and practitioners of public history—have contributed to strengthening ties among and

between historians affiliated with the OAH and bringing new members into the fold. Most recently, at the annual meeting last April in Milwaukee, the OAH Executive Board approved the inclusion of an Ad Hoc Committee on Disability and Disability History, recognizing the need to integrate a group of historians and an emerging field of historical scholarship as part of our effort to expand the tent further. The establishment of committees to broaden the reach of the OAH and to expand membership is an important effort of the organization that will surely continue. It is not enough, however, to make the OAH big tent a reality, especially during an era of national economic distress when most scholarly associations—indeed, higher education institutions in general—and their members are experiencing financial hardship. The OAH, like most other professional associations, must address at least two fundamental questions pertinent to the organization’s current membership and paramount to its future stability: (1) How best can the organization remain relevant to the professional and scholarly lives of its members, and what OAH services and programs help accomplish this objective? (2) How can the OAH attract a diverse and younger cohort of history practitioners who will view the organization as an important partner in their scholarly careers? Answers to these and other related questions are being taken up in serious fashion by the OAH leadership as the organization continues to consider the “big tent” idea. Reconsideration of membership structure, outreach to graduate students and adjunct and part-time faculty, inclusion of unemployed historians struggling to Continues on page 6 u

n May 2012 the three immediate past presidents of the OAH—Elaine Tyler May, David Hollinger, and myself—traveled to China to help launch a scholarly exchange between the OAH and the American History Research Association of China (AHRAC). I had initiated contact with the AHRAC in the hope of working with Chinese scholars of American history to develop lines of communication, academic relationships, and an exchange program. The Ford Foundation generously provided seed monies for the project. Three officers of the AHRAC came to the OAH annual meeting in Milwaukee last April, where they participated in the conference, met with the OAH Executive Board, and held meetings with the OAH China delegation to discuss preliminary plans and explore possibilities. The following month the delegation traveled to China to participate in the AHRAC meeting in Shanghai and to travel to three other cities. The planning meetings held at Shanghai University proved to be enormously successful. Wide-ranging conversations explored mechanisms for expanding knowledge about U.S. history in China, and laid plans for Continues on page 4 u

Alice Kessler-Harris with Professor Wang Xu of Xiamen University, President of the American History Research Association of China (AHRAC).

OAH

OUTLOOK VOL. 2 / NO. 1 / AUGUST 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS FROM THE OAH PRESIDENT

The OAH and the Big Tent AL C AMARILLO

OAH Delegation Travels to China ALICE KE SSLER-HARRIS

Student Groups Engage OAH Distinguished Lecturers ANNE T TE WINDHORN

FROM THE OAH EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Behind the Scenes

K ATHERINE M. FINLE Y

Summertime Transitions at OAH

Coalition on the Academic Workforce New Report Profiles Adjunct Faculty

NEWS OF THE ORGANIZATION

2013 OAH Election; Preserving the OAH Newsletter; Teach U.S. History in Germany; Roy Rosenzweig Distinguished Service Award; and OAH Friend of History Award 5 FROM THE ARCHIVIST OF THE UNITED STATES

National Archives Updates Open-Government Plan DAVID S. FERRIERO 6 OAH-NPS Collaboration

OAH MEMBERSHIP NEWS

Access Your Member Services Online

OAH OUTLOOK (ISSN 2162-5050 [print], ISSN 2162-5069 [online]) is published each February, May, August, and November by the Organization of American Historians, 112 North Bryan Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47408-4199. Telephone (812) 855-7311; Fax (812) 855-0696; E-mail outlook@oah.org; http://www.oah.org/. The OAH reserves the right to reject articles, announcements, letters, advertisements, and other items that are not consonant with the goals and purposes of the organization. Copyright © 2012, Organization of American Historians. All rights reserved.

2 • August 2012 • OAH OUTLOOK

OAH Distinguished Lecturer Robert F. Jef ferson Jr. visited Colorado State University–Pueblo last spring and spoke about black World War II GIs and the modern civil rights movement. His lecture was cosponsored by the university’s Past Masters History Club and its Phi Alpha Theta chapter, as well as the Center for American Values. (Photo courtesy the Center for American Values.)

Student Groups Engage OAH Distinguished Lecturers

Annette Windhorn

ne of the most rewarding aspects of giving a guest lecture on a college campus, according to many OAH Distinguished Lecturers, is meeting the students. Our volunteer speakers often meet informally with undergraduate and graduate students, share meals with them, or sit in on their classes while visiting college campuses. When students organize guest lectures, the interactions between the students and the speakers can be even richer. Graduate student associations have regularly invited OAH Distinguished Lecturers to offer keynote addresses at conferences, such as the annual Bluegrass Symposium at the University of Kentucky, and over the past year, a half-dozen Phi Alpha Theta National History Honors Society chapters and other student-run groups from across the country invited OAH lecturers to give public talks. “[OAH Distinguished Lecturer] Mary Kelley was such a delight to have on campus, very enthusiastic and outgoing, very much wanting to discuss and observe,” student Allison Graves wrote after her Phi Alpha Theta chapter at Oakland University in Michigan hosted Kelley earlier this year. “We couldn’t have had a better Presidents’ Day lecture.” To minimize costs, the student organizers at Oakland carefully chose a nearby speaker— Kelley teaches at the University of Michigan. Similarly, the Phi Alpha Theta chapter leaders at Wright State University in Ohio economized on travel costs by identifying in-state guest speakers and were able to host not one, but two OAH Distinguished Lecturers in 2011–2012: Susan M. Hartmann and Mark Grimsley, both of Ohio State University. Hartmann particularly enjoys spending time with her student hosts, whether at Wright State or elsewhere. “They—instead of faculty—are the ones meeting me and taking me around campus,” she said. “I love the opportunity to get to know a few as individuals, their research projects, their study-abroad experiences, their future plans.” Illinois Wesleyan University’s Phi Alpha Theta chapter has hosted five OAH Distinguished Lecturers in the past six years. Calling the OAH lecture fees “very reasonable,” chapter adviser Robert T. Schultz reported, “Our students invite more Americanists than historians who study other countries or other areas of the world.” Each lecture event also provides practical lessons to its student organizers. “Our students receive funds from the student senate every year, but the funds often aren’t enough,” Schultz continued. “Students learn they usually need to raise money for travel, food, and other expenses, and must contact other departments and programs to ask them to contribute additional funds. The OAH Distinguished Lectureship Program gives them more bang for their buck, and that has become even more important in recent years.” Schultz has also seen how his students have benefited from time spent with visiting lecturers and offered an example from OAH Distinguished Lecturer Paul M. Buhle’s visit last spring: “One of our Phi Alpha Theta officers, Ryan Flis, had dinner with Paul and Continues on page 5 u

FROM THE OAH EXECUTIVE DIREC TOR Katherine M. Finley

SUMMERTIME TR ANSITIONS AT OAH

Behind the Scenes

he Organization of American Historians serves its members in a variety of ways, including publishing cutting-edge research and presenting the latest in historical scholarship in the Journal of American History, providing access to a wealth of bibliographical resources through the Recent Scholarship Online database, offering articles and resources in the OAH Magazine of History that strengthen history teaching, establishing networking opportunities at the OAH Annual Meeting, and giving historians the chance to participate in the OAH Distinguished Lectureship Program and National Park Service projects. But did you know that the OAH also helps provide young scholars an opportunity to work in the field through fellowships and editorial assistantships? In the more than forty years that the OAH has been in Bloomington, our publications office has employed and mentored dozens of graduate students at Indiana University. These doctoral students are enrolled in Indiana University’s Department of History and work in the OAH Publications Office for two to three years. These graduate assistants are vital to the production of our publications. The students gain valuable experience in research, copy editing, archiving, indexing, and database management. The OAH, with generous support from Indiana University, also provides funding for a diversity fellowship for a graduate student

who works in the headquarters office, but for the past several years has worked as an editorial assistant for the OAH Magazine of History. In June, the publications office bid farewell to two editorial assistants, Eric Petenbrink and Sarah B. Rowley, as well as the IU/OAH Diversity Fellow, Ángel G. Flores-Rodríguez. These three students will leave us to finish their doctoral dissertations. Their work at the OAH has been invaluable. Eric and Sarah have been with the OAH since I started in 2010, and Ángel joined the staff in 2011. It has been a delight to have them with us, and it is difficult to see them leave. I hope the experience these students gained while working at the OAH will give them an advantage in the very tight job market. Also leaving us this summer are Deneise Hueston, who retires after ten years with the OAH Publications Office as its administrative assistant, and Carl Weinberg, editor of the OAH Magazine of History, who has accepted a position at Indiana University. On behalf of the OAH Executive Board and staff, I would like to thank Eric, Sarah, Ángel, Deneise, and Carl for their hard work and dedication to the OAH! As these individuals depart, a new editorial assistant, Paula Tarankow, joins the OAH publications staff. Paula arrived from California this summer and begins her tenure with us after earning her MA in history from California State University, Los Angeles. ■

Ángel G. Flores-Rodríguez was the OAH/IU Diversity Fellow from 2011 to 2012. Ángel hails from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and majored in comparative literature and history at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras. He is pursuing his PhD in history at Indiana University, and his dissertation focuses on a history of colonial politics of recreation and time by examining the development of amateur baseball in Puerto Rico. He is returning to Puerto Rico to finish his dissertation. Deneise Hueston worked as the production assistant for the JAH from 2001 to 2012. She assisted the publications office through many changes and worked with two different editors. Upon her retirement, Deniese will return to school to pursue a degree in writing. Eric Petenbrink served as an editorial assistant from 2008 to 2011 and for the last year has served as the Book Review Editor for the JAH. He is finishing his dissertation at Indiana University; it focuses on American Communists and the civil rights movement. This fall he begins a position as a Future Faculty Teaching Fellow for the department of history at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. Sarah B. Rowley worked as an editorial assistant from 2008 to 2012. She is originally from Texas, has a master’s degree in gender studies, and is working on her doctorate in U.S. history at Indiana University. Sarah has been awarded research grants and a major writing fellowship for next year. Her dissertation focuses on the cultural politics of abortion in the 1960s−1980s. Carl Weinberg edited the OAH Magazine of History from 2008 through 2012. A native of Chicago, Carl received his PhD in history from Yale University in 1995. Before working at the OAH, he taught U.S. history for twelve years at the college level. Beginning in the fall, he will be teaching as a senior scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University, Bloomington. ■

The OAH staf f gathered in June to say farewell to (from lef t to right): Ángel G. Flores-Rodríguez, Deneise Hueston, Carl Weinberg, Sarah Rowley, and Eric Petenbrink.

August 2012 • OAH OUTLOOK • 3

China, from page 1 

OAH past presidents Alice Kessler-Harris, David Hollinger, and Elaine Tyler May, take part in a group photo at the fourteenth biennial meeting in Shanghai of the American History Research Association of China.

bringing scholars across the ocean in both directions. These Chinese and American colleagues shaped a three-year program of exchanges and agreed to develop a proposal to present to the Ford Foundation in hopes of gaining funding for this first phase of the exchange.

of Social Sciences in Shanghai before returning to the United States, while May and I continued to Xiamen, Xi’an, and Beijing, where we spoke at universities in each city and enjoyed lively conversations during seminars, meetings, meals, and excursions with faculty and students.

Our trip was rich and rewarding, not only because it advanced the possibility of the exchange but also because it offered many opportunities for us, our hosts, and their students to visit, exchange ideas, talk about Chinese and American history and culture, and make good friends. At Fudan University in Shanghai and at the AHRAC conference, each of us gave lectures on our own research and spoke about the state of the field in labor history, women’s history, and intellectual history. Hollinger also spoke to the Academy

We experienced warm and gracious hospitality at every turn. Wisely realizing that without knowledge of the language or the locations we would be helpless on our own in China, we were accompanied by graduate student guides wherever we went. (We called them our minders.) We were astonished by the rapid growth of the cities we visited, with hundreds of huge apartment buildings literally going up in front of our eyes, but we were

equally impressed with and grateful to our Chinese colleagues and students for their openness and candor about life, politics, and history in China, and for their views and opinions about China and the United States. Even the conversations that took place as we wound our way through traffic or strolled through historic sites were as rich and educational as the formal seminars and meetings we attended. Our trip ended in Beijing with a very promising meeting with John Fitzgerald from the Ford Foundation, who responded enthusiastically to our proposal for an exchange. If all goes well, the OAH will be sending three scholars to China in 2013, and we will welcome three Chinese scholars to the United States. Stay tuned for details. ■

Coalition on the Academic Workforce New Report Profiles Adjunct Faculty

new report released by the Coalition on the Academic Workforce (CAW) provides the most accurate portrait of today’s part-time and adjunct faculty to date. The ramifications of the report for historians are enormous. Based on a detailed online survey conducted in the fall of 2010 among adjunct faculty in all fields nationwide, the report correlates wages, work loads, benefits, and career advancement opportunities with adjuncts’ educational levels, institutional types, geographic region, faculty union presence, gender, and racial identity. The survey received 10,331 valid responses from part-time and adjunct faculty, including 682 historians. Although not entirely representative of the 700,000 adjuncts in American higher education today, the survey responses still offer a compelling portrait. The typical adjunct is a dedicated teacher employed at one or more institutions for many years

without sufficient pay, support, or benefits. As the report states, “part-time faculty positions are typically temporary only as a matter of how a position is defined, not how long a person occupies a position.” The report grimly confirms anecdotes about adjuncts’ meager earnings. Tallying income by courses taught, the CAW report indicates that median pay per course in 2010 was $2,700 ($2,600 for history), although it varied between community colleges ($2,235) and four-year schools ($3,400), and from region to region—$4,000 in the Northeast, $3,000 on the West Coast, and $2,100 in the Southeast. Wages for women fell only slightly behind those of men, but lagged for minorities. As for benefits, the report shows that only 23 percent of adjunct faculty received health insurance from academic employers, and only 41 percent had retirement plans. Percentages were better at unionized schools. Overall, the report con-

tends, 56 percent of adjuncts earned personal incomes under $35,000 annually, salaries far below those of colleagues with similar academic credentials in other fields. Nonetheless, the CAW report indicates, adjuncts overwhelmingly retain lifelong commitments to higher education. Most describe teaching as their primary employment, and 75 percent desire full-time positions. Half of the respondents have at least a master’s degree, and one-third hold a PhD. Most have been teaching part time for six years or more, and their ages range between 30 and 60. Unfortunately, the report adds, schools provide “dismal” institutional support. Office space and computer access are spotty. Pay increases based on experience and compensation for service are rare. Only 27 percent of adjuncts reported receiving stipends for attending teacher workshops. Financial support for scholarly travel went to 12 percent of respondents, and only 11 Continues on page 6 u

4 • August 2012 • OAH OUTLOOK

NEWS OF THE ORGANIZATION

Slate of Candidates 2013 OAH Election

Roy Rosenzweig Distinguished Service Award

The OAH Nominating Board is pleased to announce the slate of candidates for the 2013 OAH election. In addition to voting for three candidates for the OAH Executive Board, OAH members will vote for candidates to the OAH Nominating Board. The election opens Monday, December 3, 2012, and closes February 1, 2013.

The selection committee for the 2013 Roy Rosenzweig Distinguished Service Award seeks nominations. Those eligible for this award include scholars, teachers, writers, public historians, and officeholders who have shaped or deepened our sensitivity to the past. Deadline for nominations is September 10, 2012. For more information, visit http://oah.org/awards/awards .distinguished.index.html.

OAH President, Alan M. Kraut, University Professor of History, American University; OAH President-Elect Patricia Nelson Limerick, Faculty Director and Chair of the Board, Center of the American West, University of Colorado; and OAH Vice President, Jon Butler, Howard R. Lamar Professor of American Studies, History and Religious Studies, Yale University. OAH Executive Board Candidates. One in each pairing will be elected for a total of three. Members elected to the OAH Executive Board shall be elected for three-year terms. Pair One: Betty Dessants, Shippensburg University; and Andrea Sachs, St. Paul (MN) Academy and Summit School. Pair Two: Matt Garcia, Arizona State University; and Jennifer Morgan, New York University. Pair Three: James Gregory, University of Washington; and Alan Taylor, University of California, Davis. OAH Nominating Board Candidates. One in each pairing will be elected for a total of three. Members elected to the OAH Nominating Board shall be elected for three-year terms. Pair One: Regina Kunzel, University of Minnesota; and Margo Anderson, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Pair Two: Seth Rockman, Brown University; and Maria Montoya, New York University. Pair Three: Gloria Miranda, El Camino College (CA); and Mark Roehrs, Lincoln Land Community College (IL). Candidates by Petition. As outlined in the OAH Constitution and Bylaws (http:// www.oah.org/about/constitution.html), one hundred voting members of the organization may present a petition for an additional candidate for any office open for election, and such petition must be presented to the OAH Executive Director by October 15, 2012. The names of persons so nominated shall be placed on the official ballot, being identified as “candidate by petition.”

Preserving the OAH Newsletter The Ruth Lilly Special Collections and Archives, home of the archives of the OAH, is pleased to announce the online availability of the OAH Newsletter. The newly digitized run of the OAH Newsletter, spanning 37 volumes from 1973 to 2009, “provides a wealth of information, not only about important issues that faced the profession during those thirty six years but also on important news of the organization and activities of its members that cannot be found anywhere else,” said Kathy Finley, OAH Executive Director. “We appreciate the hard work and dedication of the Ruth Lilly Special Collections staff,” noted Finley, “who continue preserving and providing access to the important records of the organization.” To access the OAH Newsletter, visit https://archives.iupui.edu/ handle/2450/5814. For additional information about the OAH archives, please contact Brenda Burk, Philanthropic Studies Archivist at bburk@iupui.edu.

Teach U.S. History in Germany With generous funding from the FritzThyssen Foundation, the OAH seeks applications for its 2013 Germany Residency Program at the University of Tübingen. Open to all OAH members who are established scholars affiliated with an American or Canadian university, the residency program offers a unique opportunity to live and teach in Germany for one month. Successful candidates will receive round-trip airfare, accommodations, and a modest honorarium. Application deadline is October 1, 2012. For more information, visit http://oah.org/programs/germany/.

OAH Friend of History Award Each year the OAH gives its Friend of History Award to an institution, organization, or individual operating primarily outside a college or university setting, for outstanding support of historical research, the public presentation of American history, or the work of the OAH. The selection committee seeks nominations for the 2013 award, which has a September 10, 2012, deadline. For more information, visit http://oah.org/ awards/awards.friendsofhistory.index.html. ■

Student Groups, from page 2 

introduced him to the audience later. Paul thanked Ryan for the introduction and referred to him as the new ‘friend’ he made at dinner. Ryan commented later about the experience and how great it was to have such personal contact with a distinguished and well-known historian.” This fall, an interdisciplinary conference on visual culture organized by American studies graduate students at Saint Louis University will feature OAH Lecturer Matthew Frye Jacobson as its keynote speaker, and the Graduate Association for African American History at the University of Memphis will host Deborah Gray White to kick off its annual conference. Encourage your student leaders to contact me (awindhorn@oah.org, ph. 812-855-7311) regarding conference keynoters and guest speakers for 2012–2013 today. ■ Annette Windhorn is the coordinator for the OAH Distinguished Lectureship Program. Learn more at http://lectures.oah.org. August 2012 • OAH OUTLOOK • 5

FROM THE ARCHIVIST OF THE UNITED STATES David S. Ferriero

National Archives Updates Open-Government Plan

ne of President Barack Obama’s first actions when he took office in 2009 was to make a commitment to the “open government” principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration. At the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), we also made that commitment. Doing so was not difficult, since those same principles of open government are embedded in our basic mission. In response to the president’s directive, during 2010 we developed our own opengovernment plan that included a set of proposed actions involving approximately seventy tasks. The goal was to improve customer service, encourage communication among staff, and foster better record keeping by federal agencies and departments. Now, two years later, I am pleased to report that we have completed most of the tasks that were part of that plan. As a result, the National Archives has: • Embraced social media and become a governmental leader in its use • Increased access to NARA holdings by speeding up the declassification of records, and by reducing the response time to Freedom of Information Act requests and citizen requests for copies of records (especially veterans’ records from our St. Louis personnel records center) • Taken the lead in developing sound records-management practices for all government departments and agencies

nization built upon the principles of participation, collaboration, and transparency The plan was ambitious, and the internal reorganization altered the shape of the organization and lines of authority, affecting most of the staff in some way, but the plan also shifted our thinking about the services we deliver. We know we do not have all the answers. We must draw on what our citizen archivists know by encouraging them to work with us to add value to our records and help us show people how to use the records that belong to them. Recently, we revised our open-government plan to create a road map for 2012 through 2014. (Read it at www.archives .gov/open/open-government-plan-2.0.pdf) Over the next two years we plan to create a new culture to better serve the American people, allow greater interaction among our staff, make the best use of new and emerging technology, and broaden access to our records online. Specifically, that means we will, among other things: • Realign NARA’s strategic plan so it reflects the values and goals of a transformed agency • Intensify our efforts to help staff develop the skills necessary for a successful career at NARA

• Transformed NARA into an orga-

• Strengthen our ties with individuals and groups interested in assisting us

Camarillo, from page 1 

Coalition, from page 2 

maintain career paths in a depressed job market, partnerships with other historical associations (such as the joint sponsorship of the most recent OAH annual meeting with the National Council on Public History), and other proactive measures will form an important part of the agenda of the OAH now and in the immediate future. My term as president is committed to making the OAH tent bigger. ■

percent received funding assistance for research. For adjuncts, “career ladders” are largely nonexistent. The CAW report concludes that such part-time faculty employment practices are not “good education policy” and that schools need to “turn their attention to those who work day in and day out to ensure that students succeed.” The report thus powerfully suggests that OAH members must make the improvement of adjunct employment conditions a major

6 • August 2012 • OAH OUTLOOK

with our mission of increasing access to the records we hold • Update our digitization strategy by, among other things, improving the work flow of in-house digitization and encouraging citizens to get involved in digitizing and describing our records • P rovide a wide variety of electronic recordsmanagement guidance to other federal agencies to help them correct deficiencies in their records-management practices • I ssue, in conjunction with the Department of Justice and the Office of Management and Budget, a records-management directive outlining a twenty-first-century framework for managing records in the federal government We promise to do these things in a way that will engage our customers, our stakeholders (including the Organization of American Historians), and the citizenry at large. We have already come a long way toward creating opportunities (such as providing transcripts and scanning images) for citizens to make substantive contributions to our work. We want to make the National Archives a place where Americans feel comfortable when they come to discover their family’s or their nation’s histories or to get copies of records when they need them. At the National Archives, where open government is part of our mission, we will be ready to serve our citizencustomers with all the tools, technology, and talent at our disposal. ■

priority to preserve high-quality history education and decent opportunities for future history graduates. This is the assignment of the OAH Committee on Part-Time, Adjunct and Contingent Employment, and such work deserves OAH members’ support. For more information on the Coalition on the Academic Workforce and to download the June 2012 Portrait of Part-Time Faculty Members, visit http://www.academicworkforce.org/ ■ —OAH Committee on Part-time, Adjunct, and Contingent Employment

OAH - NPS COLLABOR ATION

OAH MEMBERSHIP NEWS

Access Your Member Services Online

he OAH Online Member Services portal allows you to take full advantage of OAH resources in an easy, accessible way. Charlestown Navy Yard site visit

ork continues on the nearly forty projects that the OAH is currently completing with the National Park Service (NPS) through its collaborative agreement to promote excellence in the practice and presentation of American history within the service’s units. Working with NPS staff, historians, and planners, the OAH connects the National Park Service with scholars working in all fields of American history and advises and supports work that ranges from completing historical resource studies and administrative histories of park units to writing exhibit reviews, peer reviews, and NPS scholarship to undertaking park and site visits. Here are updates on a few of those projects. In May, Steven Lubar and Charlene Mires, along with William Cogar and Edward Marolda, met with NPS historians and staff at the Charlestown Navy Yard, a component of Boston National Historical Park, to offer recommendations to the NPS regarding the interpretation of resources at the navy yard as the park revises its general management plan. Over the two-day visit, OAH scholars toured the park and its related resources, met with NPS historians and interpreters, participated in focused discussions, and offered advice regarding which resources at the park should be interpreted, and how, and the way those resources—including the U.S.S. Constitution—which span two centuries, might be integrated into the story of the navy yard and into the Freedom Trail. We continue to work with the NPS following the April rollout of the OAH’s Imperiled Promise: The State of History in the National Park Service, a new report undertaken by the OAH at the invitation of the park service and completed by Anne Mitchell Whisnant, Marla Miller, David Thelen, and Gary Nash. In June, Anne Mitchell Whisnant, chair of the OAH study team, along with OAH president-elect Alan M. Kraut, met with NPS chief historian Robert Sutton and members of his staff in Washington, DC, to continue a conversation about how the NPS is addressing the report’s findings and recommendation and what role the OAH can play in helping them do so. (To read the report and to download a copy, please visit http://www.oah.org/programs/nps/.)

2012 National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Conference

Also in June the NPS’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program held its annual conference. Convened this year in St. Augustine, Florida, the conference opened with keynote addresses by Jane Landers, Shirley Boteler Mock, Rosalyn Howard, and William Katz. The conference’s theme was “Escaping to Destinations South: The Underground Railroad, Cultural Identity, and Freedom along the Southern Borderlands,” and over the course of four days attendees and participants attended panels, discussions, addresses, and heritage tours in historic St. Augustine. The conference, for which the OAH was a partner and adviser, attracted more than two hundred scholars, community members, and descendants of the Gullah Geeche and Black Seminole communities.

For more information about any of these projects or the OAH/NPS collaborative relationship, please contact Aidan J. Smith, OAH Public History Manager, at aidsmith@oah.org. ■

To access the member services portal, visit www.oah.org and select “Login” in the upper right-hand corner. Please use your username and password that was sent to you via e-mail. If this is your first time visiting member services online, we encourage you to change your temporary password to something more meaningful and memorable to you. If you have misplaced or forgotten your login credentials, please contact the OAH office, or retrieve them by using the links provided. (You may also need your OAH ID number, which is located above your name and address on this newsletter.) Once you are logged in, there are many things to explore. • C lick on “My Account” to change your password or update your contact information. Please verify that your contact information is accurate so we can keep you up to date on new publications, resources, and opportunities, as well as news of the profession. • C lick on “My Benefits” to access current and back issues of the Journal of American History and the OAH Magazine of History—including mobile editions—as well as Recent Scholarship Online, all back issues of OAH Outlook, the archive of the OAH E-News, and more. • C lick on “Volunteer” to become involved in the OAH. If you have any questions regarding the online portal or if you have suggestions for new features or services, please contact the OAH at membership@oah.org or (812) 855-7311. We are here to assist you! ■

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